Stepmother inheritance - who's right?

[jamiefromcanada]

My father was a widow at a young age, 30, he has two children from his first marriage. He remarried after a few years to a widowed homemaker who had one child from her previous marriage. After a few years they had a child of their own.

Fast forward, my father died at seventy years old and my step-mother lived another fifteen years, until eighty five years old. During their marriage they lived on my fathers income, which he earned handsomely. We all grew up together as one big close happy family, just like the Brady Bunch. shared birthdays, weddings, and parties together.

After my step-mothers death, my half-brother and step-brother never shared the contents of the will with us or not even let us see it. I know that when my step-mother was alive she said many times to many people including myself that all her children were equal to her. After all was said and done, my brothers gave us only 10% of the entire estate. My half-brother took 50% and my step-brother took, 30%.

What's right in this situation? Both morally and legally. I know how I feel, a bit disappointed. My father and stepmother died thinking we were all one big happy family... I want to get other peoples opinions on this. Thanks

Yes, my in laws retired to Italy but eventually moved back to England because of the Italian inheritance rules.

There was no way that MIL could be left the house if her husband died as his children would have automatically got a share no after what his will said. It was a wise decision as he predeceased her by many years.

I would want information about the solicitor who dealt with the financial side of things and ask them information on how they came to a decision knowing there wasn’t a formal will. If they then say there was a will ask to see it. This will cost you very little. Did your father ever have a will that you saw?

Exactly this. Italian law is really stringent on dividing inheritance equally among the remaining children.

OP you need to get an attorney, get a copy of that well. In Italy, it’s really difficult to do this, dividing up assets on equally among surviving children.

They have a shit ton of laws in place to prevent what has happened to you.

To my understanding you can't leave your kids without an inheritance in Italy? So did you receive anything even paperwork after your father passed?

From emotional point of view I understand you're hurt. Especially if you feel like your step/half siblings have been dodgy. However this is unfortunately very common scenario where in blended families the person who passe first gives everything to their spouse and then tpouae gives everything to their bio kids (where this is legally possible). This is why you need to get your paperwork done.

At this point you can get legal advice.

Did OP's father die in Italy, though? This could easily end up as a jurisdictional clusterfuck.

I think they are being greedy and unfair. They are being deliberately vague and are using the 5,000 miles between them in Italy and you in Canada to their advantage. Maybe they think they deserve more because it was their mum that died, and they have chosen to forget that their mum would have had a lot less if it wasn’t for your dad. If you were local to them I’d say go fight for what’s right, but the distance is going to cost you and will be a lot more stressful.

You can contest a will

I was born in Canada and live in the UK. I was surprised you didn’t clarify when you were shared the UK government site to lookup wills. If you’re not asking about UK-based issues generally you need to explain that or people will think you’re wasting their time, just looking for attention for other reasons — it happens a lot. And most mumsnetters are going to share their opinion whether you like it or not - it’s the culture of this community.

this link to a Canadian site might be helpful

https://www.noticeconnect.com/

Your MIL would have had the right to live in the house though. Surely that would have given her the protection? Personally I think it’s a good rule (if unwieldy in practise; you see so many neglected properties in Italy where there are multiple owners, none of whom can agree what do do with said property).

I’d question the values of a mother who wanted the family house left to her, so that she could in turn leave to whoever she wanted (eg a new husband) rather than to her existing children. If my DH predeceases me, I’ll have the right to live in the property or sell it and buy another, for the benefit of my son. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

If there is one child, both the spouse and child receive a 50% share. For additional children, the estate is divided equally between all children and the spouse. If no children or spouses exist, the next line of succession includes the deceased parents, siblings and finally their descendants.I found this online if it helps , If they say no will could be found then who decided how things were split ?, i definitely think you need to locate both wills, even for your own peace of mind.( The above is how Italian inheritance works )

Is this true? At my fathers death I was supposed to have received 50%? I trusted my step brothers, they handled everything then, and now. Wow. I have to contact a law office in Italy and find this out and get copies of my parents wills. Now I'm mad....but, if this is true, how is my mother in law supposed to give me half the estate if she dose not have it in the bank? Was she supposed to sell everything and move out? How does that work?

When my dad died years ago, my mother in law kept living there in the house and lived off my dads government pension for another 18 years.

Your father had at least two other children, why did you leap to 50%? The maximum would clearly be 16.7% of HIS estate%.
Your step mother may have had a life interest, with the money passing to you at her death only. You got 10% of their combined estate; if they had equal money then your entitlement would have been 8.35%. That's quite close!
You do not know what assets your step mother brought in from her first marriage and life before your dad, nor how much of that was due to your half brother. Given the extra shares to her children, it sounds likely that was more than you thought.

If you stop erasing your siblings from having any rights to portions of the estate, and if you recognise that your step mother is likely to have had assets from her first marriage, then it would really help you in understanding what's happened.

I said similar on 12/01 at 10am.

OP of course you are not entitled to 50%. You are one of three children for a start and the estate was further split between another adult and set of children.

I have a lot of your answers;

You do not need a Will in Italy, it is forced heirship. See websites for the simple equations but basically the bio and adopted children get it in equal shares.

However, Italy needs to know you exist to pay out and there are various ways of achieving this. If Canadians come over saying they are the only children then they will get the estate after signing some declarations and showing a few translated documents.

Wills are only used if you wish to make a bequest that is different or include other people but you cannot exclude the forced heirs, they get a set slice in the Will. Wills are made by a notary and are public.

An adopted step child is included in the no Will scenario, they are the same as a bio child. But for you - No adoption, means no inclusion with the forced.heirship.

If there was a Notarised Will then anybody can get a share including a non adopted child but the share is not going to be the same as a bio or adopted child. So she could leave a smaller slice to her step child (non adopted) So you said 50% and 30% went to her blo sons? So 20% left for you and your brother who are both not bio or adopted - this sounds about right

One more thing. In Italy your stepmother could choose to be governed by another country in terms of inheritance law and Will eg. Canada if you are a citizen or were habitually resident and have interests or heirs in said Country.
It is unusual to do this and would only be likely recognised if the wishes were officially lodged with some authority like a lawyer or notary.

My guess is the 30% son got less as they got or would get an inheritance from their own bio father separately, whereas the 50% son is the son of your father. Your father left his money to your stepmother.

From what you say, there was a Will or you would not have got anything at all! Only bio or adopted can inherit without a Will. You and your full bio sister? are entitled to less under the Will, as you get put in the smaller slice that allows for bequeathing to non-forced recipients. This is NOT the fault of your siblings it is the law. The only way in Italy to give money to a non-forced heir, other than a small slice, is to give it away whilst still alive, once dead the law kicks in….

This is what ive learned from a friend in italy. that my brother from both parents received 4/9, my step brother originally from mother only received 3/9 and then both my sister and me from my fathers side received 1/9. Don't know what this all means but this is how the italian notary divided it.

Is this how the Italian law see's a new marriage with siblings outside the marriage? This means that my mother in law had to adopt us then we would have received 16.66% of 50%? Kind of stupid. The way this is designed means that as illustrated, my father was the bread winner, made all the money she then lived years on his pension and then I get 10% wow, that's fair.

If she had a will, and the notary educated her on the law, then this means my step mother knew that my sister and I will only get 10%? this is a new twist and messed up. in my opinion.

Something else I just learned:

Types of wills in Italian Succession Law The testator shall also follow rules regarding the formal validity of dispositions:
3 types of wills:

• Handwritten will: the will bequeathing property located in Italy is written, dated and signed entirely in the testator’s hand, and one or more copies of the will is kept in a safe place.
• Secret will: the will bequeathing property located in Italy is written, dated and signed entirely in the testator’s hand, then personally delivered to a notary in the presence of two witnesses. The notary shall keep the will with certain formalities.
• Public will: the will is drafted at the notary’s office, it is read before two witnesses, and signed together with the notary and witnesses.
The will shall be executed within ten years of the settlor’s death.

a page from the UK

https://www.buckles-law.co.uk/blog/will-disputes/inheritance-conflicts-within-blended-families/

You can’t use a page from a UK based solicitors firm to fit your narrative for what should happen in a 3rd party country. Others have already explained what happens in Italy regarding forced inheritance and bequeathed inheritance. It’s irrelevant what your step mother lived off after your father’s death as it would have been his choice to name her as the beneficiary of the pension; and possibly the terms of the pension only allowed it to be paid to a spouse or be ended at death.

The other thing that you should consider is that, any action designed to challenge the will is likely to be protracted and costly to conclude; and the only ‘winners’ will be the legal teams whose fees will likely see most, if not all, of the estate going to pay them with either nothing left for beneficiaries or even them having hefty bills to settle out of their own pockets.

Ok, so your OP was the opposite for your half brother and step brother.

Financially, you still seem to be struggling to understand there were 4 parents here and 4 kids. I'm not sure why you are struggling to accept that?

I don't know about Italian law but in the UK, 50% of the entire estate to one son would be unusual. Had they died at the same time, the legal advice on making a will here normally where blended families are concerned is to split the estate 50/50 between husband and wife in the first instance. The husband's 50% would be split equally between all his children and the wife's 50% would be split equally between all her children. Obviously, if one dies before the other then the spouse automatically inherits everything and you either have to make further provisions or trust your spouse to do the right thing when they too die. It sounds like your stepmother was a good woman, but as you say, she may have been manipulated. Did your brothers have power of attorney for her?

If you were unhappy with the will you should have raised it at the appropriate time with the appropriate people in the appropriate country. Moaning about it much later to strangers in a different country with a different legal system is just weird.
I would have expected your father to provide for you in his will as you were his child.