A bit long so please bear with me:
My BIL died very suddenly. He was very young and also had a very young son with a partner he’d been with for 3 years at the time of passing. He was close to DH (his brother) and also their father (mother died the same year, a few months before). DH and FIL have been so supportive of her since BIL died, signing money left to them in his will over to her as they believed he would have wanted child to have it, looking after child so she could get some normality with friends etc.
Now she has moved across the country, is refusing to let us see child, cancelling plans last minute when we’ve already paid for hotels and travel, saying she can’t bring him to us as it’s ‘too disruptive to him’ and ‘he can’t be in the car for that long’, but then travelling to a theme park 20 mins away from us as she won tickets. We’ve offered to meet half way, whatever is easiest for her. She’s stated she’s ‘sick of watching us play happy families’ and removed us from all social media so we can’t even see pictures of him. We’ve left it a year, hoping she would come around as we all understand she’s grieving and her world has changed, but we’re all grieving too.
My question is: Do DH and FIL have any legal rights here? I know normally they wouldn’t in the UK, but is it different if one parent is deceased? It’s heartbreaking. We miss him so much and we have three kids all around his age who he was close to when BIL was alive. They ask for him. We’re just at such a loss. Any help much appreciated.