Legal advice for a house left in a will

[HouseQuestion12345]

My partner and his brothers were left a property many years ago when their father passed away. The value of the property was split 4 ways between the 3 brothers and the fathers partner at the time. It was stipulated in the will that she could continue living at the property until she either
-remarried
-died
-ceased to be permanently reside at the property
-until she ceased to pay all the outgoing bills / keep the property in good repair.
This has always caused some tension- the brothers have families of their own and need the money from this property to be able to move on in life, it has also been very difficult for any of them to get closure from the death of their father knowing that she is living in what was the family childhood home.

If they were to seek legal advice regarding this, what type of solicitor/lawer would they need to talk to?
What are the chances of them being able to get this woman out of the property/buy her out etc?

I have been with my partner a long time and this has always caused him a lot of distress. It isn't just that they want the money (whilst that would be nice) , it's the closure that goes along with it. I think it has effected them all quite badly to know she is living it up in their childhood home whilst they have all struggled a lot financially over the years. They haven't had access to any of their dads possessions. Lots of childhood pictures are in the house and generally it seems there is a lot of bad feeling around it all. It seems it would be best if the house were sold and everyone were able to move on but I have no idea how they would achieve that.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

@OliviaNewtAndJohn

Have they at any stage considered offering to buy her share out, that would enable her to buy something smaller to call her own?

With what? OP says that much of the resentment is due to the sons struggling for money.

As several others have mentioned, they can talk to a solicitor in wills/probate. There is no other solution, the issue is over the will.
They will then be told there is nothing that can be done.

For anyone wanting to contest a will there is a limited time frame after death in which they can do so, but it is extremely unlikely to be overturned unless there is evidence to suggest the will was made under duress or there are other mitigating circumstances re claims. Such cases cost several thousand and can take years to resolve.

They just need to read the will again and again until they actually understand it.

Honestly? If it was my husband behaving like this I wouldn’t just be telling him to come to terms with it, I’d be telling him that his attitude was causing me to rethink my relationship as the kind of person who is so grasping as to want to throw someone out of the house they are rightfully allowed to live in isn’t the kind of person I would want to be married to.

And I wouldn’t believe a word of her having made him changed the will/being difficult etc. It sounds more as if your FIL remarried and they didn’t like the woman he married. And now that he’s dead they’re hoping they can get rid of her at last.

I can understand both sides. I have a partner who has two kids - I don’t have any, but have seven kids (godchildren and nieces) who I want to look after. My partner and I don’t live together and I am reluctant to do so for this reason. My will would stipulate that my assets would be split between the ten - my seven, him, and his two kids.

But, my family don’t do longevity. Neither my parents or brother lived long enough to claim a state pension. His family usually live to their late eighties or early nineties. If I were to leave him a life interest in our hypothetical house, and he lived to 90 years of age, my eldest niece wouldn’t get her share until she was 70 years old. I feel that it’s best to inherit younger - when they have children or lots of outgoings. It’s a toughie, that’s for sure.

@LemonFantaGin

Can someone move in there?

Being that they own part of it, she is still living there?

Heh heh it's like letting the bairns stay up late when the news is on.

@AlternativePerspective

Honestly? If it was my husband behaving like this I wouldn’t just be telling him to come to terms with it, I’d be telling him that his attitude was causing me to rethink my relationship as the kind of person who is so grasping as to want to throw someone out of the house they are rightfully allowed to live in isn’t the kind of person I would want to be married to.

And I wouldn’t believe a word of her having made him changed the will/being difficult etc. It sounds more as if your FIL remarried and they didn’t like the woman he married. And now that he’s dead they’re hoping they can get rid of her at last.

I agree with every word of this.

‘They need the money from the house to move on with their own lives.’

Sorry to be blunt but this is clearly not about seeing their father’s wishes carried out, but about getting their hands on the money. They may not have liked the woman or the terms of the will but they are on a hiding to nothing if they think they can change things, or somehow evict her.

This sounds like the property is in trust- the lady/stepmum has a life interest and has the use and enjoyment of it whilst she is alive, although she’s not the legal owner. once she dies (or remarries etc) the trust comes to an end and falls to the final beneficiaries- the 3 brothers and whoever inherits her 1/4 share.

It’s a bit like an inheritance ‘in waiting’. How long you have to wait is anyone’s guess- but it IS protected so that the 3 sons eventually receive their share. Even if step mum does a will leaving everything she has to her family/cats hone/circus etc - 3/4 of that property is protected as it wouldn’t form part of her estate

You’ve failed to grasp (perhaps no advice?) that deceased dad had actually tried to do the best of both worlds and please everyone as best he can here- he’s provided for his partner to continue to have a home and roof over her head, whilst ultimately ensuring his sons go on to inherit it eventually.

I don’t think you’ve appreciated that whilst it’s annoying to you that you don’t have the money ‘now’, this is not the worst scenario here! If he’d have left the property outright to stepmum then she would be free to do what she likes with it and they’d have got nothing.

Obviously I don’t know all of the facts - I would suggest speaking to a private client solicitor in the first instance to confirm the position, whether there is indeed a ‘life interest trust’ in place and you may get a better understanding of your husbands/the 3 brothers rights and options (if any)

From what I understand the will was changed days before his death

If he lacked capacity, or the will was made under coercion from her, then it can be challenged. There is no time limit for such a challenge, although the practicalities of establishing the claim may be rather difficult after the passage of so much time. And in the event of a successful challenge be would be regarded as having died intestate and his estate would be distributed according to the rules of intestacy. Whether that would suit them any better is doubtful.

Anyway it does sound like it would be worth the three of them splitting the cost of an hour of legal advice from someone who knows what they're talking about.

They sound greedy and unreasonable.

And I say that as someone whose father (still alive thankfully) has a will with exactly the same set up. Actually the house will be owned 100% by me, but his long-term girlfriend can live there under the same circumstances you've mentioned in your OP.

It wouldn't be my property until she's gone! So really she's got a life-long free tenancy, but with the responsibility for the upkeep.

I kind of get their position. My stepmother is just 10 years older than me, 20 odd years younger than my dad. We also don't get on - at all, even though they've been married over 35 years. His will is set up similarly so I know the likelihood of my brothers and I seeing any inheritance before we are all quite old ourselves is pretty remote. I can also see her being difficult on sentimental items. It is what it is. The flip side of course is Dad loves her, I don't understand why, but frankly it's not my position to judge.

The difference I guess is we've known for years this is the situation so its kind of accepted. It sounds like your DH and his siblings assumed a degree of wealth when their father passed on, and then suddenly it's not happening. If there is no emotional connection with the stepmother, I can see how resentment can build and they probably do themselves no favours winding each other up about it. So yes if you have the cash a professional laying on the line for them may help. But it is likely to just money to be told the situation can't be changed.

My father left his estate in a similar way. My DSM has now moved her boyfriend in. Your DP needs to get his head round the fact it's not his house, it's hers while she's alive.

My gran left me £30,000 in her will 7 years ago when she sadly passed. I can't access it until my grandfather passed, but it would never occur to me to ask him for it early or force sale of his house for me to have the money. I don't count on that money even tho I'd use it for a house deposit as I private rent now but until it's in my bank account there's no point even thinking about it whether I'm skint or not x

If I were them, I’d be glad if the money arriving later in life. Maybe it’s in 20 to 30 years when it will be extremely welcome as they’re in I’ll health or unable to earn more money through work. If they can afford to pay a solicitor hundreds of pounds an hour to tell them it can’t be done, they’re not too badly off. They will be glad of £100k in their later years.

@Hekatestorch

This is going to sound harsh, I have rewritten it several times and it still reads really harsh

But are you asking how they can circumvent their dad's will, to evict a (presumably) fairly elderly women from her home?

This

This kind of thing really pisses me off. No one is entitled to an inheritance. I'd rather my parents lived comfortable, happy lives than I got a big inheritance. Your DH has a chip on his shoulder the size of Antarctica, as the refusal to call his dad's widow his wife or widow demonstrates. It is pure greed on the brothers' part and it's up to them as adults to improve their own lives. If they want some of the personal things that probably don't mean a lot to their father's widow then they should think about building bridges instead of being consumed with hatred of her for something their father did trying to balance everyone's interests.

This is grim.

Your DP's father made his wishes clear. He wanted his DP to have a home for the rest of her life and now his sons want to chuck her out so they can get the cash (sorry, 'closure')? They have no grounds to do this, They need to forget about it and learn live within their means rather than hanging around clock watching and waiting for their bereavement dividend.

I hope this lady lives to be 100.

@HouseQuestion12345 can you clarify whether or not your DP's dad actually married this woman or were they only ever in an informal relationship?

If they married (even if it was a deathbed marriage days before his death) then the default position would be that the new marriage immediately invalidated any previous will, and unless he made a new will after the new marriage thr intestacy laws would apply giving the new wife a lot more than this quarter share - if there was a marriage (which your DP and his brothers may not have been told about, so some detective work may be needed) then the new will is a good thing, protecting their inheritance. It's not unknown for a new wife to inherit everything and completely disinherit the children of the previous marriage if the testator doesn't add protection like this.

It would be reasonable for the brothers to negotiate with her as the courts would (if asked) uphold that they have the right to access evidence that the terms of the Will are being fulfilled (eg annual inspections that the state of the house is being well maintained and that all financial bills are paid up). A solicitor's letter to inform her that they intend to apply to the courts for a court order requiring her to comply with such annual inspections will be applied for (and once granted she will be guilty of contempt of court if she doesn't comply) but that in the interests of maintaining good will among those that were nearest and dearest to (insert name of deceased) they will not apply to the court for such formal enforcement if she allows a single visit now to collect minor (non valuable) items of sentimental value such as photographs and keepsakes, along with an informal inspection of the state of repair of the property just once every 3 years. This would cost a few hundred in solicitor's fees just to write the letter but it may help?

I have a feeling the brothers wouldn't be satisfied even if they went to a solicitor because they wouldn't like what they heard.
They'll go on about it for ever more.

My aunt is in a similar situation. She owns half of her house. Her partner died and left his half to his son, but she has a lifetime interest and can live in the house. The son wants her out because he wants the money now. Unfortunately she can’t leave because her half of the house wouldn’t be enough to buy a replacement home to live in. I imagine this lady is in a similar situation - it’s a big house, probably more than she needs, but her quarter of the proceeds wouldn’t be enough to buy a new home, so she’s stuck. It obviously hasn’t even occurred to you that maybe she wants to leave but can’t!

All the solicitor would do is to read out the terms of the will very very slowly to them until they understood. The fees could end up costing a fortune, given they don't seem to be able to understand written English.

@HouseQuestion12345

also just to clarify there is a lot more to this than I can say on here....and there is a lot I don't fully understand with regards to the relationship between the brothers and the fathers dp. She was substantially younger than the father so isn't an elderly woman now but I don't think that makes a difference. From what I understand the will was changed days before his death and once he passed she tried to cut them out further/stop them having cash that was also promised to them in the will which they finally got but had to fight for- it wasn't lots of money, just 2-3k each. They were unable to retrieve stuff from the house. The relationship between them all is not good and there is a lot of resentment about the relationship itself.

I have also explained to DP as others have stated above that if they were to hypothetically get their own way people in their local community (its a small place) would see it as other have put above. That she had been forced out of her home and probably unlikely to get a decent property for her share of the money.

I have my own home, this is of no financial interest to me......this is just me trying to set dp and his brother expectations as like I say has been rumbling on for years. I said I would post on here as I know nothing about law and have no idea where they stand but thought it would be a good place to start in getting them advice about where they stand.

I am not great at articulating myself so may have worded my posts poorly but its not all about the money- I genuinely believe them when they say they want closure.
The house is probably worth in excess of 500k these days although they have no idea of the state of repairs inside etc. I have no idea what it would have been worth in the past but as others have stated I have told DP to see it as an investment for later in life.

I just thought if a solicitor told them that they might actually listen.

No, it is about money not closure they have gotten greedy and that's what happens when people think they deserve more than their fair share. Clearly they think have more of a right than this woman does.

No words from anyone will change what their father wanted.

If closure is what they need then that needs to come from them not from a solicitor.

Two thoughts.

1. Take advice from a solicitor specialising in contentious probate - here’s an example from a national firm

www.irwinmitchell.com/personal/will-trust-estate-disputes/contentious-probate

1. Assuming the brothers already have mortgages can they pool resources to get a buy to let mortgage and offer to buy her out?

You say the lady is in her fifties? My Grandfather is 97 with no health problems, lives independantly and does lots of voluntary work. Lives in his own home with no need of any care other than my aunt helping him with his supermarket shop. This lady could be exactly the same, completely healthy until she is well over 100, so for the next 40 years. How old are your husband and his brothers? I would arrange for solictors to do regular checks that the house is being maintained very well and that all repairs are done promptly and to a good standard. Your brothers may never inhearit because this lady might outlive you all. My Dad and his siblings are in their sixties and do not expect anything for many years as Grandpa is so fit and healthy, my oldest uncle could inhearit in his seventies. Sometimes people have to wait even with no stepparent. You also have to remember she could live for 35-40 years and have a very elderly partner who has been living there for decades by that time. It may be nesesary emotionaly if not legally to let that person stay until they die. As it could be upsetting to turf out a very elderly bereaved person from their home of 30 years.