Being cut from a will

sams247

Long story short - my dad died in October. Before he died he had dementia and before that I was asked to view the will of my parents, this was written before my dad became unwell.  As far as I am aware no other will replaced it.  It stated that the bulk of everything would go to the surviving partner for their use and life and then on be divided between 4 children.  My step mother has now said she is rewriting the will so my sibling and I will never inherit, only my step brothers.  I am guessing she can do this, but would like advice never-the-less.  Currently its all gone to probate.  

Keep_pedalling

If your father’s will created an immediate post death interest trust, then no she can’t change that as legal ownership your father’s assets are owned by the trust and do not form part of her heritable estate.

Who were the executors of his will?

bobster2

sams247 said:

Long story short - my dad died in October. Before he died he had dementia and before that I was asked to view the will of my parents, this was written before my dad became unwell.  As far as I am aware no other will replaced it.  It stated that the bulk of everything would go to the surviving partner for their use and life and then on be divided between 4 children.  My step mother has now said she is rewriting the will so my sibling and I will never inherit, only my step brothers.  I am guessing she can do this, but would like advice never-the-less.  Currently its all gone to probate.  

You refer to "the will of my parents" but there wouldn't be a single will. Your father would have had a will for his estate. And your step mother has a will. They may be "mirror" wills - that contain similar wishes - but your step mother would be entitled to tear up her will and write a new one.

However, as @Keep_pedalling has suggested - it's possible that your father's will didn't leave everything absolutely to your step mother. It could have created a trust. Do you have any idea whether this was the case?

If there's no trust and it was just a case of your father leaving everything to your stepmother with a verbal request that she then leaves it to all the children - then she would not need to follow this request.

Savvy_Sue

Who's executor?

Marcon

sams247 said:

Long story short - my dad died in October. Before he died he had dementia and before that I was asked to view the will of my parents, this was written before my dad became unwell.  As far as I am aware no other will replaced it.  It stated that the bulk of everything would go to the surviving partner for their use and life and then on be divided between 4 children.  My step mother has now said she is rewriting the will so my sibling and I will never inherit, only my step brothers.  I am guessing she can do this, but would like advice never-the-less.  Currently its all gone to probate.  

Mutual wills (as opposed to mirror wills) are extremely rare.

If the marriage took place after your father signed the will you viewed, then the marriage will have invalidated that will unless it specifically referred to the intended marriage and named your stepmother.

Probably best to get some proper legal advice from a solicitor who has seen the wording of the actual will. Unless you are one of the executors, that may need to wait until probate has been granted and you can download a copy of the will for £1.50 from https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

comeandgo

Which country did your dad live in?

Olinda99

what exactly did your father's will say ?

FlorayG

You should read @critchley post about the mess this sort of thing can cause after a death - it really depends entirely on whether or not your father's will is valid as read. If it is then your stepmother doesn't own any of the assets in the trust, she only has use of them until she dies, they have ALREADY been left to you and your siblings. If however he just left a 'wish' that it be left onwards to you than it all belongs to her and she can do whatever she wants with it. You can't tell anyone who inherits what they can do with their inheritance.
Mirror wills are easily changed after the first person dies, my mother wrote a completely new will after my father died

sams247

Who were the executors of his will?

It was my brother, I assume it still is.

comeandgo said:

Which country did your dad live in?

UK

My step mother has been so for 52 years, so the will was made way after the marriage.  I had no idea we'd be cut out which is why I am so surprised.  The will I was shown seemed to be from both viewpoints but I guess I didnt really take much notice, I was asked to read it so I could know what was in it at the time my brother was made executor.  

Thank you.  I will seek more information as to wording etc. But I think its a lost cause.  Its not really about the money etc its more, I think, wondering if we had a say in what is happening to all the things we had around us growing up.  

Thanks all.   

Keep_pedalling

sams247 said:

Who were the executors of his will?

It was my brother, I assume it still is.

comeandgo said:

Which country did your dad live in?

UK

My step mother has been so for 52 years, so the will was made way after the marriage.  I had no idea we'd be cut out which is why I am so surprised.  The will I was shown seemed to be from both viewpoints but I guess I didnt really take much notice, I was asked to read it so I could know what was in it at the time my brother was made executor.  

Thank you.  I will seek more information as to wording etc. But I think its a lost cause.  Its not really about the money etc its more, I think, wondering if we had a say in what is happening to all the things we had around us growing up.  

Thanks all.   

What does your brother have to say about it? 

When you were asked what country, what part of the UK the laws of Scotland are very different to those of England and Wales.

Olinda99

It is definitely not a lost cause if depends on what the will said. Once you know, post it here