To go after my ex for half his inheritance

[spanieleyes22]

So we split 15 years ago. 2 ds. They are with me. He did see them on weekends when they were small. He moved back in wit his mother and used take them there at weekends. Usually one nite. Not every weekend. He's been sporadic with maintenance. Had to take him to court at the beginning. Sometimes he pays it sometimes he doesn't. He doesn't see them now. They don't really have a relationship with him despite my best efforts. His mother has now died and it looks like he will inherit her house. Probably he won't get a huge amount as there are a lot of siblings. We never actually divorced. I tried a few years ago to do a diy one but he was slow signing the papers and in the end life took over and I let it go. Friends and family are saying to me I should get half his inheritance. I would feel bad though trying to get it. In the same way he could get half of anything I might inherit. My parents are well though so they will be around for a good while yet. Wwyd. Leave him be or. In one way I would do it for the dc to help them out. I don't want anything from him I hate him 🤣but he won't give the ex anything he just won't I know what he's like. So I could do it for them. They have no relationship with him anyway so I wouldn't be messing anything up for them .

This. As you split up so long ago I don't think you should try and get any of the inheritance.
But you should definitely get something legal in place about the child maintenance

Get divorced asap and protect your own side of things. In this scenario as the inheritance isn’t a shared marital asset I’d think you’d struggle to stake a claim. Potentially if his mother saw how neglectful he was of his children she may have left money directly to them not him?

Just seen that the fee for a divorce is nearly 600 pound. I wouldn't have that kind of money

He can’t say no at all anymore. No matter how much a fight he puts up. There’s no such thing as defending a divorce.

You’d have to get legal advice but it’s possible your dc could claim and I think you’d do all the paperwork as their “litigation friend” https://www.gov.uk/litigation-friend

You can get a fee rebate if you’re on benefits or low income

His inheritance might be considered when splitting assets when you divorce.

He’s always going to fuck about on the maintenance.

Go for the inheritance.

He would have gone after yours if you had one.

Fuck yeah - you’re still married. In fact, you could probably do something with probate re unpaid child support. He may end up with sweet fuck all.

I doubt you would be entitled to any of the inheritance

How does the Court deal with inheritance upon divorce? - IBB Law

You need to divorce and have your financials done asap, as you are jointly responsible for any debts he may accrue whilst you are still legally married.

It will be money well spent in the long term.

I’m confused about why your friends think you have a claim on the inheritance after all this time?

Er, because she's his legal wife?

OP, you should get divorced and do a financial settlement anyway, to prevent future legal complications and absurdities. You may, or may not, receive some of the inheritance as part of your financial settlement, but that's largely irrelevant. Read up on what's likely and get the legal ball rolling.

Ask him to pay for divorce, with the promise you won't go for inheritance. Get it done so your not tied to him, then sort maintenance.

Get legal advice. Claim what is rightly yours which could include the inheritence. Get the divorce finalised ffs

Now you know what it costs, save up. Put any small amounts of money you do get from him towards the divorce fees.

Look, if you can’t afford £600 you can’t afford a lawyer to argue you should get 50% of the inheritance. And most judges won’t allow that anyway - you’ve been separated for 15 years and a recent inheritance will almost certainly be excluded.

But you do need to get divorced. So save up and get him officially cut out of your life.

You split up 15 years ago. Good luck making a direct claim on his inheritance. And if you don't have the money for a no fault divorce, why would a lawyer take your dubious inheritance case on without asking to be paid up front, if you don't even know how much the inheritance is? Of course, continue to pursue him for maintenance arrears.

This is not true. You are not jointly liable for another person’s debts just because you’re married to them.

Ask a solicitor to send a legal letter to your ex stating the amount of unpaid child maintenance and stating that you will sue for the amount +legal costs

• cumulative bank interest unless it is paid within 6 months. State that you are aware he expects to receive a cash asset in the form of inheritance and expect he should use this asset to settle his debt.

There are absolutely cases where an ex husband-wife have been able to claim money long after the separation and even long after divorce. There is one quite well known example where a couple had been divorced for 20 years when the exh won millions on the lottery and because they had never finalised their finanacial settlement in all those years the exw was entitled to share of the money. However, if it's unlikely to be a sizeable amount and you can't afford to fight him in court you are both much less likely to come out of this with anything but legal fees that are well exceeding what you would have got.

If he hasn't been paying maintenance, there's no way he's going to pay all the costs of the divorce after she tries use his inheritance, which she has no legitimate claim to, as a bargaining chip.

Get divorced properly; and claim maintenance. I mean morally it’s another question but legally I suppose if you’re still married then your assets are still legally shared. Maybe he should have signed the paperwork when you first offered it to him!!!

Have you made a will? Your parents need to make a will covering if you die before you've settled their probabte. Make sure that he can't get anything of yours.

I am not a lawyer and would not make any prediction on how this situation would go in court, but it does appear that a later inheritance, while it probably wouldn't be treated as a marital asset in the financial settlement, could potentially be used to determine the XH's ability to house himself and DC in the financial settlement and thus lead to a larger award of any marital assets to the OP. But this is assuming there are other assets.

What case is this?

I wouldn't go after his inheritance, but I'd fight for more money for your children if it meant putting the heating on a bit more for them, extra clothes, nicer things and better experiences in life.

At the present time your parents are well, but none of us know what's around the corner so I'd want to protect what they might leave you for yourself and also your childdren. I really think I'd be looking at divorce through a solicitor who can advise and progress the matter.