Friend been cut out of Mothers Will

[CJ2010]

To cut a long story short my friend was abused by his mother as a child, he cut contact a few years ago and he has since found out through another relative that he has been cut out of her Will.

Can he do anything about this? It just seems so unfair that he suffered so much during his childhood and he (and his DC's) will suffer again. TIA

If your friend's mother lives in England then she can leave her money to whoever she want's as long as she was in sound mind when she wrote her will. Will's cause so many family arguments it's unbelievable.

Can he contest the Will? Could his DC's ( her Grandchildren) contest? I'm so upset for him and esp his DC's.

Posted to soon. I'm so sorry about the abuse your friend suffered, his mother has obviously decided to continue her abuse even after her death. Sadly many parents do.

He could contest if he were financially dependent on her atbthe time of her death, but doesn't sound as if that is the case.

If she lives in Scotland she can't leave all her money to whoever she wants, your friend would be entitled to some of it when she died regardless of what the will says.

He falls under a class of beneficiaries that have the right to apply for "reasonable provision" out of the estate. Don't ask me what constitutes reasonable provision, as I don't handle these cases. I't not a case of contesting the validity of the will, but of making this claim, which is under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975.

No one can assume that they can simply leave their estate to whoever they want.

He should seek legal advice.

I'm not a solicitor just speaking from (some) personal experience. If his mother was in England then she can leave her money to whoever she wants (even the cat's home). Your friend can try to contest the will but will need to show that she wasn't of sound mind when she wrote the will or that her son was financially dependent on her. It will cost tens of thousands of pounds to contest a will.

Does he know who the main beneficary is? If so that person may be willing to share the estate with him if they feel that is fair and this can be done by the main beneficiary having a solicitor drawing up a 'deed of variation'.

GerardWay you clearly are not a solicitor, as otherwise you'd be aware that the Inheritance Act means you are wrong.

Friend and his mother are in England. I believe she is leaving everything to my friends sister, who she also abused, but the sister still keeps in contact. Seems my friend is being punished for cutting contact.

this case might be interesting

same case

and this is the case report

Thanks for that. Very informative.

There's some good journal articles on it too but I can't link to them because they're subscription.

Did he really expect to inherit from her after cutting all contact?

I can quite understand why he did - but am surprised that he still wants her money, tbh.

If he doesn't want anything to do with his mother, why does he want her money?

Either you go "no contact" with all that that entails, or you don't imo.

He can hardly cut all contact with her and then expect to still be included in her will!!

And I say this as someone who has cut contact with her own father and been cut from his will. I wouldn't want his money anyway.

We were left money by the person who abused us and I gave it to charity. I wanted nothing that I enjoy IE a holiday, car, house etc to have anything to do with him. It would have felt like blood money.

Personally I would counsel your friend to move on rather than let her get him emotionally involved in a legal battle after her death. She would have the last laugh then.

Is the mother still alive? If so, not much he can do right now. I personally don't like discussing wills when the testator is still around.

If she has died, then collaborate is quite right. If your friend is in touch with his sister, then could they reach an agreement? Cases like this are far easier to settle than fight. Fighting them is costly, and could be very very stressful. And, your friend will only potentially gain financially, he will never be able to re-write the past...

Reddaisy - completely agree!

Hathor's 3rd link suggests that your friend's financial circumstances will be very relevant. If he's disabled and living on benefits then he might well succeed. If he's in a steady job with a good pension and equity in a house then he's less likely to get anything.

Agree with bibbity and blathers then I realised this wasn't aibu, sorry

Morally, It's not just 'her' money, it's family money. She inherited from her parents, who were doting grandparents to my friend and the money was also my friends DF's money who would have wanted his son and grandchildren to benefit from it. Unfortunately the money is now in her hands and she has control of it.

The money has no emotional value attached to it, so I'm sure my friend does not care that it's currently in her possession. The fact is that it's money! Money that can make a difference to his life and to his children's. His father would have wanted him to benefit.

And the money in my Father's account was originally my beloved Grandfather's and he would want us to benefit too. It would make a huge difference to us.

It's still not worth seeing my Father for.

Blatherskite - with all due respect this is not about you or what you would do. I posted her because I wanted legal advice (thank you solicitors! ) I wanted to find out if my friend can contest his mothers Will once she is dead. Scotland sound like they have got it right.

Pedant here - they wouldn't be contesting the will - just making a claim against the estate.