AIBU to tell DH to split his inheritance with his half siblings?

[hesbelleth]

DH lost both of his parents quite young, when he was in his late 20s. His parents were both on their second marriage. He was adopted but only found out on his dad’s death.

His mum had two biological children with her first husband. They are in their late 50s, so much much older than DH. He sees them maybe 2-3 times a year, but growing up he didn’t really see them for a few years at a time. They’re both nice people.

When his mum died, she left his dad all of their property/money. She wanted her half to be split amongst her three children.

When DH’s dad died, he left everything to DH. It’s not an enormous sum but includes a very small flat in Kensington so it’s an estate of £1m+

DH’s siblings have now come to ask if he will be giving them their share of the estate. That is, for the mum’s half, split between them. DH doesn’t want to give them anything as it was left to him. He also says the money is more useful for him than them as they’re retired or about to and own their own houses outright.

Of course he should, very selfish of him not to. Personally it would put me off him and I’d question his morals.

She shouldn’t have made her Will to say that.

We don't know that she left a will at all.

Saying that he has more use for 1m+ than they have for around 350k each just makes him look greedy.

You are assuming that the whole £1m was the mother's estate which then passed to the father. You have no idea how much she left and how much the older children might have a claim to.

Legally, if his mother had left his father a lifetime interest in her share with it then being split between her three children, he would have to give his half siblings their share. That is why this type of will is frequently recommended.

If she did not do this, he is not legally required to share his inheritance. However, in this situation my view is that the right thing to do morally is to respect his mother's wishes and share her half of his inheritance with his half siblings. That would still leave him with over £650k.

OP refers to his mother wanting her half to be split between her children, which suggests that half the estate was originally hers. On that basis, they would each get £165k+.

More projection in here than at your local IMAX.

Unless they are expressed in a Will, nobody knows her true wishes. She could have been telling everyone something different.

It's called sideways inheritance

Happens a lot

Usually cos people assume their new husband / wife will do the decent thing, but they don't

Not necessarily- her contribution to the estate may have been much less (even if it was half at the time). The property and any investments may have appreciated a lot in whatever the time period was between her death and her husband’s.
Plus there may be other funds that were just the father’s and not held jointly or acquired after her death.

Exactly.

I agree with you but it is his decision. Your decision is what you do after he shows you what kind of person he is.

Exactly this. Shows a real lack of integrity.

I’d also watch out being married to someone like this. If you ever split or divorce, this is the kind of man you’ll be trying to get a fair settlement with

Yes, he knows his mum's wishes. I would share a third of anything that belonged to her.

It IS an enormous sum.

Your DH should get financial advice and split their mum's estate by 1/3 to each sibling.

I hope the subs take him to court over this. If I was them I would be tempted to more for the injustice than the money even.

Land and houses can be owned equally or equally and to the survivor. The first means that each owner can leave their share to whoever they want; the second means it passes automatically to the survivor and can't be altered by a will. There are valid reasons for choosing either.

How does anyone know what she wanted if she didn't express her wishes in a Will ?

I hope the subs take him to court over this. If I was them I would be tempted to more for the injustice than the money even.

The first question a solicitor will ask is 'What evidence do you have that these were your mother's wishes?'
(Or possibly the second. The first question might be 'How much money do you have to throw at this?')

But it’s not the mums estate, the mum left her estate to her husband at which point it became his money, he could’ve chosen to spend the lot on cruises or lottery tickets or fast cars. The ops husband has inherited his father’s estate and unless either of his parents left wills to the contrary then that is what they wanted.

I am not mistaken. There is no concept of " joint tenancy" for property that is owned. Tenancy meaning ownership is an English concept. Had you read my post you would have seen I mentioned a survivorship destination. Survivorship destinations can be used but there are situations where they aren't.

The Scottish equivalent of the English 'tenants in common' is sometimes, rather confusingly, referred to as 'joint tenants' or, more often,as 'pro indiviso

You however are completely wrong here. A joint tenant in Scotland has absolutely nothing to do with ownership. You're also wrong about what pro indiviso means.

So the first sounds similar to “Tenants in common” and the second to “joint tenants” that is used in E&W.

if these (fictional) step siblings get anywhere near a solicitor the only question which will be asked is "how the hell did they get past the receptionist"?

Yes probably. We don't use "tenants" unless we are literally talking about tenants.

Exactly - what is so difficult to understand about this? All this "mother's wishes" guff is complete nonsense.

This. Otherwise it’s all his.

Legally his, morally not his. It's up to him but I know what I would do in that situation.

I agree with you, 1/3 each of the mothers estate per her will, id suggest he talk it through with a counsellor and make sure he tells them what his wife thinks, and tell him that if you have dc you should change your will so it goes straight to your dc now you know the dead persons wishes are irrelevant to him.