My wife died earlier this year, am i entitled to her share of her fathers estate?

pinkshoes

Otbcnmtd11 said:

My wife sadly passed away unexpectedly earlier this year.

Her father has dementia & is likely to go in the next 6-12 months.

My wife was a beneficiary in her father's will along with her sister & brother. 

I had expected that her part of the estate would pass to myself upon her father's death.  I have just been told by her sister that I won't receive anything & it will go directly to my wife's children.  Ist this right?

we were depending on this money at some stage to help with our excessively high mortgage.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear your wife has died suddenly, but I think you need to make other plans to pay the mortgage.


You will need to look at the wording of the will. There are two likely scenarios:

1. the assets will be split between those mentioned in the will (so the brother and sister will now get half each, and not split 3 ways)
2. your wife's share will be split equally between your children, and held in trust until they are 18.


Either way, it will not pay off your mortgage as you are not entitled to anything.

You will need to look into any other money or insurance policy your wife had. I'm assuming she worked and earned a reasonable salary given the large mortgage? Pension that will pay out a lump sum? Work insurance policies? Life insurance?

Spendless

Since it was wife's sister, herself named as  a beneficiary of the will, who has told the OP that his wife's share now goes to their children and not him. It's probably likely she's seen or is aware of the will and knows that it goes to the children rather than split between the surviving siblings

My Dad, husband and brother-in-law only know my Nan's will excludes them if any of us die because we've told them it does. Only my Mum has actually seen the will. 

TBagpuss

It would depend on the wording of the will, but it is unlikely.

Normally, where someone who is a beneficiary dies before the testator, the gift made to them fails, because they aren't alive when the testator dies and the will takes effect.

Where the beneficiary is the child of the testator, their share would normally go to their own children, unless the will explicitly says otherwise. 


If your father in law doesn't have a will, then his estate would be divided between his children (assuming he is not currently married) , and your wife's share would go to her own children.

The only situation where you would inherit would be if you were named in your own right in the will, either jointly with your wife or as substitute for her if she dies first) 

It would be quite unusual for someone to chose to leave assets to their son or daughter in law, rather than to their own children or grandchildren.

I am very sorry for your loss, but I am afraid that you will need to make alternative arrangements to clear your mortgage. Did your wife have any life insurance, or pensions which might pay any death in service benefits? 

Marcon

pinkshoes said:

Otbcnmtd11 said:

My wife sadly passed away unexpectedly earlier this year.

Her father has dementia & is likely to go in the next 6-12 months.

My wife was a beneficiary in her father's will along with her sister & brother. 

I had expected that her part of the estate would pass to myself upon her father's death.  I have just been told by her sister that I won't receive anything & it will go directly to my wife's children.  Ist this right?

we were depending on this money at some stage to help with our excessively high mortgage.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

I'm sorry to hear your wife has died suddenly, but I think you need to make other plans to pay the mortgage.


You will need to look at the wording of the will. There are two likely scenarios:

1. the assets will be split between those mentioned in the will (so the brother and sister will now get half each, and not split 3 ways)
2. your wife's share will be split equally between your children, and held in trust until they are 18.

OP has no right to sight of the will until after his FIL dies and it has been through probate.