Would You Leave Money Or Property To Relatives You Barely See?

[TheCoralMoose]

Only asking because i have a cousin who has always been entitled thinks she is superior.

Last time i saw her was at a funeral 7 years ago her 3 children about 5 times since they were born.

They live miles away now but when they lived only six miles away they never bothered.

A few days ago she contacted me on FB saying my home will make her grown childrens lives good. She owns her house and her dad my uncle will be leaving his to her.

I said im leaving nothing to any of you .
Her answer well it can be contested anyway you cant give to charity etc if you have living relatives.

I have made a will stating my home and any savings go to my brother on his death they go to a animal charity.

I dont want her family getting any i worked hard for my home.
Im only 43 so im of sound mind.
Can they try to contest if i did die.
She also said my brother doesnt need it he owns a house.

She isn't a dependent so she won't have a rightful claim to contest anything.

Of course you aren’t being unreasonable - it’s your estate and you can make whatever plans you like for it. I hope it’s not a plan that’s needed for a very long time!

I don’t know if they can contest but someone more knowledgeable than me will be along soon I’m sure! I thought only children could contest and spouses but I could be wrong.
id be surprised if a court would grant an amendment to a sibling or nieces/nephews who can’t evindence any meaningful relationship with you and who would clearly be chasing the money.

CF alert. You are perfectly within your rights. Ignore her.

No

She's talking absolute bollocks. You can leave your estate to anyone you choose. I wouldn't bother with her again, just cut her off.

Is she unhinged? I might start sending messages to my cousins on Facebook who are only in their forties to see if my kids can have their house when they pop their clogs. What odd behaviour.

No she can’t contest it. Only grounds would be if you weren’t of sound mind when you made the will.

No they don't have any claim but there was a really interesting program on you and yours on R4 recently about the rise of No win no fee lawyers taking on contesting will cases. It had a very concerning story about a woman who passed away and someone contested the will. A friend of the deceased was not named in the will but pursued it so aggressively the family gave in and the claimant ended up with 30k.
It was really unpleasant. If you've not done your will yet, might be worth looking if there's a way you can specifically exclude these people.

The date was 4th June, well worth a listen.

She sounds crazy

You can leave it to whomever you want to.

She has absolutely no claim on it.

No, it's incredibly hard to contest a will.

Quite bizarre for a cousin to contact a 43 year old announcing they expect to inherit your home (??).

I thought you were going to say you were 83 and feeling under pressure.

Your cousin is a) an entitled, grabby, spoilt cow and b) seriously unhinged.

She and her children have no right to your estate. If you’re in sound mind and get your will witnessed then your estate goes to your brother then animal charities.

This is nuts- after this episode you should cut your cousin off and never see her again.

She has no claims, just ignore.

To answer original question, it would depend how I felt about the person versus my other options. I have few relatives likely to outlive me, I never see them but I've no issue with them so without DC I'd probably leave them something.

Leave her and her kids a fiver each, just to be petty. Specify in your will that you do not wish to leave them anything else, due to the fact you have little relationship.

When I did my will, I specified that I didn’t want to leave my siblings or nieces and nephews anything.

She’s a cheeky fucker.

I would reply:

"Bahahahaha you've always been so funny!"

Wtf? Your 43…. And she’s worrying about your house? Anything could happen between now and your death - including maybe having your own child! You realistically could live another 40 years easily - how old will she or her grown up children be by then to even benefit? People are absolutely mad!

How bizarre… of course she’s not entitled to anything and nor are her children. None are direct descendants or dependent on you.

But I’d love to understand why she thinks this might be the case, especially as you have a relative (your brother) who is closer.

I’d be tempted to leave her your second best saucepan set or something equally nonsensical just to annoy her.

Make sure your will is very clear and legally watertight as it could be really horrible for your brother if she doesn’t accept it, and you don’t want to delay the money getting to the charity you have chosen.