Contesting a Will

[LittleMissBossy123]

My mum recently passed away and deliberately left me and my children,all her assets went to her third husband.My question is as an alcoholic who made the will whilst in a nursing home who was drinking a litre of brandy a day,a bottle of wine with lunch and on large doses of morphine is the will valid?

Also, as a solicitor was present when she made the will,should he have been made aware she was an alcoholic in order to take steps to minimise the chances of the will being invalid.

Am hoping someone can advise me,thanks.

If the will is invalidated wouldn't the intestacy laws then apply, which means it would go to her widower anyway

Titchy kinda sums it up. Unless you were financially dependent on your mum at the time of her death, you have no grounds to contest the will.

Sounds like you didn't much care for her anyway.

As someone who ended up involved in challenging a will (long story) made by someone with obvious complications from brain tumour - it was an incredibly expensive thing (and this was only to make me not a beneficiary) and such a waste of time and energy.

Did you know you were named in an earlier will? Do you think the husband made the chnagchange for his own benefit?

I was asking for advice not your opinion of my relationship with my mum who I loved very much.

Sorry to hear about your mum, you must be feeling very sad. So far as the will is concerned, generally, to have a valid claim, you'd have to prove that you were financially dependent on your mum, although there have been a few cases in recent years where the court has awarded sums to non-dependent family members.

The solicitor should have made sure that your mother had mental capacity. If in doubt, he or she should ask for a medical opinion. That may have been obtained, bearing in mind that she was in a home.

I find it very hard to believe she had mental capacity,she would drink throughout the night and all day so at the time the will was made there were no periods of sobriety. Contact was a bit on/off towards the end,mainly because I didn't want my children witnessing her aggressive outbursts which were daily and constant,we tried to reach an agreement that she wouldn't drink before our visits and arrived at 10 am to find her plastered,so she couldn't even achieve this for one day.
I've got legal advice through my union and have been talking to them today,they seem to think I may well have a case and will be meeting a solicitor next week,thanks for all your replies, well,most of them.

How come she was allowed all this alchohol in a nursing home? Are we talking large sums of money here because normally a spouse would be expected to inherit.

The will may be invalid on the grounds of lack of testamentary capacity in whuch case your mum's estate would pass under the laws of intestacy - to her husband ( well he gets the first £250k plus all her chattels). So unless your mum has a substantial estate I'm not sure what you will achieve here OP. You could bring a claim on the grounds that your mum has failed to make reasonable provision for you which is a different claim altogether and you would need to demonstrate financial dependence on her. Was she supporting you at the date of her death? If so you are unlikely to have a valid claim.
This is potentially a very expensive area if law. Legal costs can run into tens of thousands and take years to resolve. I am dealing with a case at work at the moment which has been running for 4 years and the fees are close to £100k. Be very sure that you want to pursue this.

Sorry, unless not if.

And are you totally sure that you have been excluded from the will? It's very common with second/third marriages for children of previous relationships to be provided for by means of some kind of trust, ie the spouse gets the benefit of the assets during their lifetime ( eg can live in house but not sell it)
then they pass to the children on their death. Have you seen the new will?