Future MIL lied to fiancé about the contents of a will.

[Thehouseofmarvels]

So first off I know we need to see a solicitor; only not been because of the cost but hopefully we can in the future.

My fiancé's gran died in June 2012.

She had three children.

She wrote a will saying that fiancés mother R could live in her house as long as she moved in within 6 months of her mothers death and kept the house in good repair and insured. The idea was that R could visit her brother J in a care home. Fiancés aunt S is a trustee with a solicitor from a law firm. R hates S.

R did not want to live in the house. So visits for a few days a year but likes to have control over the place. She does not visit J. We suspect that the house is in a poor state. R is nearly 77 and also has a four bedroom house, in a poor state. I'm not sure how she will cope with two houses as she gets older.

My fiancé knew nothing much. That is grand house had never been sold and there were some lawyers involved.

My fiancé is recently estranged from R and long term estranged from every other relative apart from J. the entire family because they are mostly extremely abusive. Fiancé has a sibling who has never worked and lives with his mother. A sister who is married to a multimillionaire celebrity and a sister who went missing.

R told her son my fiancé the will and the house had nothing to do with him. She banned him from looking at the will. My mum read in an article that you can view wills online so I found it last year.

When J dies R looses the right to live there and the estate can be divided at any point with 80 years of the grans death.

We are hoping to have children soon who will be beneficiaries.

The trustees S and the lawyers never contacted my fiancé. If my mum had not read the article on how to find a will we would not have known anything.

What I wonder is why the trustees might have permitted R to visit the house once or twice a year when the will says that she must move in within six months and live there or the house must be ' held on trust' which I take to mean the trustees would take care of it.

These are my questions:

Can solicitors or trustees ignore what is written in a will or a trust document ?

Are trustees of a family trust obliged to make all beneficiaries of a trust aware of their interest or can they totally ignore beneficiaries, not tell them of the trust and not give them any money?

Fiancés mother is toxic. She has two favourite children and fiancé was a scape goat. When she dies I do suspect that my fiancé will be disinherited from his mothers estate. I wondered if his mum could have tried to make sure he never found out about the trust so more money would go to her favourite children.

I have heard from a distant relative I tracked down online that the family trustee S knows the house is falling into disrepair so imagine she must have told the solicitors. I have not spoken to the solicitors but I can't see how they would not know that R did not live there.

I suppose the trustee solicitors need to be contacted. From my description does it sound like the trustees could have acted improperly ? It is a concern they may charge hundreds of pounds just to speak to them.

I also wonder what will happen when R gets very old as J is about 20 years younger. People with downs are living so long these days that he may out live her.

I hope people will offer some thoughts which might help in working out how to approach.

If 'J' has Downs syndrome and is 20yrs younger than 'J', then he must be approx 57.

Sadly, people with Downs do not have long lives and he is approaching the end of his if he is approaching 60.

Heart issues and Alzheimers tend to lead to death at the median age of 55 for men with DS, although with current healthcare, this is rising.

*20 years younger than R

@Chocolatedeficitdisorder

His mum lived into her nineties so all we can do is hope he takes after her for longevity. The thing about life expectancy rising is good news. We want him to be part of our kids lives when we have kids, he's the sweetest.

You haven't even married into this family yet, nor have you any children.
Your op is extraordinarily distasteful.

@Thehouseofmarvels Unfortunately the oldest person with Down's was 80 when they died, but that's exceptional. Most have died by 60, even these days.

Down's sufferers are generally born with a heart defect and there seems to be something specific about the syndrome with leads to the developlment of Alzheimers in middle-age. The fact that his relatives have lived to good ages isn't relevant.

@Chocolatedeficitdisorder

Thanks for letting me know the facts. I guess we will have to pray he lives a long time and my partner is estranged from all other blood relatives. It's a huge deal to fiancé that he has Uncle Johnny. It bothers fiancé no end that he has no family. I will pray Johnny lives until we have married and least one kid as fiancé having a ' proper family ' might soften the blow.

@Chocolatedeficitdisorder

He does have Alzheimer's but it's apparently very mild; we would y be able to tell if we weren't told. I read somewhere that people can live with that for ten years after diagnosis. That was for non downs though. Care home say it's mild and no other health problems so will hope for the best and make the most of the time we have with him :)

The grandmother's will should have divided the estate equally between the three children, with J's share going towards his care fees. But instead she seems to be controlling everyone from the grave.

The house instead of being sold has been left to fall into disrepair, losing it's value, the council have to fund J care. R is supposed to live in a house she clearly doesn't want to. The two sisters are caught in a legal battle,damaged paintings, a missing daughter/sister that no one seems bothered about, and beneficiaries who might or might not inherite ...

The whole thing is a mess.

I wouldn't get involved at all and assume you won't get a penny.

@SittingAround1

Yes that's exactly right and yes I have listened to what people say about not getting involved. We are having to move house now anyway so other things to think about.

It's a sad state of affairs when there is both an empty house and people who have to move from rented place to rented place at the whim of landlords but that's life. I guess you have to make sure you earn every penny in life ect and not rely on family unless under 18.

Gran wrote an earlier will saying the house to be sold and everything to be divided between the two daughters. Fiancés Mum had said something about an interest only mortgage on her main four bedroom home. I don't know what the truth is but it sounds like she was banking on the inheritance to pay it off; I think the bank want the money back next year, or something like that. She lies a lot so it could not be true but that probably did not help the situation if she based her finances on an inheritance that never materialised. Hopefully fiancés celebrity brother in law will pay off her mortgage.

Yes, you'll be a lot happier in life if you earn your own money and save up to buy your own home. I was still renting at 27 and now have a family and house so you have time to achieve what you want without this family.
Inheritance really brings out the worst in people.

@SittingAround1

Yes I'm sure we will get there.

I suppose the other thing to keep positive about is that fiancé brother has never worked, no benefits has always been financially supported by his Mum. Prefers playing computer games to working. I expect that he will inherit her main house. But I imagine that he might need help paying the bills or at least help working out what benefits to claim so he doesn't have to work and can be supported by the taxpayer. At least by staying totally out of everything and estranged we won't be the ones dealing with that mess. Dealing with that sounds stressful. Especially if her main house had been sold to pay for care home fees as he'd be homeless.