Contested will

tkidcharlemagne

Grumpelstiltskin said:

You don't say which country your parents lived in.

Assuming England or Wales you can check if there is a birth reference for him.

If it is England or Wales he has less than zero chance of claiming anything

Apparently Grumpel I can't repost your link portion as I'm still a wee green on here. Yep my parents lived in jolly olde England.

Marcon

You aren't interested in getting to know him (I wouldn't be, either, from what you've said), so why bother to do anything other than letting your solicitor get on with seeing him off?

Of course it's upsetting - but the chances of his claim succeeding are, as your solicitor has already reassured you, somewhere between zero and vanishingly small. That's almost certainly cautious legalese for 'not a cat's chance in hell'. 

Archie_Duke

If your parents were married didn’t your father just legitimately inherit all of his wife’s assets? In which case this unacknowledged son, the half-brother, has no claim whatsoever to what has been left to you in your father’s will. This son would have needed to challenge the dispersal of his mothers assets at the time of her passing. The link to any of her historical portion of their joint estate is broken, as I understand it.

tkidcharlemagne

Archie_Duke said:

If your parents were married didn’t your father just legitimately inherit all of his wife’s assets? In which case this unacknowledged son, the half-brother, has no claim whatsoever to what has been left to you in your father’s will. This son would have needed to challenge the dispersal of his mothers assets at the time of her passing. The link to any of her historical portion of their joint estate is broken, as I understand it.

They were married yes. They created a legacy trust fund to avoid IHT and CGT. Yes it does appear he can't challenge the dispersal thanks to the time that's passed. On reflection it's actually 16 years since she passed away.

Spendless

So who was he brought up by? If he was adopted, then he wouldn't benefit from anything your mother left anyway. Or are we expected to believe that your Mum had a child, left him with his Dad who she divorced and no one ever mentioned a word about it. It sounds odd to me.

Archie_Duke

tkidcharlemagne said:

Archie_Duke said:

If your parents were married …

They were married yes. They created a legacy trust fund to avoid IHT and CGT. Yes it does appear he can't challenge the dispersal thanks to the time that's passed. On reflection it's actually 16 years since she passed away.

Then you’d probably be best simply instructing your solicitor as advised above to write to the half-brother stating that any claim would be defended has no merit as it would be out of time under relevant legislation and case law precedent.

RAS

IF you want to do a bit more research, you could go to the nearest library that has a subscription to Ancestry. They have indexes for all the births marriages and deaths in England and Wales since 1837 to about 2007. 

Do you have a copy of your parent's marriage certificate as that often refers to the fact that one partner has two possible names, sometimes because they are illegitimate and sometime because the woman's maiden name and previous married name are recorded. Alternatively, you may find your father's marriage is recorded in the 1916-2005 index but that your mother is recorded in her previous married name?

There's a free birth and death index at www.gro.gov.uk but I think it only gives the mother's maiden name until 1924.

p00hsticks

RAS said:

IF you want to do a bit more research, you could go to the nearest library that has a subscription to Ancestry. They have indexes for all the births marriages and deaths in England and Wales since 1837 to about 2007. 

Surely it's up to the claimant to produce evidence such a birth certificate, previous marriage certificate etc, to show that they are this womans child - there's no need for the OP to spend any time doing anything, especially as they've said they have no desire to have any contact with the person in question

RAS

I'm not suggesting the OP seeks evidence of the rectitude of the claim. Just providing information as to sources if the OP wants to check out the "allegation".

From a personal perspective, evidence indicates a recent NPE although there are too many candidates. And in another case I know close relatives aren't aware of a first marriage. I'm not about to spread the information but I'd not lie, or refuse to provide information about sources they could use. 

tkidcharlemagne

RAS said:

I'm not suggesting the OP seeks evidence of the rectitude of the claim. Just providing information as to sources if the OP wants to check out the "allegation".

From a personal perspective, evidence indicates a recent NPE although there are too many candidates. And in another case I know close relatives aren't aware of a first marriage. I'm not about to spread the information but I'd not lie, or refuse to provide information about sources they could use. 

There's no chance of an NPE. My Father and I are spitting image as identical ages. Uncanny similarities actually. How dare you actually