DH left me NOTHING in his will – devastated and fuming

[jackmd5]

I’m honestly reeling and don’t know what to do. DH of 15 years passed away unexpectedly a few months ago. It’s been a horrible time, and I’ve been dealing with everything – funeral, DC, paperwork, the lot – while also grieving.

I’ve just found out that he left NOTHING to me in his will. Not a penny. Everything has gone to his two DC from his first marriage, who are both adults and very comfortable financially. Our joint savings, the house (which is in his name, long story), even his personal possessions – all left to them. I get that he wanted to provide for them, but to leave me, his WIFE, completely out??! I am beyond hurt and also absolutely panicking because I have no idea where this leaves me financially.

He made the will before we were married, and I stupidly assumed he’d updated it. I trusted him. Never in a million years did I think he’d do this to me. I’ve raised our DC, supported him through thick and thin, and now I’m left with nothing??

I feel sick. I don’t even know where to start with legal stuff – does anyone know if I can challenge this? I can’t believe he’s done this. I thought we had a happy marriage. Just looking at his face in old photos makes me want to scream.

Has anyone been through anything similar? What did you do? I feel so betrayed.

I didn't say that did I!
People have a responsibility to provide for young dc in the event of their death regardless of "what he wanted."

When you write a will with a solicitor, it is made clear at the time that marriage invalidates the will. Whilst he may have been negligent in his admin, he may have also known everything comes to you after marriage therefore potentially saw no need to update it / make a new one.
Definitely would be a sloppy approach, but who knows what the guy was thinking.
Sorry for your loss OP, grief is a tricky thing to navigate x

How come you have only discovered this now? Surely when making funeral arrangements etc his wishes would have been taken into account and the bills taken from the estate?

No, I don’t have a will stupid, I know

I'm starting to think that you don't have home insurance, either @jackmd5 . Or you'd have an answer from your free legal helpline by now.

You might be insured by one of the tiny minority of insurers that don't have one, but at the moment I'm getting the impression that I'm talking to the wall and you haven't checked.

Well, he has young children with the OP and I am betting he loved them just as much. Being young they will need help with basic necessities such as educational costs, food, clothing, shelter, clubs.

I didn't see the OP ever say she would leave out his older children. People just made up that scenario in their minds and ran with it.

His wife and younger children need the most help and luckily, they will get it without leaving the older children out.

The OP isn't in Scotland.

Nail on the head and exactly what most people would do to be fair to ALL children. Had the OP's husband made a new will, he'd have probably included a life interest trust for the house for the OP to continue living in it, but upon her death, for it's value to be shared between ALL children. That wasn't done, but the OP can make such a provision in her will, that when the house is finally sold after her death, then ALL the children get their fair share. If she does that and tells her OH's two children that's what she's done/plans to do, it will avoid any unpleasantness and argument.

The rules on intestacy apply as the will is avoid. Find a local solicitor who is knowledgeable in this and willing to assist you by explaining the rules and paperwork for probate proceedings, you can file the actual probate and handle distribution yourself but you need to get the up to date rules first. A decent family solicitor should give you a price for an hour of time to go through it all then a quote to handle the paperwork for you

Everything does not go to the OP. The link from CAB explains that.

Agree

Any will made before you marry becomes null and void on the day you marry. He would have needed to make a new will after you married for it to be valid.

Other question is everything in his sole name?

is the house joint tenants so it goes to you regardless of will? Any joint bank accounts will automatically pass to you.

that would be more usual?

House is in DH name, if you click ‘see all’ on the green comment you can view all of OP’s updates.

@jackmd5 I work in this area of law. Unless the Will was made 'in contemplation of marriage' then any Will he made prior to the marriage was revoked. He may have made another Will (your solicitor can undertake a search for this, for example, with Certainty.

In the meantime do you know where the original (prior to the marriage) Will is? I would want to be certain, in your shoes, that the executors of that Will cannot apply for a Grant of Probate. Lodge a caveat. You can do this online without any legal advice.

https://www.gov.uk/stop-probate-application

If there is no Will, and if you are certain about this, then your DH died intestate and those rules will apply as above.

However, and this is important, you can still make a claim against his estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 if the intestacy rules do not provide you and your children (presumably these are minor children?) with 'reasonable financial provision'.

https://www.brownejacobson.com/insights/inheritance-act-1975-common-questions#:~:text=The%20Inheritance%20(Provision%20for%20Family,as%20a%20result%20of%20an

My very strong advice is for you to seek independent legal advice from a firm of solicitors who offer advice about estates generally and also has a contentious probate department so you can also seek advice on any IPFDA claim you might have.

Under no circumstances should you be giving your late husband's elder children anything until the legal position has been fully resolved.

You should also make sure that no one has made contact with any financial organisation where your husband held accounts/investments etc. Some assets do not require a Grant of Probate to close them down and some banks (etc) will simply do so on the production of a death certificate, an original Will and some ID from the executors. Banks and other financial institutions do not know whether a Will has been revoked or not.

At least three posters have said that if no will husband gets it all WRONG, in the case of a larger estate. Also telling her she needs a solicitor. Not necessarily. Information easily found on line. Wife can do letters of administration, if reasonably competent and save a good deal of money. I really worry about the amount of legal advice on here. Not a solicitor, but well informed and know how to find government websites.

Other than for life insurance, joint accounts and pensions, OP wouldn’t have been able to do anything financial in the months after he died, if she’d even tried, the companies involved would have needed sight of the will or letters of admin.

It doesn't need to be in joint names for her to inherit as the law states his wife is his next of kin without a valid will which the last one was invalidated by marriage.

Why did this thread disappear with a deletion message but now it’s back?

Well, exactly. I asked over an hour ago how the OP had managed financially in these last months. She is living in a house that isn't in her name and it's odds on the utilities accounts aren't either. Joint or single bank accounts? Life assurance? Pensions? There is so much financial admin to sort out when someone dies. It's very hard when it's also a very difficult time emotionally, but just ignoring it is not normally going to work because the bills have to be paid. I do not understand how it can have taken this long for the OP to wonder what was happening about the will.

Not accurate. There are innumerable links on this thread to reliable sources of information on intestacy in England, which is where the OP says she lives. The OP would be well advised to ignore most of what's been said on this thread except the advice to see a solicitor without delay.

I saw a deletion message too saying OP was a troll. Maybe a mistake?

Speak to a solicitor asap, especially around making a claim under the Inheritance Provision for Family and dependants act, yes you will get something under intestacy but not everything.

Yes as you married his previous will is invalid.
Ex Mil married after years together to ensure her affairs were in order after 2 previous marriages
I'm sorry for your loss

My solicitor told me when I brought my house with my ex and we were tenants in common in which I left my half to my children that I needed to remake my with after I married him or to revoke my will asap in the case we split up.
She also said that his adult children would have very little claim on the house but any children under 18 may do.

Same and it didn’t surprise me but now it’s back. Strange.