To go after my ex for half his inheritance

Go for divorce and maintenance. Don’t get embroiled in extraneous stuff.

https://www.nelsonslaw.co.uk/applications-under-the-inheritance-act/

I never knew that you could apply to inherit money from someone's estate because you are in need, even though they deliberately excluded you.

There is case law relating to inheritance after separation being taken into account where there has been no financial order post separation.

I'd do it and put it accounts for kids

Go for cms by all means, but don't go for his inheritance. That would be a shitty move.

You can’t afford not to get legal advice and finalise the divorce. As sure as eggs are eggs, he’ll be coming after any inheritance you may get in the future if you’re not already divorced.

You need to formalise the CMS claim and divorce him. Apart from anything else, he’s presumably your next of kin still - that means he’s making all decisions about your care and inheriting your property of anything happens to you - the evidence proves he wouldn’t look after the children.

I think you’ll find that the dear daddy has been as feckless as f. He has avoided his responsibilities towards his children. Op would only be doing right by her children if she salvaged the back maintenance they were due. And going forward.
I’m sure the dear chappie will be delighted to finally have the means do right by his offspring.

He’ll have money now though, from the inheritance. He sounds like a feckless father.

Go after the maintenance, and tell your solicitor about the inheritance, so that will be taken into consideration...he has the means to pay. And GET THAT DIVORCE! Don't ever count on "my parents are well." Life has a way of throwing things at you.

If all else fails, when you have your maintenance hearing, have your solicitor walk the divorce papers over to him, and say, "Sign these now."

Realy curious to know, OP, whether you have a will in place

How old are your children?. Surely they must be nearing adulthood by now.

It isn’t a marital asset even if two people are still married.

son who inherited it.

If you live n England it won’t do you any good going after him for his inheritance as inheritance is not shared assets it belongs solely to the pers

Phone child maintenance and ask them to arrange collection each month. If he doesn’t pay you report it each month, if he still doesn’t then they’ll deduct it straight from his wage!
file for divorce now…. He’ll be keen to sign it now he has inheritance. You could go for it but if the courts say no you might just end up with a bill …

Not quite the same I know but I lost my mom whilst I was divorcing my ex. The solicitor tried to ring fence it as she said we were separated at the time mom died. He ended up without any of my inheritance, so it’s not guaranteed you’ll get it? If we ended up going to court however my solicitor advised me that there was a chance the judge would award him a certain percentage. What I can guarantee tho is that you will end up with is a hefty solicitors bill trying to pursue it.
You can get divorced regardless but the financial aspect is a separate issue to that anyway. You will need a clean break - which means finances are sorted and you can no longer claim against each others finances. This is a must nowadays, because if ever he got into a bad finance situation such as bankcruptcy they may come after you if you’re still both married? I would look into it; some solicitors give you a free advice session or you could try citizens advice.

Please see a solicitor and get a financial separation, I forget the legal term for this; he could come for anything you have now or in the future. It’s a complete clean break so that neither of you can seek money/property/pensions etc clears things. If anything were to happen to you now he would have decisions over everything, your kids/cash/wishes the lot…even down to your funeral. They could say his needs are greater than yours , say if your kids have left home & he doesn’t have anywhere to live.
join a legal uk page, loads of helpful folk on there who can help

Grabby asf.
You’ve been done for FIFTEEN YEARS.

Imagine how disgusted you’d be if your parent died and he was trying to “go after” your inheritance.

Maintenance is seperate and should be chased through appropriate channels. Personally after 15 years apart I would not chase for his inheritance but I would chase up the divorce as I'm sure he will receive similar advice from others when your parents pass. So factor in if you would like him to get half of that. If not push for the divorce and tell him if he doesn't speedily send what you need you will think about claiming what's yours.

Not inheritance, just maintenance as several people have said

I think Lady Gabriella is right.
My late ex tried to claim from my late parent's estate!

Such nonsense being spouted. If someone doesn't get half the inheritance when they are married at the time of death and when it is paid out then the OP won't get it when split for 15 years before the death!

You've been separated for 15 years. You'd be hard pushed for a court to consider his inheritance a marital asset as it wasn't part of the 'money pot' when you split up, despite there being no financial order / divorce in place.

So he’s paid nothing for the upbringing of his children. Hell yeah. Go for half of the inheritance and put it in trust for your children or support them through uni with it.

However disclaimer OP **I am not giving you legal advice, my DH isn’t a divorce lawyer. He specialises in something else. But yes see a solicitor, you have a case.

Sorry but my DH is a barrister and lawyer
and says them being separated is completely irrelevant. They are still legally married.

He hasn’t separated from his children. They are still his children. He hasn’t been paying to support them. To say OP isn’t entitled to his money is ridiculous - she 100% is.