Person died on the day the will was due to be signed

teletubby_2

A friend of mine who separated from her partner years ago but hadn’t finalised divorce had a short illness and had a will drafted by a solicitor. The solicitor took notes of their wishes and went away to type them up, and an appointment was made to come back with the will to be signed but on the day of the appointment the person passed away in their sleep before they could sign the will. 

The couple went through a very messy separation (he committed adultery and subsequently has children with this person) and their joint property was sold and monies distributed between them. Due to his abusive behaviour my friend moved many miles away to start a new life and not have contact with him. I believe they were in the process of an inevitable messy divorce, but she was taken unexpectedly ill and within a few weeks she had already died. 

Due to the nature of their marriage and separation my friends one and only wish was not for the ex to benefit from the proportion of the sale of the property that she had managed to take away. 

Is there any way to stop him automatically inheriting from her as she had consulted a solicitor with her wishes but didn’t have the opportunity to sign? 

Any help would be much appreciated as she is due to be buried and this would be her last wishes to make sure he didn’t benefit after the trauma he put her through for most of her life

Flugelhorn

I think that unless she had a previous will leaving everything to someone else then she will have died intestate and hence her husband will be the one to inherit. 

Keep_pedalling

It is unlikely that anything can be done to stop him inheriting. Did she have children? Who did she make the beneficiaries of the unsigned will?

RAS

Someone I knew was divorced by her husband. A week before the nisi could be declared absolute, he died in an accident. She inherited everything (the house was still a joint tenancy).  

Primrose

Ii suspect there is no way to avoid the separated husband inheriting everything.  If taken to court a judge could rule thwt there might be a possibility of the wife still changing her mind between drsfting her wishes and actually signing the legal document.

i,m afraid i's a dose of reality that really nobody should put off  off completing Importent things if their potential outcome could have such long reaching effects. 

seven-day-weekend

AFAIK, if she has no former will and they were only separated and not divorced, then her husband will inherit.

sassyblue

Were you expecting to inherit something? I ask because if she had a solicitor draw up a will then her beneficiaries should be the ones to ask her solicitor what can be done.

wilfred30

I don't think it's going to make any difference who asks the solicitor, the answer will be the same.  Unfortunately, if no previous valid will exists, then the lady died intestate and her husband will inherit.

Silvertabby

One would like to think that if the husband is a decent human being he will go with the terms of the unsigned Will..........

sevenhills

wilfred30 said:

I don't think it's going to make any difference who asks the solicitor, the answer will be the same.  Unfortunately, if no previous valid will exists, then the lady died intestate and her husband will inherit.

An unsigned will is like a verbal contract, as opposed to a written contract? That may be what Judge Judith Sheindlin would say 

But perhaps the written contract of a marriage would trump the verbal contract?

Thrugelmir

Silvertabby said:

One would like to think that if the husband is a decent human being he will go with the terms of the unsigned Will..........

Money is money. We are only hearing one side of the story. Families are soap opera's.