Can you will money you don't have

[Dowser]

Basically. Someone has died while a clin neg case is going through.

Wife reads will. She gets house and savings which are small.

Haven't seen will yet so am guessing here but somewhere in document it relates to the fact that she gets half and two sons from previous marriage get half. Her own children ignored.

so, she thinks it's related to the claim

Her solicitor( very reputable company) advised if husband died she would take over claim.

Would this be in her own right....ie suing for loss of husband

Or

Does his original claim go ahead.

In which case how can you will money you don't have.

Will be ringing solicitor for advice but I am so curious.

I think the estate continues to operate as a legal person until all the financial affairs are wound up.

My understanding is that assuming that there eventually is a payout to the estate, it would be distributed according to the will (after funeral costs, any debts and the estate administration costs are paid).

So if the will says "all my possessions are to be divided 50% to my wife and 25% each to my children Gertrude and Hortenese", then the wife gets 50% of the payout (assuming that the funeral, debts and administration costs are all already covered) and Gertrude and Hortense get 25% each. If the will says something like "The house is to be divided with my wife getting 50% and Gertrude and Hortense getting 25% each. Everything else to my wife", then the wife gets the full amount of the payout apart from the costs of administering the estate.

Obviously the solicitor's advice is far more reliable than mine.

The executor of the estate can take over running the claim. Proceeds of claim will need to be distributed in accordance with the will. If his death is related to the negligence then wife will have an additional claim for loss of spouse and the solicitors should include within the clinical negligence claim. Hope that helps. I am a solicitor btw.

Thanks Primrose and Tracey. I'm hoping to read the will today ( funeral only yesterday) but were only visiting for a few days more.

If I do will get back to you.

Apparently yes. In the event his claim is successful then it is divvied up as above.

I'm seeing the solicitor on Thursday with her to go through the will together.

We will have some prepared questions to ask him.