Inlaw claim on inheritance

theoretica

Scotland complicates things - the 'legal rights' of the children in their father's estate may come into play.  This only affects 1/3 of his 'movable' estate and not the house.

maman

I'm not au fait with Scottish law but in England, it does depend on what her deceased husband's will said. If, for example, his will said she could stay in their property for life but then his share went to his children then she can't change that.

From what you posted earlier. I can't see how a few personal effects constitutes a fair share of an estate where he'd contributed 50% of the value. 

You definitely need legal advice, if only because of the potential difference between Scottish and English law. 

bouicca21

Getting a copy of the husband’s will is essential.  
https://www.ros.gov.uk/services/order-a-will

Marvel1

I think grandma needs to see a solicitor on her own.

bobster2

Marvel1 said:

I think grandma needs to see a solicitor on her own.

Indeed. The wording of the original post "We're refreshing my grandma's Will" is not how it should be.

Grandma should be refreshing her Will. Will's don't belong to a family or group of people.

ManicRower

Thanks to those who have provided (as close to) factual advice as possible. Massively appreciated and gives Grandma something to go on. 

I’ll ignore those who have no legal experience whatsoever and just fancy a comment on the perceived morality to kill a few minutes of boredom.

Gers

theoretica said:

Scotland complicates things - the 'legal rights' of the children in their father's estate may come into play.  This only affects 1/3 of his 'movable' estate and not the house.

OP says that Grandma now lives in England. 

[Deleted User]

Having witnessed my SiL having to deal with the inevitable acrimony etc when his late Mother died leaving everything to him (he has a brother and a sister), I cannot fault him for the way that he handled the situation. When his Mother suggested that she wanted to change her Will, he sensibly said that this was not something that he could help with. He didn’t ask why Mother wanted to change her Will, he just arranged for her to meet with a good local solicitor. The solicitor met with her in private on three occasions. Sat alongside him was a clerk taking contemporaneous notes of the meetings. Unbeknown to my SiL, the solicitor also asked his Mother to write a personal letter to all family members explaining the reasons why she had changed her will in my SiL’s favour: the letter only to be opened after her death.

Mother died a year or so ago. Immediately the Will was read out, the other family members instructed a ‘no win:no fee’ solicitor to contest the Will on the basis of undue influence; the deceased’s state of mind etc. It was a horrible experience. My SiL was tempted to just share the little money that his late Mother had left to him; however, the personal letter persuaded him that he had a duty to honour his late Mother’s wishes.

After receiving further legal threats, my SiL passed the case on to an established Family Law firm in Manchester who, in a £2000 3 page letter, refuted every legal claim that had been made to contest the Will. The ‘no win:no fee’ lawyers then immediately dropped the case. Will family relations ever recover; sadly, I doubt it.

Keep_pedalling

ManicRower said:

Thanks to those who have provided (as close to) factual advice as possible. Massively appreciated and gives Grandma something to go on. 

I’ll ignore those who have no legal experience whatsoever and just fancy a comment on the perceived morality to kill a few minutes of boredom.

No one on here is a legal expert, what GM now needs to do is arrange an appointment with a local solicitor to discus making a new will, they will provide the correct legal advice as to how to proceed. On no account should she attempt to DIY this and she should also avoid unregulated will writing companies.

Caz3121

Gers said:

theoretica said:

Scotland complicates things - the 'legal rights' of the children in their father's estate may come into play.  This only affects 1/3 of his 'movable' estate and not the house.

OP says that Grandma now lives in England. 

the grandfather resided and died in Scotland so his children have 20 years to make a claim on his moveable estate (unless they previously discharged their legal rights)
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/all-notices/content/103869