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

What happened to the other 10%?

Forced heirship is fair compared to the nonsense you get with Uk Wills. Someone here can leave it all to the donkey sanctuary or the vicar comes round at the 11th hour to a dementia person and swipe it.
No, Italy and all such countries are very fair. You know exactly where you stand and provision is made for charity bequest and others like carers in the giveaway slice.

In Italy OP would be presumed to inherit from her own bio mother and also a possible adoptive stepfather.
Why should OP then come along and get an equal slice in this next second family arrangement?

The other question is where did OP bio father die? If in Italy, the fathers bio or adoptive kids get half and rest go to his wife. The wife or kids that get the half are able to give it or defer it to the other side/refuse it and this is all part of the procedure. An example of this is the kids say mum I do not need this half you need it for your care. However if in a non forced heir country it often all goes from husband to wife, often to get tax advantages. So if it was a mishmash of the 2 countries someone can lose out…

But to answer the question. Italy and all forced heir inheritance countries are far fairer as long as it is all done this way both mum and dad. In the same country. Italy law is made for Italians, so if it is a complicated case Italy says go with your own country law- it is supremely fair. Everyone knows where they stand.

OP you had the chance to inherit from your own bio mother and you would have if she had lived in Italy.

This

If you think the Italian Notary or solicitor would do anything other than the letter of the Law, no not worth their job. It then goes through a government probate procedure. The rules are strict, and they are very bureaucratic. Your share as a non adoptee is close to correct. You are classed the same as the giveaway portion that can go anywhere. Stepmother must have had a Will but still gone via Italy heirship rules. She made provision for you in the giveaway portion. You are stating, non adoption is unfair. But as an adoptee in Italy you can only inherit from one family and cannot take from 2. If you were adopted by the stepmother in Italy you cannot then inherit a child share from your bio mother in Italy.

Italian rules are made for Italians. Inter country mishmash might worked out oddly.

Honestly, I would not expect a stepmother to give you a bigger share than this. She does not have to, and why should she mess with a tried and tested simple system that could backfire. Any other foreign Wills in Italy would need specialist help and cost much more You can claim in your own bio mothers estate too.

OP bio sister got it. The other stepchild.

Some people here mentioned a few times that upon my fathers death that his daughters should have received 50%. but, how can you do that when the stepmother is living in the house with no cash flow? is she supposed to sell everything to give us our share? i dont understand.

Where did your father die?

I'm a mother and stepmother. Wills are or should be different for step parents. You can not trust your spouse to financially provide for your child when they die if you die first. They may remarry may not have contact with your child after you die. Parents should think about thus in their wills. If all money is tied up in a house then there is no guarantee any children will get left anything when the surviving spouse dies

So, basically, we've established that what you got from your SM was the correct sum that you should have got under Italian inheritance law given that you were not her child and heir. That should save you an awful lot of money.

No people said that once a parent dies inheritance law siggest 50% goes to the spouse and 50% goes to the kids. Considering your father had 3 biological children (your sister, yourself and your half brother) you would have been entitled to 1/3 of half of your father's estate. Then at as your stepmother died her half of the estate would be divided 50/50 to her two biological children (your half brother and stepbrother). Which basically means your half brother would be entitled to 16,7% plus 25% of the full estate, your stepbrother 25% and you and your sister 16.7% each, if my maths are correct. That's assuming no money has gone anywhere else re your father or stepmother wishes (ie other family members, charity gifts etc)

So yeah, technically speaking you are 6.7% short of what you should have received, whether its worth it to you to spend the time, energy, money and potential loss of your family its up to you to decide.

You also keep asking where you would have gotten the money from if it was tied up to a house upon your father's death. I'm assuming you are right, if you had insisted in getting it I assume yes you should have forced her out and sold the house them and there. Considering you keep saying how lovely your stepmother was to you, I'm assuming that even if that scenario had been presented to you at the time, you would have refused and would have agreed to wait upon your stepmother 's death to divide assets, so why does it matter? And even if you hadn't agreed and would have happily made your stepmother move out of her house right after losing her husband, you didn't so considering this is I'm assuming over 10 years ago it still doesn't matter.

I appreciate this, it's a bit confusing, i think i understand. I don't like it but i understand. Don't think its fair. Considering he was the bread winner with a hefty pension. But, regardless what i still don't understand is, when my father died years ago, it looks like my 16.7% of 3 share got carried forward down the line until my step-mother died which then in turn I still received 16.7%. but really bothers me is the way it was handled my brothers said there was no will to be found, then Italian law dictates as you have outlined. Very convenient for them, because i can bet my life that my father and god rest her soul step-mother did not want this to happen. should have been split 4 ways, 25%. or at least 40% + 20% + 20% + 20% = 100% ---- NOT 50% + 30% + 10% + 10% = 100% "Every child matters"

To be fair, Buckles is a law firm that has bilingual and dual qualified solicitors from European countries and UK. They specialise in giving advice in this kind of situation, so they will give tailored advice depending on the laws of the countries involved. It would have to be via personal consultation though.

Thanks for that information; when you read the linked article though, the details contained within refer only to UK statistics and case law hence my comment. It would be interesting to see whether they would give different advice to that which has already been mentioned by other pp.

That is why I said personal consultation is required for specialised advice.