Stopping a house sale

jessieJames2020

Hi,
I would be grateful for any help.
I am the executor of my late father's will, probate has been granted.
My father made a will, post (second) marriage, leaving all his property and possessions to his three children.
He explicitly stated that his wife was to receive nothing.
The property is owned as tenants in common, however a trust deed from 30 years ago, which my father seemed to have forgotten about, states that his wife was the sole beneficiary of the house.
This will be subject to a proprietary estoppel claim due to a number of issues and is not my immediate concern.
I have recently found out that his wife (who is totally unapproachable) has placed the house on the market and I am therefore concerned that she will sell the house, gift the money to her daughter, and disappear into the ether. (£450,000)
Am I right in saying that I need to complete an RX1 form from the land registry and apply for a restriction on the house?
And if so, does anyone know how I would word the restriction as it doesn't appear to fit in with any of the standard forms of restriction on the land registry website.
Many thanks, any help would be much appreciated.

Marcon

Whatever the will stated, his widow may still choose to make a claim on the estate for reasonable financial provision, particularly  if they were living together at the time of his death. 

You are using the term 'proprietary estoppel' as if you understand it, but I'm not sure you do, given how readily you are dismissing the issue of the trust deed.

You clearly aren't a lawyer, and given the amount of cash at issue here, getting proper professional advice is your best protection.

jessieJames2020

Marcon said:

Whatever the will stated, his widow may still choose to make a claim on the estate for reasonable financial provision, particularly  if they were living together at the time of his death. 

You are using the term 'proprietary estoppel' as if you understand it, but I'm not sure you do, given how readily you are dismissing the issue of the trust deed.

You clearly aren't a lawyer, and given the amount of cash at issue here, getting proper professional advice is your best protection.

Thanks, I'm fully aware of the requirement of legal advice regarding the trust deed, as stated in the OP, I'm more concerned, at this moment in time, in preventing an immediate sale of the property, not the ins and outs of whether I have a valid claim. 

pphillips

jessieJames2020 said:

Marcon said:

Whatever the will stated, his widow may still choose to make a claim on the estate for reasonable financial provision, particularly  if they were living together at the time of his death. 

You are using the term 'proprietary estoppel' as if you understand it, but I'm not sure you do, given how readily you are dismissing the issue of the trust deed.

You clearly aren't a lawyer, and given the amount of cash at issue here, getting proper professional advice is your best protection.

Thanks, I'm fully aware of the requirement of legal advice regarding the trust deed, as stated in the OP, I'm more concerned, at this moment in time, in preventing an immediate sale of the property, not the ins and outs of whether I have a valid claim. 

You seem to be a bit confused about the ownership of the property, if he jointly owned the house with his wife then she certainly will be able to sell it regardless of what the will says. However, if the property was owned as tenants in common there should already be a restriction on its sale by sole proprietor.

jessieJames2020

pphillips said:

jessieJames2020 said:

Marcon said:

Whatever the will stated, his widow may still choose to make a claim on the estate for reasonable financial provision, particularly  if they were living together at the time of his death. 

You are using the term 'proprietary estoppel' as if you understand it, but I'm not sure you do, given how readily you are dismissing the issue of the trust deed.

You clearly aren't a lawyer, and given the amount of cash at issue here, getting proper professional advice is your best protection.

Thanks, I'm fully aware of the requirement of legal advice regarding the trust deed, as stated in the OP, I'm more concerned, at this moment in time, in preventing an immediate sale of the property, not the ins and outs of whether I have a valid claim. 

You seem to be a bit confused about the ownership of the property, if he jointly owned the house with his wife then she certainly will be able to sell it regardless of what the will says. However, if the property was owned as tenants in common there should already be a restriction on its sale by sole proprietor.

Thank you, I've just taken a look and there is indeed a restriction in place to that effect as they were tenants in common.

NinjaTune

Doesn't sound like a very happy marriage if he's explicitly stated the wife is to get nothing.

Irrespective of what his will says, his wife can (and probably will) challenge it under the Inheritance Act.  She has 6 months to do this once Probate has been granted so if I were you I'd start preparing to go to court.

xylophone

Thank you, I've just taken a look and there is indeed a restriction in place to that effect as they were tenants in common.

This still leaves the wife as the sole legal owner of the property, for all that her beneficial interest (may)  be only 50%.

As such, it would still be possible for her  to sell the property.

See here https://www.land-registry-documents.co.uk/information/joint-ownership-tennants/ under

Death of a Joint Proprietor

However this may be irrelevant if the Trust Deed is legally valid.

Marcon

jessieJames2020 said:

Marcon said:

Whatever the will stated, his widow may still choose to make a claim on the estate for reasonable financial provision, particularly  if they were living together at the time of his death. 

You are using the term 'proprietary estoppel' as if you understand it, but I'm not sure you do, given how readily you are dismissing the issue of the trust deed.

You clearly aren't a lawyer, and given the amount of cash at issue here, getting proper professional advice is your best protection.

Thanks, I'm fully aware of the requirement of legal advice regarding the trust deed, as stated in the OP, I'm more concerned, at this moment in time, in preventing an immediate sale of the property, not the ins and outs of whether I have a valid claim. 

The two are not as unconnected as you seem to think!

jessieJames2020

Marcon said:

jessieJames2020 said:

Marcon said:

Whatever the will stated, his widow may still choose to make a claim on the estate for reasonable financial provision, particularly  if they were living together at the time of his death. 

You are using the term 'proprietary estoppel' as if you understand it, but I'm not sure you do, given how readily you are dismissing the issue of the trust deed.

You clearly aren't a lawyer, and given the amount of cash at issue here, getting proper professional advice is your best protection.

Thanks, I'm fully aware of the requirement of legal advice regarding the trust deed, as stated in the OP, I'm more concerned, at this moment in time, in preventing an immediate sale of the property, not the ins and outs of whether I have a valid claim. 

The two are not as unconnected as you seem to think!

very useful again. Thanks.

theoretica

Do you really want a restriction on her selling the house?  Or just a restriction that she only gets half the money until this is sorted out?

Robin9

jessieJames2020 said:

The property is owned as tenants in common, however a trust deed from 30 years ago, which my father seemed to have forgotten about, states that his wife was the sole beneficiary of the house.

Does this relate to the 1st or 2nd wife ?   Is she specifically named - eg Jane x