Update to AIBU to refuse Aunt's fwb claim on her estate.

[Sleepneededprettyplease]

Posting here because it is where I put the first thread.

A brief summery is that my Aunt died and her FWB is trying to say that he is entitled to part of her estate because she had asked me to allow him to stay in a house she had invested in for me. Anyway if you want the full story feel free to read what I put on the first thread.

Anyway the main thing is that he is now sueing in the courts. I need a bit of a hand hold please. My lawyers have suggested getting a barristers opinion so I am just waiting for that. I wouldn't even mind if it was possible to just go to mediation but he wants the house for the rest of his life and won't consider anything else.

www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5505433-aibu-to-refuse-aunts-fwb-claim-on-her-estate?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

If the claim of dependency against the estate is successful (doubtful but that is the issue at court) then the CF might be able to claim his living/rental costs since the death of the aunt. These would be claimed from the estate and so OP is trying to minimise such a claim by CF continuing to live rent free.

I can also imagine she is horrified by the idea of bailiffs etc, particularly as there is now a court date for the estate dependency hearing which is a “bearable” amount of time away.

I think OP has every right and intention of enforcing the existing court order, but seeing as she has an ongoing legal case with the same person she has been advised not to take steps to enforce until this aspect has been resolved. It is frustrating but it makes sense to me. Although the house is unrelated to the current legal case of contesting the will, the OP is a beneficiary of the will being contested on the grounds that the person can’t support themselves. Seeing as the (unlikely) outcome is that they need to award him money to support himself from the Estate, it may not look great for him to be made homeless by the person who is getting the money he claims to need, until that aspect is settled by the judge.

Well put @YourOliveBalonz

That makes sense OP. It's just a matter of being patient.

My Aunt was not supporting him. I thought I had a proper tenancy agreement to make him a tenant in my house. My Aunt paid occasional money into his account when she split a joint expense.

I am waiting for his response to the defence paperwork.

As for offering money as I have said he isn't interested.

I can see why your solicitors say to wait until the hearing, it does make sense.

Hopefully you may be able to claim the legal costs from your aunt’s estate?

This

I can fortunately. Although trying not to do so yet.

Yes. I don't want to put everything at risk for the sake of a bit more time.

(2) he was being financially maintained by your aunt (partially or fully) prior to her death. If she had provided rent free accommodation to him, then it is arguable that she was financially maintaining him.

But it wasnt her house so she wasnt providing the free accommodation, the OP was. The aunt arranged it with OP but it was never her house, so she wasnt financially maintaining him. As I said waaaaay up thread, its possible that he would have a claim against OP if she passed away, because she was the one housing him, but he hasnt a hope of proving that he was in any way financially dependent on the Aunt.

I would also say that the fact that he has turned down money will not look good in court because as far as this case is concerned, that is all that they can award given that the house was never part of the estate.

This. You put it more clearly than I manage

To speed things up a little bit would your counsel be happy with you getting all the eviction ducks in a row and bailiffs scheduled for the 18th August (day after the court case).

That way you could theoretically cancel them so would be leaving things up to the court?

It doesn't work like that. We can give notice that he needs to leave then but to use bailiffs he must have failed to leave on the stated date then I have to fill in a form and apply to court for a warrant. Then there were a few more steps which I don't immediately recall.

Ah, sorry, I thought he had already had an eviction date in May and overstayed so bailiffs was the next stage.

Mustn't have read it properly 🤣

Good luck in August 🍀

Adding to what I posted above......it also was not supposed to be free. He was supposed to pay rent but never did. That the OP chose not to evict him isnt relevant as it was due to his friendship with her Aunt. Her actions since her Aunt's death show that her actions prior were based purely on not wanting to upset her Aunt and that she always intended to take full possession of the property. Everything that the OP has done has shown that it was never intended to be his "forever" home, but done as a favour to her Aunt.

The only thing I'm still not sure about is the court case in August.

It is about if he can claim from the estate while the case is being decided.

How can the judge decide this. If the judge allows an interim order, what happens if he loses, does he have to pay it back to the estate?

Knowing a fair few chaps of his age who have this bombastic attitude, he is probably thinking "well I will be dead by then!" so he wont care. Also they never back down as they are so sure that they are right. (I encountered the husband of my mother's friend who is like this, he ended up getting barred from our local because he wouldnt accept that he was wrong in a pub quiz about who was born as a result of the immaculate conception).

I suspect that he is confusing the house with the will, thinking that if he wins the case (he wont) that he will be able to stay in the house.

I mean he kinda has but as I am accepting this because of court dates I have to give him a new one.

I think technically yes although as he has no money it would never happen. I have a meeting with my solicitor to get more info in a couple of weeks.

I think so. I do think that he isn't getting very good legal advice. Or maybe he just isn't listening.

Thank you.

Is he paying his gas/electric /council tax / water rates or you?
Will you be left to pay these bills if he has stopped paying them?

He is and yes when he leaves I will have to. It annoys me that the best chance of selling is during the summer but I will probably be saddled with the bills all winter because he is doing this.

Hopefully you won’t have a long wait to sell. The current housing market is difficult but mainly because there are very few properties coming on to the market. We found a buyer for my late DF’s house in January - 9 days after it went on sale. Completed by Easter.

Thank you. I hope it will be fairly quick. It is a nice property as long as he hasn't trashed it.