Death with no will

norrisg24

Despite encouragement my girlfriends mum will sadly soon pass with no will.

Her mum has a long term live in partner (not married or legal partnership), and my girlfriend is the only child.

As i understand it my girlfriend will directly inherit all assets and distribute as her mum has wished, which is cash 60k to partner and house (owned) to daughter. Is this correct and whats the process? We want to avoid any lengthy / costly legal issues with probate. I should say they are both on excellent terms, but things can change.

Also grateful for any thoughts on the house. A lovely gift but as the partner lives in it, there s bound to be rent, desrepair, who he may move in, questions before too long. Indeed my girlfriend would like to make other use for this money tied up in the house but possibly wont be able to - essentially unbeknown to her mum its a gift with strings.

How can you legally own a house but morally allow someone else to live in it - there will have to be rules and boundaries, and not to put too finer point on it how can she sell it to realise the value? Not sure there an answer....

Savvy_Sue

She'd be able to sell it if the partner agreed to move out. How likely is that? Is the £60k mum wants him to have going to be enough of an encouragement to do so?

theoretica

The house is entirely in mum's name?  Legally, daughter inherits.  She then may choose to follow her mum's wishes and make a present to the partner.  Does the partner want/expect to stay in the house for more than say 6 months to a year of getting organised?  With the 60k would he have a hope of affording to buy it?

As touched on above, it might work out to make the financial present to the partner on sale of the house - maybe even agreeing to more than £60k if it makes the situation go smoothly.

Marcon

norrisg24 said:

Despite encouragement my girlfriends mum will sadly soon pass with no will.

Her mum has a long term live in partner (not married or legal partnership), and my girlfriend is the only child.

As i understand it my girlfriend will directly inherit all assets and distribute as her mum has wished, which is cash 60k to partner and house (owned) to daughter. Is this correct and whats the process? We want to avoid any lengthy / costly legal issues with probate. I should say they are both on excellent terms, but things can change.

Also grateful for any thoughts on the house. A lovely gift but as the partner lives in it, there s bound to be rent, desrepair, who he may move in, questions before too long. Indeed my girlfriend would like to make other use for this money tied up in the house but possibly wont be able to - essentially unbeknown to her mum its a gift with strings.

How can you legally own a house but morally allow someone else to live in it - there will have to be rules and boundaries, and not to put too finer point on it how can she sell it to realise the value? Not sure there an answer....

Grief usually does change people - ditto inheritances (or the lack of them) - particularly in the immediate aftermath of a death, when emotions are raw.

If the house has been the long-term partner's long-term home, they will need time to adjust to their changed status, which realistically is going to be that of widower (albeit technically not, because they weren't married) who is about to become homeless. Add that to the grieving process, and it could be a toxic mix, for both your girlfriend and her mum's partner, so trying to avoid doing anything in the immediate term could save a lot of anguish. 

There must be a realistic prospect that the partner will make a claim for 'reasonable financial provision' and only time will tell if that will prove to be the case. There is a well-known case which sets out why such a claim might (I stress 'might' - such cases are always decided on the individual facts) be successful where a couple lived together for many years without marrying: https://vardags.com/family-law/reasonable-financial-provision-in-lewis-v-warner

I don't think there is much anyone can do at this stage except support each other as much as possible, and then tread carefully in the aftermath of the death - and wait to see what the partner does/has to say. It's not reasonable for him to expect your girlfriend to wait indefinitely for her inheritance, so that conversation will need to be had at some point; just not 'too soon'.

norrisg24

Mum is sole owner of house. We have no idea of partner intentions. I think the main thing is if daughter inherits, she has control, rather than other way around. He has not muttered any suggestion at being unhappy with her (mothers) wishes.

Brie

If there is no will then doesn't the daughter get everything?  Cash as well as house? 

She can of course then give some or all of it to the partner.  Or she can try to boot him out. 

Or she can agree something in between (which is obviously the nicer option).  This might mean giving him 6 months to organise and find a new place, with or without her assistance.  Alternatively she might give him half the cash and keep the other half as rent for the next X years but that will make her responsible to him as her tenant.  Or give him all the savings and let him pay rent.

So the questions are - does he want to stay there?  (unlikely to know until after mom's death) And does she want to hold a rental property?

getmore4less

Does the mum want him kicked out or be allowed to live there.

Lack of will with life interest leads to get kicked out.

Mutton_Geoff

norrisg24 said:

Despite encouragement my girlfriends mum will sadly soon pass with no will.

How soon? Is she alert enough to make a will? Even if it costs £1,000 to have a solicitor visit her bedside, it will save a lot of trouble after her passing if her exact wishes are documented in a watertight way. Has she appointed or expressed a wish who should act as administrator for her affairs?

Marcon

Mutton_Geoff said:

norrisg24 said:

Despite encouragement my girlfriends mum will sadly soon pass with no will.

How soon? Is she alert enough to make a will? Even if it costs £1,000 to have a solicitor visit her bedside, it will save a lot of trouble after her passing if her exact wishes are documented in a watertight way. Has she appointed or expressed a wish who should act as administrator for her affairs?

The snag is that it won't if, as suggested above, her wishes are for her partner to be given £60K and her daughter inherits the house. That could still be challenged by the partner - and does nothing to ease the moral pressure on the daughter in respect of the house.

If the mother has capacity, she could make a deathbed gift if she is totally opposed to making a will, but strict conditions needs to be observed and legal advice is essential to ensure the relevant criteria are met.

norrisg24

I've not discussed this with the mum, but I don't think she's realised that gifting the house with a resident adds complexity after she's gone.

In this respect I believe not leaving a will to be preferable because that gives all the assets to the daughter. If she did a will I imagine it would be very complex as the drafter would press her for what ifs about the house? If she said for example " he can stay as long as he wants" that could be 3o years rent free, and no gift to the daughter at all. Let's face it if someone owns a house that you live in free, for life - you effectively own it!!

Do you agree with my assumption ref no will being better, or am I missing something? He will be given the cash and deserves it, if that's the right phrase in the circumstances.

I suppose what I'm suggesting is the cash is fluid but the house is anything but.

Can anyone validate he will not be eligible to administrator the estate, only she will have that granted??

getmore4less

Find out what the mum wants first.