Inlaw claim on inheritance

ManicRower

Hi, 

We are getting a clear legal steer on this, but in the interests of shortcutting to the answer I was hoping someone might know the answer on here:

Situation
We're refreshing my grandma's Will, of which I'll be the executor. Her late husband died in September 2010 after maybe 10-15 years of marriage. On my Grandma's side she has two daughters, on her late-husband's side he had 3 or 4 children from memory, all still alive. On their father's death they were given 'minor' possessions and family heirlooms which were clearly their Dads (e.g. tie/watch collection, pieces of furniture, etc). My Grandma continued to live in their marital home (built by grandma/husband, funded jointly) until recently, where she's sold up and bought a different property

Question
We are intending to refresh the Will to express my Grandma's wishes, which are that her estate is split between relatives on her side of the family on her death. What I don't yet understand is if this is possible, or if her late-husband's children would have a claim on the estate (regardless of what is written) and if so, for how long? e.g. If my Grandma lived 15/20/25 years past her late-husband's death, do her late-husband's surviving children have a claim ad-infinitum? Is it time limited? 

Any help much appreciated

maman

Did your grandma's husband leave a will? If so, what did it say? 

Out of interest, what does your grandma's existing will say before you 'refresh' it? 

theoretica

maman said:

Did your grandma's husband leave a will? If so, what did it say? 

Out of interest, what does your grandma's existing will say before you 'refresh' it? 

Absolutely - it is his will/estate that is key.  If he had a will leaving everything to grandma it is simple and hers to do as she wishes.  If he didn't have a will, then were the intestate rules in action at the time followed and documented or just assumed everything went to her?

Keep_pedalling

Seems rather unfair to cut out his children when a good chunk of her wealth came from her husband.  Nothing from stopping her from doing it, as it was really down to him to make a will protecting their inheritance.

Marcon

ManicRower said:

Hi, 

We are getting a clear legal steer on this, but in the interests of shortcutting to the answer I was hoping someone might know the answer on here:

Situation
We're refreshing my grandma's Will, of which I'll be the executor. Her late husband died in September 2010 after maybe 10-15 years of marriage. On my Grandma's side she has two daughters, on her late-husband's side he had 3 or 4 children from memory, all still alive. On their father's death they were given 'minor' possessions and family heirlooms which were clearly their Dads (e.g. tie/watch collection, pieces of furniture, etc). My Grandma continued to live in their marital home (built by grandma/husband, funded jointly) until recently, where she's sold up and bought a different property

Question
We are intending to refresh the Will to express my Grandma's wishes, which are that her estate is split between relatives on her side of the family on her death. What I don't yet understand is if this is possible, or if her late-husband's children would have a claim on the estate (regardless of what is written) and if so, for how long? e.g. If my Grandma lived 15/20/25 years past her late-husband's death, do her late-husband's surviving children have a claim ad-infinitum? Is it time limited? 

Any help much appreciated

The clear legal steer is your best route, largely because your question is missing any background information which might be relevant (e.g. whether grandma's husband left a will and if so what it said, and where in the UK she lives - Scotland has very different laws of inheritance).

To answer your question in general terms, anyone can claim that they should have inherited under a will; they have six months to do so from grant of probate. Claiming is a long way from succeeding, as they would need to show that they had a reasonable expectation of inheriting, were financially dependent on the person who had just died, or some other solid reason such as having 'legal rights' if in Scotland.

Mojisola

ManicRower said:

We're refreshing my grandma's Will, of which I'll be the executor.

Her late husband died in September 2010 after maybe 10-15 years of marriage.

On my Grandma's side she has two daughters, on her late-husband's side he had 3 or 4 children from memory, all still alive.

On their father's death they were given 'minor' possessions and family heirlooms which were clearly their Dads (e.g. tie/watch collection, pieces of furniture, etc).


We are intending to refresh the Will to express my Grandma's wishes, which are that her estate is split between relatives on her side of the family on her death.

If she was left everything by her husband, then she can change her will but it's not a nice thing to do.

If she had died first, how would you feel if you and your sister had been cut out of a new will made by her widower?

mrschaucer

Before we all jump to conclusions, perhaps grandma has a good reason for wishing to split her estate the way she now does?

maman

mrschaucer said:

Before we all jump to conclusions, perhaps grandma has a good reason for wishing to split her estate the way she now does?

But until we know if her husband left a will then we can't know if she has an option. 

Flugelhorn

I am just wondering when you say that the property was funded by grandma and her husband, do you mean first husband or second husband? If it was the first then maybe appropriate that her estate ultimately goes to her's and her first husband's children.

ManicRower

Ok so thanks so far for the responses, I'll try and answer each of the questions raised:

- My Grandma and her late husband resided in Scotland as a married pair until his death (2010) and continued to live there until 2021 in a house that they built and joint funded. She now lives in England and is single (no second husband)
- I am reasonably certain her late husband had a Will and upon his death it was settled. I will need to see if we can find a copy, this Will will have been written and 'actioned/closed'? in Scotland in 2010/11.
- My Grandma then had her Will updated ~2015 in Scotland (we have a copy). We are now updating it in 2022 in England
- There is good reason for this, namely one of her husband's children attempting to impersonate her late-husband after her death and withdraw money from the estate. Since that action it hasn't been particularly friendly. I want to try and avoid any unsavoury action when my grandma passes away (hopefully in a long time!) by getting everything as water tight as possible now.

I guess I should rephrase slightly given the advice thus far. My Grandma feels they have had 'their share' and is free to write her Will as she pleases. I want to understand if this is accurate. If not accurate, I want to understand if her late husband's children have an entitlement regardless of what is written in my Grandma's Will, and/or if there are any time limitations on it. i.e. If my Grandma lives say 25 years past her husbands death, would they have the same/less/no entitlement compared to if she had passed away 6 months after her husband. 

Hopefully clear, really appreciate the help so far

RAS

It very much depends in her husband's will. And if one of her step-children tried to pull a fat one, why punish all her step-children? She needs independent advice from a solicitor without pressure from any of her children or step-children.