DH died a few months ago. It was sudden and unexpected, and we had drafted but not finalised a will so he died intestate.
DH divorced over 10 years ago. It was a clean-break. There are two children from the marriage that he was paying maintenance for. The divorce was incredibly acrimonious. His ex was diagnosed with psychosis at the time, and was totally convinced he had done things he hadn't, and even when she'd been told by police etc that it wasn't true, kept bringing cases against him. This went on until the judge said he'd fine her if she brought another case. It drained DH financially to have to defend himself against multiple unsubstantiated allegations. This is not the only time she has behaved like this.
So she's incredibly litigious, and can have an utter conviction that something is true even when there is evidence to the contrary. At DH's funeral she was insisting on asking his old colleagues there if he had any pensions at their companies, and badgered me for my solicitor's details so relentlessly I had to ask her to leave. Now she has contacted my solicitor stating she intends to sue the estate for the same amount of child maintenance as she was receiving before he died, plus university tuition costs for the future (children are in their early teens). She is convinced he has multiple bank accounts and that I am sitting on a minimum of half a million pounds in investments, plus house equity and savings belonging to him. She has written to the solicitor saying she can help to administer the estate as she knows so much about his financial affairs (she doesn't).
The trouble is, she's totally wrong. His estate comes to significantly less than the £250k threshold and his pensions come to about £15k. He should have had much more, but an awful lot went on the legal fees I mentioned (she brought cases against him over approximately five years). He died of an addiction he developed at the time of all the court cases. I had some savings, but he blew all his. I need to get on and sell the house etc., but she has put in a charge at the probate registry to stop me applying for the Letters of Administration.
Can anyone tell me how long she can do this for and if she can bring an unlimited number of claims? I'm worried that she'll wipe out the very small amount of savings I have in legal fees, as she did to DH in the past, or try to claim from my own estate. She won't believe there isn't this mythical pot of gold and will want to keep chasing until she finds it, or is told to stop. Is the burden of proof on her, and can she keep going with this without evidence?