Messy will...any advice?

humph_2

My wife's father divorced his 1st wife (my wife's mother) and remarried. He had two children by his first marriage. my wife and her brother. His new partner had one son through a previous relationship. My wife's father died around 10 years ago. He left no will and all the properties, money etc (he was quite well off) went to his wife. 4 weeks ago his wife (my wife's step mother) died. There are at least 2 properties and monies. The other son has been a little shady and not forthcoming with information. He did not even let my wife know about the death. There is a will. My wife is convinced that she and her brother are entitled to claim as all the inheritance from her father went into the estate as it stands. They were not even allowed any personal items from her father's estate and this left a bitter taste.

We will have to consult a solicitor. The son is also the executor and this hampers information. I just wondered if anybody had any views. I dont really want my wife to get involved in a messy legal wrangle and end up losing as her health is not good. Also money is tight and we could not afford to pay out money and get no return.

mountainofdebt

To be honest, my initial thoughts are that it depends on your father-in-law's will.

For example if he left a property to her step-mum for her benefit and then on her death, it went to your wife and brother-in-law then yes she would inherit following the step-mum's death.

However if there was no clause in your father-in-law's will then my guess is that it depends what the step-mum wrote in her will.....

Once the will is published, I believe your wife can get a copy of her step-mum's will.

I wouldn't think that your wife is entitled to anything as a matter of right but as I'm no lawyer I am sure that someone with far more knowledge will either confirm or deny what I say.

WHA

It's a while since I studied intestacy and wills, but I recall the following.

If there was no will for FIL, i.e. intestacy, his estate passes to his children, but his wife is allowed to benefit from that estate for her lifetime. It would depend on the ages of his children at the time of his death, and there are also financial limits, so if the estate was large enough, not all of it would pass to his wife. I seem to remember that children had to be dependents to automatically benefit under the intestacy laws, otherwise wife legally acquires the estate. However, it also depends on whether the property was held as "tenants in common" or "joint tenants" - i.e. it may not have formed part of his estate at all, the property may have automatically passed to his wife on his death regardless of whether there was a will or not. Also, there may have been pension or life insurance policies that weren't included in his estate as they also can be automatically transferred to a nominated person in the event of death regardless of wills or intestacy laws.

So basically, the new wife's will is completely irrelevant. If she legally became the owner of FIL's property upon his death, then that is the end of the matter and your wife has no rights. If your wife and her brother did become beneficiaries of any assets following FIL's death, then they would have known about it at the time via the solicitors dealing with FIL's estate.

To be honest, it sounds as if FIL didn't give any thought to his own children's inheritance. Perhaps he thought they would be provided for legally upon his death, or morally by his new wife? Perhaps, as many people do, he didn't give any thought at all to dying? I would imagine you could get copies of the "letters of administration" of your father's estate from the local registrar to see what the value of his estate was and who the beneficiaries were. You could also try to remember as much as possible and talk to CAB or a solicitor briefly about your FIL's death. I would concentrate on your FIL's death first as the circumstances surrounding that are the key.

But, as I've said, I'm no expert and this is all just my recollection from years ago.

Spendless

WHA wrote:

It's a while since I studied intestacy and wills, but I recall the following.

If there was no will for FIL, i.e. intestacy, his estate passes to his children, but his wife is allowed to benefit from that estate for her lifetime. It would depend on the ages of his children at the time of his death, and there are also financial limits, so if the estate was large enough, not all of it would pass to his wife.

I don't think this bit is right. Without a will the wife as next of kin would inherit but only upto a certain level, then the money over and above this amount would go to the children with the wife benefitting from the estate till she dies. you'd need to know how much estate was worth when FIL died to know whether wife should have inherited lot or not. Assuming she did inherit the lot then I'd say it is then hers to dispose of as she wishes.

EDIT_I've just looked at https://www.willwriters.co.uk This says 'is estate worth more than £200k if no spouse gets lot, if yes spouse get £125k and life interest in half the remainder with balance going to the children

It also mentions rules are different in Scotland and NI

Bossyboots

My understanding is also that the children can be over 18 to inherit under the intestacy rules.

http://www.lawontheweb.co.uk/intro.htm

Therefore, it would seem there is a claim to be had in the OP's situation as the father died intestate.

Scoflo

In Scotland you cannot remove your children from the estate. So no matter what the will says they have a legal right. This would cost money but it is the case.