I'm trustee and executor of dad's last will and testament

adeo

Dad just made me trustee and executor of his paid for house, which I'm planning on moving in upon his death. My 30+ nephew and his partner have lived there for about 10 years, he's a dependent of the state as he has Asperger's is receiving state benefit pip etc. I believe nephew and partner are thinking of permanently staying even though I will be there live in landlord and they were probably thinking of the main householder's. So far they are reluctant to have a discussion regarding us all living together, I get the impression they don't want me to move in and can see problems over sharing etc. I have a feeling that they might try to stop me in near future from moving in IE change lock's etc. Anyone give me helpful guidance, what legally would I need to do, can dad's will be amenable to instruct my nephew you to abide by my dad's wishes IE not too try and obstruct me from moving in?

Mojisola

adeo said:

Dad just made me trustee of his paid for house, which I'm planning on moving in upon his death.

My 30+ nephew and his partner have lived there for about 10 years, he's a dependent of the state as he has Asperger's is receiving state benefit pip etc.

I believe nephew and partner are thinking of permanently staying

This is a potentially very messy situation.

Unless his nephew and partner have been paying rent and covering all their own costs, they could argue that your Dad has been financially supporting them and that they will have a claim on his estate.

Didn't the solicitor who made the will discuss this issue with your Dad?

Spendless

Does your Dad currently live there too?  With you saying nephew - your siblings child? Is your sibling still with us or is your Dad also leaving sibling something too or are you sole heir to Dad's will? 

adeo

Spendless said:

Does your Dad currently live there too?  With you saying nephew - your siblings child? Is your sibling still with us or is your Dad also leaving sibling something too or are you sole heir to Dad's will? 

It's my nephew and his partner living at my dad's with my dad. Only money being left to my nephew and other nephew and niece. House left to me only.

adeo

Mojisola said:

adeo said:

Dad just made me trustee of his paid for house, which I'm planning on moving in upon his death.

My 30+ nephew and his partner have lived there for about 10 years, he's a dependent of the state as he has Asperger's is receiving state benefit pip etc.

I believe nephew and partner are thinking of permanently staying

This is a potentially very messy situation.

Unless his nephew and partner have been paying rent and covering all their own costs, they could argue that your Dad has been financially supporting them and that they will have a claim on his estate.

Didn't the solicitor who made the will discuss this issue with your Dad?

My Nephew pay's some money to my dad via bank transfer, Willy nilly, nothing on regular timetable, no standing order. I've no idea what solicitor said about nephew and partner living in his house!

Keep_pedalling

Your nephew is a lodger with no tenancy rights, which means he could be evicted without the need to resort to the courts. If you are happy to continue the arrangement when you eventually move in then fine but they have no say in whether you can move in or not and you should certainly formalise how much rent they should be paying.

elsien

You say sole trustee. Do you mean executor? It can’t be sold beneficiary because you talk about him leaving money to other people. As executor it would be your role to sort out the estate but as other people have said it could get very messy indeed.

Your dad need to really consider the wording of his will. First of all unless he’s got other assets, if he needs care at any point then the house would potentially need to be sold to cover care costs. 

Which could leave you with less than you expect.
Then if he’s named the specific house in his will, and moves in the meantime, then again that would leave you not inheriting.

Dad really needs to have the conversation with them now that they shouldn’t expect to stay there indefinitely. Aside from anything else would you really want to be living with them in the long term if/when you do inherit? 

adeo

Keep_pedalling said:

Your nephew is a lodger with no tenancy rights, which means he could be evicted without the need to resort to the courts. If you are happy to continue the arrangement when you eventually move in then fine but they have no say in whether you can move in or not and you should certainly formalise how much rent they should be paying.

Okay thanks, but what about the fact that my nephew is registered disabled in receipt of pip and other state benefits, this makes him a dependent of the state, doesn't that protect him from possible eviction, not that I want to evict him. Obviously as a responsible landlord I will be sitting down nephew and partner to come to arrangement whereby they pay me a fair going rate and regular rent, including bill's for utilities and other housing maintenance costs etc. But I have an underlying concern that nephew may try to change lock's trying to lock me out, this is based on his history of narcissistic and self righteous entitlement attitude since living at my dad's house last ten years! I have watched many documentaries/reality TV shows where a relative has locked the relative who's the landlord out and the landlord has had to go to court to fight for eviction for non payment of rent etc but unsure if you could evict someone for changing lock's!

adeo

elsien said:

You say sole trustee. Do you mean executor? It can’t be sold beneficiary because you talk about him leaving money to other people. As executor it would be your role to sort out the estate but as other people have said it could get very messy indeed.

Your dad need to really consider the wording of his will. First of all unless he’s got other assets, if he needs care at any point then the house would potentially need to be sold to cover care costs. 

Which could leave you with less than you expect.
Then if he’s named the specific house in his will, and moves in the meantime, then again that would leave you not inheriting.

Dad really needs to have the conversation with them now that they shouldn’t expect to stay there indefinitely. Aside from anything else would you really want to be living with them in the long term if/when you do inherit? 

Yes, executor. I could quite easily get on with living them. I'm very easy going but nephew's partner can be off with me, she's already trying to put her stamp/mark on dad's house, placing some of her personal effects etc around house without even asking permission of dad, also moved dozens of bag's of her stuff into dad's loft, as though readying for the day my dad's demise!

Keep_pedalling

He can’t lock you out of your own house. If he was a tenant then you would not have the right to enter his home, but he is not a tenant but a lodger. If he changed the locks you still have the right to enter the home with the aid of a locksmith if necessary.

Do you have any real cause to think he would actually do this? 

msb1234

To be fair, if they have lived there as your father’s guests for 10 years, I think it’s absolutely fine for some of their things to be out around the house. Clearly this is their home too, it’s just that your father actually owns it. 

If your father has made a will making you the trustee of the house, it sounds like there are conditions such as you not actually owning the house until your nephew has left. I am a trustee of my deceased mother’s estate, her house cannot be sold until her husband dies. I cannot move in, rent it out of do anything until that point. 

It might be helpful to check what your father has put in his will, but of course he has no obligation to show you at all.