Half siblings and inheritance

[CanaBanana]

My gran had 3 sons - A (to her first husband), B and C (to her second husband). A and B have families, C remained living at home.

Gran wanted the house shared equally but also wanted C to retain his home for the rest of his life. So she left the house to C with instructions that he was to make a will sharing it between A and B after he died.

C died without making a will. B has claimed the entire house as he's C's full brother. As C's half-brother A is apparently not legally entitled to a share.

Is there anything A can do? (full disclosure - I am A's daughter).

If your gran wanted C to have a home, she could have left the house equally with C having a life interest.

So gran's will is irrelevant.

C died without making a will, he owned the house at the time of his death, then I think from memory it goes to the closest relation, which would be the full brother (B)

A should see a solicitor. The intestacy rules in England and Wales do seem to make a difference between full siblings and half-siblings but there may be scope for some legal action depending on the evidence of your grandmother's will, any supporting letters, witness statements. What a pity she didn't say that she was leaving the house to C for his lifetime and then to be divided between A and B.

I don’t think A can inherit while there is a full sibling. Whereas they would all have been entitled to inherit from their mother, if she hadn’t put her trust in C to do the right thing (and B too if course).
I think a check with a solicitor is in order though, did the mother leave anything in writing? And I would not have anything more to do with B if I was A.

First of all it is vital to know the country - English and Scottish law even often differ.
Gran should not have just hoped C would make a will and it is too late now to remedy that. Nor was she or C supporting the half brother now left out so they would not have a claim for being left out as an infant child might have.

It looks like as there is a full sibling the half sibling loses out entirely
www.theguardian.com/money/2014/sep/20/wills-inheritance-changes-intestacy-rules as they rank below a full sibling. If there were no full sibs then the half would inherit.

the thing is she left her instructions but basically she chose not to protect the half sibling interest when she might have done so I am not at all sure a court would over turn all this. Might be worth your paying for an hour of a solicitor's time on it however as it is possible the instructions she left amounted to some kind of trust.