Is contesting a will something that can be done?

getmore4less

philippas wrote: »

Enjoyed reading the great help from these threads. I'd appreciate any help on this question I have:
My Mum married a UK citizen (second marriage for both) which lasted 11 years. He has passed away recently and left everything in his will to his children. His children are claiming even the good, chattels, car etc.
Does my mother, as his wife of the past 11 years have any rights? If she were to contest the will, how likely is it that she would she be successful?

were they still married?

when was the will drawn up?

Was she financialy dependant?

See a solicitor ASAP.

atush

It sounds to me, and we won't know unless Phil comes back, that the will was an old one from before the second marriage as there was no mention of her.

Would be highly unlikely to have made such a will after the marriage unless she was very wealthy herself which doesn't sound the case. And she would have been mentionned int he will in that case to at least take their personal chattels perhaps?

rpc

Is this in Scotland or England/Wales?

It will make a massive difference to the answer.

oldmanwest

My wife's 2nd cousin lived in England and he was quite wealthy. Although hemanaged a business, a lot of his money was inherited from his family. They hadwritten back and forth over the years and he always sent money to our childrenfor Christmas, etc. Since we hadn't heard from him for a while, we did a searchon the internet and found out his estate was in probate. We contacted the firmin charge of his estate and were informed that he had left my wife’s father andhis brother (1st cousins ) a small portion of the estate. Since my wife’sfather has also passed the money would be split between her and her brother.The bulk of his estate was left to his girl friend of over 25 years, but theywere never married and never lived together. His estate will now go to herfamily, does my wife have any grounds to contest the will under British law?

Goldenyears

No, you have no grounds to contest the will based on what you have said (but I am not a lawyer, just have executor experience).
Do you live in a country/jurisdiction where blood relatives have special rights in a will, even if they are not financially dependent on the deceased ? In England/Wales I believe there are no such rights in a will where probate is granted.

Aegis

oldmanwest wrote: »

My wife's 2nd cousin lived in England and he was quite wealthy. Although hemanaged a business, a lot of his money was inherited from his family. They hadwritten back and forth over the years and he always sent money to our childrenfor Christmas, etc. Since we hadn't heard from him for a while, we did a searchon the internet and found out his estate was in probate. We contacted the firmin charge of his estate and were informed that he had left my wife’s father andhis brother (1st cousins ) a small portion of the estate. Since my wife’sfather has also passed the money would be split between her and her brother.The bulk of his estate was left to his girl friend of over 25 years, but theywere never married and never lived together. His estate will now go to herfamily, does my wife have any grounds to contest the will under British law?

I very much doubt it. She's not a close relative that would be expected to inherit a large proportion of her 2nd cousin's estate, while the partner of 25 years would very much be expected to be a majority beneficiary.

On what grounds would you want to contest the will?

Mojisola

oldmanwest wrote: »

My wife's 2nd cousin lived in England and he was quite wealthy. Although hemanaged a business, a lot of his money was inherited from his family. They hadwritten back and forth over the years and he always sent money to our childrenfor Christmas, etc. Since we hadn't heard from him for a while, we did a searchon the internet and found out his estate was in probate. We contacted the firmin charge of his estate and were informed that he had left my wife’s father andhis brother (1st cousins ) a small portion of the estate. Since my wife’sfather has also passed the money would be split between her and her brother.The bulk of his estate was left to his girl friend of over 25 years, but theywere never married and never lived together. His estate will now go to herfamily, does my wife have any grounds to contest the will under British law?

No, apart from some restrictions if a person is financially supporting another person, under English law you can leave your estate to whoever you want. He obviously wanted his partner of 25 years to benefit from his wealth.

atush

How would you have felt should he have not made a will? In that case, the partner of 25 years probably would have inherited nothing and you and the rest of the bolood family (however distant) all. Would you have volunteered to give her some?

I think perhaps not. He made a will, which was resonable as they had been together a very long time. Be happy he left you anything.

hoya6

From what i can gather if your father-in-law hadn't already passed your wife would receive nothing and if you were at all close to this 2nd cousin why weren't you informed of his demise.