Wills.... what do I do? Feel cheated out of inheritence

[Amblu81]

My mother was married to man Z from 1975 until their divorce in 2003.
There is a decree absolute.

My Mum made a will in 1991 leaving her estate to her husband, should he not be around, it would come to me.

My mother met a new partner (man B) and bought a property together in October 2015. My Mum paid the £44,000 deposit from the proceeds of the sale of her property she owned with me previously. I am 99.9% sure this was as tenants in common as she encouraged me to do the same when I purchased a property with my ex partner and assured me she had protected my inheritance.

My mother passed away in November 2017, she had not made another will.. My mother and man B never married. The executor of the will resigned as she was very poorly and living 300 miles away, leaving my Aunt to do so. She had no idea she was meant to or even mentioned in my Mums will and was in no fit state to do so having lost her little siter whom she was very close to.

Man B and I both had copies of the will but on her deathbed, my Mum reminded me that my inheritance is tied up in the property and begged me not to throw man B out/force him to sell. I promised her this so Man B has lived there ever since. I never expected him to live there so long and with his new wife. This would not be my Mum's wish.

Unknown to me at the time, Man B married his new partner in 2019. She is shown as joint owner of the property deed. I only ordered them and found this out today.

I meant to take it up at the time and made initial enquiries, but covid happened and then I went through a painful separation myself. I have finally sold the property I owned with my ex-partner and about to purchase another property to start afresh. Due to a blip, my mortgage provider is now requesting an extra £17,0000 for my deposit, which I do not have. I approached Man B for ways to free up the inheritance I am due, or at least some of it. He replied that there is no money but I might get some of the sale proceeds on his death, should his wife decide to sell.

Is there anything I can do? I realise it is too late for the property I am trying to purchase but I now want to pursue getting back anything due to me. I feel royally cheated

Man Z is shown as my father on my birth certificate (he is not, not entirely sure who is tbh!) Man B is not a possible father, but has been my Mums friend since the 70's.

Knowing how the house was owned is vital

https://www.pettyson.co.uk/about-us/our-blog/814-joint-tenants-vs-tenants-in-common

A house owned by a 'joint tenant' effectively bypasses any will and goes straight to the survivor, regardless of what the deceased meant to happen

A house owned by tenants in common means each one holds a share in the house, but the survivor does not automatically inherit the deceased's share

Nope, executor resigned on hearing of my Mums death, it passed to my aunt today who knew nothing about it.

OK, so if you’re a named beneficiary and neither executor is willing, or able to administer the will, you can apply to probate to be allowed to administer it, more detail here. I think that would be a good first step.

www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/if-theres-a-will

Your mother purchased a house with B as tenants in common. Then your mother died and B took the house for himself somehow, then shared it with his new wife. You need to figure out how this has happened as you should have received your mother’s share.

Are you sure the house wasn’t owned as joint tenants? I can’t see how he could have taken your mother’s share of the house for himself otherwise.

I'd be tempted to call the Land Registry to see if they can clarify how the property was held when your Mum was one of the owners. Not sure if they will tell you, but they may be able to advise how to proceed if you explain the circumstances.

If the property was held as tenants in common as you thought, man B has presumably fraudulently transferred your Mum's share into the name of new wife. Not sure how easy it would be to do that though, so I wonder if that suggests he was joint tenant with your Mum.

And as previous posters have said, I would apply to administer your Mum's estate ASAP.

You might find this link useful as it's not easy to tell from title deeds how a property is held
https://hmlandregistry.blog.gov.uk/2022/11/02/what-kind-of-joint-ownership-do-i-have/

Could man B have already done this and that's how he got the house into his new wife's name?

If he's administered the estate but not in accordance with the will, I believe that's illegal so you could report to police and also take him to court to get your half of the estate back.

He could I suppose have got your mum to sign her half of the house over to him before she died. Maybe by promising her that he'd leave you half on his death.

I think the only way to properly protect the inheritance of your children from a previous marriage is to hold your portion of the property you own with the new partner in trust after your death.

For example my dad had 4 kids, 3 from a previous marriage and me with my mum. The house my mum now lives in will be split 50% when she dies, her half will go to me and my dad's 50% will be split 4 ways between me and my siblings. There is also a trust with some of his money that was released after his death that cannot be touched until my mum dies and will also be split 4 ways. I'm not sure what would happen if my mum met someone and bought a new house with someone else. I would assume she could use the full value of the house she is currently living in towards purchasing a new property but my dads 50% of that amount is still protected and would be reflected as a percentage of the property value. It's really the only way to truly protect inheritance. Not 100% sure on that but I assume whatever happens, my dad's investment in their property is legally protected by the trust.

It seems like you are totally relying on man B and his wife being decent people. If man B goes first it would be up to his wife to make sure you are taken care of if there was no trust set up.

I would take some legal advice but on the face of it, it doesn't sound likely that your inheritance has been protected in this scenario.

I agree with everyone else, you need to consult a solicitor.