AIBU to refuse aunt’s FWB claim on her estate?

The one thing your own lawyer will be bad at is telling you his expensive time isn't worth it. It is important to be reasonable but i would highlight to your lawyer you don't need a substantial response each time and make sure you're own lawyer isn't being more diligent than he needs to be. Especially if his lawyer's letters read as if they just regurgitated some stuff from him and aren't substantive it would suggest he is not paying the lawyer to do a thorough job and I would suggest he is not particularly committed to this route and trying his luck.

If she was living in the house surely the reservation of benefit rules mean it was still part of her estate for IHT purposes anyway? Though legally yours.

Your solicitor is right. Find out who his solicitor is and make sure he wastes what little money he has. I bet you can’t wait for him to leave.

Who the fuck has voted you are being unreasonable ? This man deserves nothing , don’t even consider paying him off

This!

Sure he is. He knows he has no legal standing so he is trying to intimidate you.
Don't let him. No response unless you get an actual legal notice. Don't engage with him at all. Just ignore the letters.

My Aunt would be devastated at the trouble this is causing.

She might have been, and I know that's upsetting, but the person to be upset at here is the "F"WB. You and your sister are doing exactly what your aunt wanted you to do and specifically asked you to do. Keep knocking him back! If SHE had considered him her dependent or even a friend in need of a handout from her, she would have found a way to provide for him and she would have told you so. Based on everything you've said here she clearly didn't want that, and he doesn't need it.

Make sure you don't accept any rent from him otherwise you could inadvertently create a tenancy.
(I'm not a lawyer, but believe this to be the case)

This.

She's dead. She doesn't care. Don't use that as an excuse not to fight what is rightfully yours.

He is ignoring all of our questions about what he has done with his money

Stop trying to engage with him, there's absolutely no need. Just go through the legal process to have him evicted from the house and ignore him.

If he wants to make a claim, that's up to him to sort out and he's not going to do that because 1) he hasn't got a leg to stand on and 2) he can't afford to waste money on legal advice telling him he hasn't got a leg to stand on.

You are not unreasonable, the house is yours and your sister's, your aunt made it clear, bless her.

In your place I'd give him time to find somewhere to live and ask him if there is anything in the house that he would like.

He probably somehow feels he has lost his anchor but the house is still yours.

If she owned your house then he might be in with a chance, but he’s been dependent on you, not the aunt. As a pp said, don’t die soon.

It’s not a gift with reservation if she’s never owned it.

It looks like she gifted the money to OP who bought the house with it, technically.

It doesn’t even matter if she lived there, the house never belonged to her.

He's like a very ghoulish cocklodger isnt he.
I would ignore him.

So how’s he going to afford legal action if he’s got no money?

Cheeky cunt. Stand firm OP

That’s neither here nor there- he has no rights to your aunt’s estate because he’s not named in her will.

If there is no limit to some peoples cheek, this is a prime example!

The cheeky, cheeky sod! This gall takes my breath away, goodness knows what it does to you and your sister!

The absolute nerve, stand firm with this one!

Tell him to get lost, the utter CF.

CF! Let him write letters and let your solicitor deal with them.

Your Aunt had six months to sort out and vary her Will. She did not.
Fight with your lawyers to make sure he doesn't get any payment.

If, after the time to challenge the Will is over, you wish to allow the old friend to choose a personal item with which to remember your Aunt, then offer him that and a photo of her.

Just keep playing whack-a-mole.

@Sleepneededprettyplease I'm not a legal eagle but to me, he has no claim on the house and I would have thought he has shot himself in the foot here.

Am I right in my interpretation that there are two houses, the one your aunt lived in alone and the house she put in your name for the benefit of you and your sister? He has been living in the house that is legally yours and he is claiming he was a dependent of your Aunts?

Based on your explanation, he is not a dependant of your Aunts because it is legally your house and that is why he has legally been told he has to leave! Your Aunt cannot gift occupation rights in a property she does not own, she can ask you but she cannot legally grant permission herself. So the lodger was living there only because you allowed it, whether explicitly or tacitly so his argument against your house does not stand and he has no right to remain after her death unless you let him. Just out of interest, did he know the house was in your name prior to her death?

So lets then look at the house your late Aunt lived in and owned.

To be considered a dependent under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, he would need to show that the the aunt was maintaining him financially, on a regular, ongoing basis, and that he was unable to meet his own reasonable needs without her support. Simply living rent‑free in a house she didn’t even legally own does not meet that threshold. He wasn’t being supported by her assets — he was occupying a property technically owned by you. That is a big difference to his argument. I suppose technically, anyone can submit a claim. But the real question is: would it succeed? And I agree with your solicitor, the answer is no! Based on what you’ve described, the answer is no because I can't see that the court would let him win purely because he says "“I lived there for free so I should get to stay”. And lets not forget that her Will clearly states who her beneficiaries are.

Being realistic, technically he was never financially dependent on your Aunt as he was in YOUR house, and he can't claim against her home as he wasn’t living in her property, he wasn’t part of her household, he wasn’t her spouse, partner, or child, he wasn't maintained by her (unless of course she contributed financially but even then its a long shot) and he has no contractual or tenancy rights.

He is a chancer, he is putting in the claim as he wants the gravy train to continue and at the very least he hopes that purely for his nuisance value, you will give him something to get rid of him and avoid court costs - do not give into him. He has had the benefit of free accommodation and he should be very grateful for this and now leave the family to deal with their grief.

So in short he wasn’t living in the aunt’s property, he wasn’t financially dependent on her, and he wasn’t part of her household. The house he’s in belongs to you, not the aunt, so he has no right to stay and no realistic claim under the Inheritance Act. YOU ARE NOT BEING UNREASONABLE STAND YOUR GROUND AND GET HIM OUT. He can file a claim if he wants, but it won’t succeed

They were not married, he's not mentioned in a will, surely he cannot claim anything of the estate? Fight him all the way, he sounds horrific.