Contesting a Will that seems to be influenced by a neighbour

[morbidd]

Hello all,

I'm in an awful situation.

I have found out that my estranged mother has died - it's a long story.

I have been able to find the will and grant through the government website, only to discover that all her estate has been left to some complete strangers.

I say strangers, but essentially all I knew about them was that they were neighbours that picked up her shopping.

The will itself just doesn't look right. It's so vague about possessions, her signature doesn't look like hers and is extremely shaky.

I know it was made shortly after a suicide attempt of hers.

There's no mention of the grandchildren and whilst I'm mentioned to specifically say I won't get anything, my surname is spelt wrong!

Over £100k has been left to this neighbour and I know I have to come to terms with the fact that perhaps this is what she wanted.

But it just doesn't sit right. I had a look at contesting a will and it seems that it has to be done 6 months after probate.

Is this correct? Otherwise I won't be able to contest, unless there are other avenues to try?

Any help would be appreciated

Thanks

If they had a claim on the house they would have a charging order on all or part of it already.

Well yea they might well do - OP wouldn't know. So OP may be thinking there's a whole house the neighbours are going to inherit, whereas it could be half a house, or it could be nothing more than a couple of boxes of China and a ratty sofa.

That's such a good point. If the will was found invalid due to coercion by the neighbour, (huge huge "if") the default position would be that the husband inherits the first 270,000 and half the rest, unless there's a prior valid will made after her marriage.

A will disinheriting your spouse is prima facie valid in England but it's relatively easy to challenge under the Provision for Dependants Act if the spouse wants to, and if they're genuinely being hard done by. It sounds as if your DM and DSF had had a sensible discussion in advance and he had reasonable ring-fenced assets of his own.

Absolutely wooden you can exclude your spouse from your will but they are entitled to “reasonable provision” from your estate so they would have a strong claim and would likely get what they would have got on a divorce. If you don’t want to share - don’t get married!

Sadly if the old boy is in a home its unlikely he will be in a position or capable to contest the will, it's only if the council are paying his fees and spot it, they might have a go.

Doesn't help the OP though unfortunately.

We are assuming the neighbour is inheriting a lot, but as executor he has to pay off any debts first, for all we know she could have equity release, credit cards etc. Dealing with selling up etc. Might be a right pain for the neighbour requiring a lot of work for not much reward.

If I was the OP I'd be writing it off, but she could be contacting the executor to ask if he would allow her to take any family photos etc, which might be nice for the grandchildren, and have no value to anyone else.

People are often quick to advise people to “go NC” on here, but people need to realise that when you go NC that’s it. You’ve severed the relationship with the parent, and so it’s not reasonable to expect to be included in the will, and faning concern for someone’s wellbeing because they didn’t leave you money in the will is tacky and disingenuous.

While I’m sure that there are reasons why people become estranged from family members, I’m not sure people always think through the gravity of exactly what that means.