Will not completed

elsien

That must be a huge relief for you and your mother . I think there has to be an element of compromise here. After all, you have lost your grandmother, but he has also lost his wife.
If it’s not things that you desperately want to keep over or aren’t worth a huge amount, maybe just let it go? To save yourselves  the stress as much as anything. 

Does he live in the property still as well, because if not you could just change the locks. The Background is a bit unclear.

Flugelhorn

I shouldn't worry about the value of personal effects unless she had incredibly valuable antiques / art work etc - think I put £500 for the whole house contents for mother's probate - in the end it cost me £200 to do the final house clearance

Beckz1205

It’s not so much valuable items, it’s more so sentimental items. If it doesn’t belong to him, or he sees it as worthless he throws it away- we went to the house last week and when we walked in, he was ripping papers up. We don’t know what they were but we had been looking for life insurance policies etc he is very difficult to deal with and can get aggressive and doesn’t listen to reason tbh. I 100% understand that he is also grieving but my mother and myself haven’t had the time to grieve as he has pushed everything onto us- registering her death etc, arranging/paying for her funeral, trying to manage her estate as well as trying to get through Xmas. He is very demanding and wants all my nans items gone but is being a hinderance. I also have siblings that want something of my nans as a keepsake but he is refusing anyone in his flat. He lives in a flat that him and my nan lived in together. My mother and myself live in my nans house we have now inherited. 

elsien

On a practical level, then, given that it is his flat, you’re probably very limited in what you can do. You say he wants your Nan’s items gone so ask him what if anything you can do to help him with that.
People react very differently when they are upset and his perception of what is happening is probably very different to yours and your mum’s.
You say he’s not letting anyone in but then you say you walked in and he was ripping things up, so did he open the door to you or did he let yourselves in? 

What was your relationship like when your Nan was still alive?

Newly_retired

This is a tricky situation. You must try and see it from his point of view, if you want to get him to see it from yours. 
Legally you have the right to her things and obviously it is important to get hold of her paperwork, but it is his home and you don't have the right to just go through everything as if he doesn't exist. 
Good will and compromise are the answer, so try to get him onside.

BikingBud

Beckz1205 said:

Hello all again, just an update that a will was found that my Nan had completed and had signed in 2020 which stated that both me and my mother were to be executors and beneficiaries of her estate (both real and personal) which is great and obviously what we wanted. I guess my Nan forgot she had done that will. Now the issue we are having is that her husband is being difficult with us regarding my nans belongings- I understand that we have the right to take her things to do with what we want but as I said he is being difficult when we are trying to sort things out- following us around telling us not to look in certain cupboards as he claims there’s nothing of hers in there or claiming that certain items are his that he purchased (which we don’t believe he did) and we also worry that he will/has been throwing away things… I just wanted to know if we have any legal right or if there’s anything we can do to stop him objecting/trying to dispose of things. We are currently going through the process of probate and we have to go through her belongings to see if there is anything of value but it’s been incredibly difficult and he isn’t listening to reason. TIA

I didn't see where you had confirmed but was this new found will drafted and signed after your nan's marriage?

If not then it will be revoked.

Marcon

Beckz1205 said:

Hello all again, just an update that a will was found that my Nan had completed and had signed in 2020 which stated that both me and my mother were to be executors and beneficiaries of her estate (both real and personal) which is great and obviously what we wanted. I guess my Nan forgot she had done that will. Now the issue we are having is that her husband is being difficult with us regarding my nans belongings- I understand that we have the right to take her things to do with what we want but as I said he is being difficult when we are trying to sort things out- following us around telling us not to look in certain cupboards as he claims there’s nothing of hers in there or claiming that certain items are his that he purchased (which we don’t believe he did) and we also worry that he will/has been throwing away things… I just wanted to know if we have any legal right or if there’s anything we can do to stop him objecting/trying to dispose of things. We are currently going through the process of probate and we have to go through her belongings to see if there is anything of value but it’s been incredibly difficult and he isn’t listening to reason. TIA

You say this will was signed in 2020 - when did she marry?

You've lost your nan - but he's just lost his wife, less than a fortnight ago, and already (in his mind - and please note I've said 'in his mind', not made an accusation) you're swooping in for what you can get.

Forget the legalities and deal with the practicalities, which means dealing with a person who is also newly bereaved and probably pretty concerned about his own future, financial and otherwise. You need to keep in mind that if he wasn't left anything in the will, he could be in a position to contest your inheritance on the grounds that he expected his wife to make 'reasonable provision' for him, so you might want to think twice before getting into a stand off, especially while emotions are raw for all of you.

Marcon

BungalowBel said:

If there is no will than your nan will die intestate and there are very clear legal rules of intestacy.  This is why her husband will inherit the bulk of the estate.  You can't contest as there is no will to contest, just very clear legal rules.  And as far as I know, he can't do a deed of variation either for the same reason.  

Just to correct this. If someone dies intestate, then it is still possible for a dependant to claim for 'reasonable financial provision' under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975, although note that 'claim' does not necessarily mean they will succeed.

It is perfectly possible to do a deed of variation if someone dies intestate.

mattojgb

Marcon said

 If someone dies intestate, then it is still possible for a dependant to claim for 'reasonable financial provision' under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975, although note that 'claim' does not necessarily mean they will succeed.

Sounds like the husband could be in a position to make a claim under the Inheritance Act if nan's wealth was significantly greater than his own. He seems to have been cut out of the will entirely and is living in a flat whilst nan had a house.

Beckz1205

Thank you for the replies. Husband has his own money hence why he wasn’t included in the will- he is quite financially stable. He had demanded that we remove all my nans possessions from his flat- we weren’t “swooping in for what we can get”- my nan didn’t have much of value in personal belongings but did have items important to us as a family (she used to be a professional singer so had a lot of recorded music/sheet music etc and items from her life as a singer) 

We spent the whole day getting her belongings from his flat the other day… he wanted us to take all her things asap yet made the process incredibly difficult by dictating where we could look-shouting at us telling us not to touch this or that… how were we supposed to know what is hers if we couldn’t look?? Anyways his daughter came to help after we told her how difficult he had been and all my nans belongings are now all over our house. I again appreciate yes he is grieving the loss of his wife but he has just been making it much worse for myself and my mother. It was a very unpleasant experience having to go through her belongings whilst planning her funeral, dealing with probate and tbh myself and my mother have not had any time to grieve our loss as we’ve had to sort everything- it has been a horrible time and I’m quite frankly surprised how we are somehow getting through it all. I won’t lie and say I have a great relationship with her husband as I don’t like the man and he didn’t treat my Nan the greatest- he didn’t look after her appropriately when she became ill after cancer treatment and obstructed myself and my mum when we tried to help and refused outside care. Anyways he now has his empty flat and we now have what we think are all of my nans belongings.