Another Inheritance One.. advice appreciated

[FamilyWay]

Posting for my cousins – solicitors are involved which may be half the problem..

So, my uncle remarried at the grand old age of 75, to a woman around ten years younger. They owned their own homes outright and decided to float between the two. As they both had children, the deal (apparently) was that they leave their estates to their respective children, which is understandable given the age they married/hadn’t built up any assets together/didn’t hold any joint assets.

My uncle died aged 85 (so ten years after he married), the Will duly read, estate left to his children with some cash to wife.

So far, so expected. But, wife has now put in claim under Inheritance Act for whole estate. Although she’s richer than my uncle, she says via her solicitor that she needs more money for hobbies etc.

Cousins have panicked and got a specialist solicitor involved and the whole thing seems to be snowballing in terms of costs and they’ve been told they ‘must’ mediate, which of course costs a fortune, never mind the emotional toll.

A brief read online tells me she’s not entitled to anything as she’s financially independent, her home isn’t affected and she has more than the estate, but this doesn’t seem to have stopped the claim - or the costly letters.

They’re at the point where legal fees could outstrip a huge amount of the estate, and they feel cornered by something that’s not their fault or decision, plus compelled to respond to the letters from her solicitor as they don't think they can do nothing.

The worry is it will go to court and even if she doesn’t win anything, they’ll be paying fees, possibly out of their own pocket. Or they accept they’re being held to ransom and give up, even though it’s not what their dad wanted.

Advice? It seems The Will is not The Will in these cases.

I used to work with someone who fought something like this for years, broke them mentally and financially and eventually the solicitors had the whole inheritance. It was a nightmare.

I worked with someone else and he learned from the other person and reached an agreement but I don't know the details.

A will is invalid once you are married. Everything goes to the surviving spouse.

That is bullshit.

I know how awful it is to get a legal letter but they don’t have to be answered that day, getting to court takes bloody ages at the moment too. I suggest your cousins acknowledge the letter, take the advice they have from their solicitor, takes a few days away from it all clearing their heads with no comms with the wife in between times and then come back to it fresh.

I think they need to know: how something like this gets resolved, whether they have to do anything it whether they simply wait for us to wear herself out fruitlessly through the courts and whether they need to lawyer up. Lawyers do as you advise them - advise them to fight it tooth and nail, they will.

Perhaps CAB could help? I’ve found financial advisers better than lawyers on this sort of thing in the past.

The OP doesn't say that the will enacted was written prior to marriage. Most people know that marriage invalidates a will and will write a new will after marriage.

A Will is invalidated by marriage (unless there is some specific wording) - presumably though this Will was made after marriage.

Its not total bullshit. It depends when the will was written - If before marriage, then yes it is invalid.

If that’s the case then the estate will be divided in accordance to intestacy laws, so the spouse will have a large share.

If the will came after marriage, then it should be followed.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. The will was written AFTER the marriage - mainly to make sure wife would get a cash sum. I think my cousins probably would have negotiated but of course things have got so tense now, it's unlikely they'll ever speak again!

They could self represent if it went to court. No need for solicitors to be involved at all. Or they could use a direct access barrister for court and just pay their day rate.

Yes but not always.

This will could have been made after the marriage so of ciurse its valid.
This will could have been made before the marriage but containing the wording that it was “in contemplation of marriage to new wife to be”

Really helpful - didn't even know this was possible. Also CAB recommendedation @Changingmyminddaily

Does anyone have a crystal ball and could tell me if they think the court will say she is entitled to anything?

Hard to say but if the will was written post marriage and all her needs are met she’ll certainly have an uphill battle to make her case.

A friend of mine took her step-daughter to court over an inheritance. Basically the SD stood to inherit everything, according to the will, but my friend argued that her partner - the deceased - had provided for her during his lifetime and so it would be fair to expect his estate to continue to provide after his death.
My friend was awarded some money, it was a very large estate apparently.

So perhaps if the SM could argue that, for instance, her partner had paid all household bills during their time together, had paid for all her hobbies, holidays whatever, then she might reasonably expect this to continue to some degree.

There was a similar-ish case recently (which I can’t find!) where the wife of the deceased was wealthy in her own right and she challenged petitioned to have an independent trustee appointed as she’d fallen out with her Dd who was one the trustees of the family trust. A substantial basis for her claim was for presents, hosting others etc.

The judge ruled she basically didn’t need it and she ‘lost’. She had access to around £1.5m in cash herself.

I’ll see if I can find a link…

Here we go www.step.org/industry-news/widows-tense-relationship-trustee-were-not-grounds-reasonable-provision-claim-finds

Clearly the respective wealth of each party was relevant here and I suspect it may have been a different outcome if the values were smaller 🤷🏼‍♀️

If the facts are as you say - will written after marriage and she is financially fine as is - I think they are in a strong position. If they are sensible people and relatively literate and able, I would self represent certainly up the point of a hearing. She will need to argue that either she isn’t financially stable without a bigger contribution from his estate or that he had agreed to something else.

The other tactic they should consider is offering her a bigger cut now to get it sorted - put her in the difficult position of having to work out whether she would really get better in court even if she “won”. Assuming it’s like a usual legal case, if she turns down an offer that the court considers fair before court, she will get smashed for costs.

I would also be asking her to provide a copy of her will which was in force on the day he died, as I almost guarantee it will be leaving everything to her children and not him, which will totally undermine her position. Make sure it’s the one from before he died though! Of course, she can say no - but refusing to give it will tell you everything you need to know!

The judgement (www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Ch/2022/2309.html) is really easy to read, if you like that kind of thing (like me!)

Oh God, all of you are brilliant - thanks so much. Bloody awful - just shows you, it's not just a case of doing your will and that's that. My uncle seemed to have thought things through and my cousins thought it was all agreed - be interesting to see her will as @Shamoo suggested.

I assume this was his well known intention too, ie the wife knew. If they have evidence that shows she knew prior to his death that would be worth gathering.

I hope your cousins keep fighting, OP. My gut feeling was I'd rather the solicitors got it all than their step-mum did, having violated the understanding in way you laid out.

Thanks so much - I'm sure situ is as above ie. no coercement or anything untoward. I'm close to the fam and I seem to remember they were open that as they married older, things would be different when they popped their clogs - i.e. everything was separate and that's why they kept their own homes. But maybe she wasn't there when it was discussed. I know there's evidence that my uncle says it was all agreed, but no formal document signed by them. Appaz she won't speak to my cousins now so they can't offer her anything even if they wanted to!

Are standing to inherit too OP? If you have howl
Insurance it's worth checking if you have legal cover as you may well be covered. My mother was and it was extremely helpful having six figures of legal cover!

My suspect is she won't get anywhere based on past cases but of course that doesn't stop her making the claim. Mediation is worth it to get an end to it if that's what the family want but that will mean giving her something.

@Newnamefor2021 Not inheriting but good shout on insurance. I'll ask the boys to check. They're organised and intelligent (allegedly :-)) so they'll have good home insurance. The solicitor says they 'have' to do mediation even if they don't want to give her anything as court expects it. TBH, the estate is quite small versus house prices so not much left.

Mediation is intense but way better than I expected it to be. Mediator was great and you don't see the other party. Our barrister was great, we did give the other party more but less than we expected. I think our barrier wanted to take it go court bug we had £100,000 in legal fees so felg quite supported in that respect and it by far gave us the upper hand. The other party was just making life difficult and basically said that to the mediator.