Dispute over will, does anyone know how to read a will? (Pictures included)

[icantwaitforsummer]

We don't know if we are being unreasonable even asking this, but hoping someone here knows a bit more about wills?

My sister and I remember our mum saying something about leaving her half of her house to me and my sister many years ago. She died 10 years ago, but my stepdad said the will says she has left it all to him.

From reading the will we aren't sure what it means. There is a part of the will I have highlighted in yellow that says:

IF my husband survives me for the period of twenty eight days then subject to the payment thereout of my just debts and funeral and testamentary expenses I GIVE all my estate to him absolutely-

What does that part mean? It doesn't change much currently we were just not sure.

Hopefully I have redacted all the parts with names and addresses, please let me know if I haven't.

Is there a reason it uses the wording "I give all my estate to him absolutely".

I would've expected it to say I give my residuary estate, or all my estate subject to clause 6.

It does seem bizarre that it sets out the life interest trust but then refers to all of the estate, as all of the estate would include the interest in the property.

(IANAL but do read a lot of Wills in my line of work, but usually with the support of a solicitor!)

Basically OP you need go and see a solicitor, like Monday morning.

They are the only people who can advise you correctly and check what may or may not be in place for you.

Unfortunately I think it’s an error and should refer to residual estate. Early the will has already stated what happens to the property so it should be residual estate. It also states that clauses 10 and 11 only come into effect if stepdad doesn’t survive by 28 days. Clauses 10 and 11 refer to residual estate which further suggests that clause 9 should have.

I agree.
@icantwaitforsummer - please make an appointment with a solicitor and get clarification on this. I think it means her half of the house is left in trust to you and your sister with your stepfather having the right to live and the rest of her estate going to him. The bit about him inheriting all her estate is point 7. The bit about her half of the house going to you and your sister is point 6. This suggests the house is already accounted for under point 6 and point 7 is simply referring to everything else. It should have been better worded for clarity.

It’s very similar to my late mother in law’s will in which her half of the house goes to my DH and SiL but with their step-father having a lifetime interest it.

I do think you need specialist legal advice.

Cross post with the hobbit2013. I think this is right - it should say residual estate. I think it’s clear your MD intended her share of the house to go to you and your sister. Whether the lack of the word residual would negate her wishes or not is a question for a solicitor.

Good luck.

Sorry - hadn’t seen your post about being named on the land registry. That seems pretty conclusive but I’d say still a good idea to get legal advice.

@icantwaitforsummer read part 6/ it looks like the house shall be yours upon his remarriage or if he decides to live with someone else in the house. I think at that point it becomes yours and your sisters. I might be wrong. does he have any offspring to leave it to?

I’ve just copied and pasted my late mothers will as and she did a life interest trust for my father for her half
the beneficiary was my sister and son
my dad sister and I were both trustees / executors of her half so we were added to the deeds
I’ve xxx out the names and missed out some stuff about admin of estate
both my mum and dad had mirror wills
and when my dad passed away I sold the house and my sister and son inherited the cash from the sale of the house and other stuff

I APPOINT my Husband xxxxxxx ("my Husband") together with my daughters xxxx & xxxxxx as my Executors and
Trustees ("my Trustees")
(b) IN THIS Will and any Codicil to it the expression "my Trustees" means my personal representatives and the trustees of this Will and of any trust that may arise
under it
Definitionof m'(Estate
In my Will where the context so admits "my Estate" shall mean:
(i) All my property of every kind wherever situated
(ii) All my property of every kind wherever situated over which I have a
general power of appointment
(iii) The money investments and property from time to time representing all
such property
Administrationof my Estate
My Trustees shall hold my Estate upon trust to retain postpone sale or sell it and shall:
(a) pay my debts and executorship and funeral expenses

Life Interest in Possession Trust
6.1 In this clause:
6.1.1 "the life Tenant" shall mean my Husband xxxxxxx
(c)
(d)
(e)
pay Inheritance Tax in respect of property passing under this Will except insofar as such tax is expressly otherwise provided for by this Will or any
Codicil hereto
pay any Inheritance Tax or additional Inheritance Tax which becomes payable because of my death in respect of any transfer made by me in my lifetime in exoneration of the recipient of any such transfer and of any other person who may be liable in respect thereof
pay any Inheritance Tax payable because of my death in respect of property in which I hold a beneficial interest as joint tenant
pay the legacies given by this my Will or any Codicil hereto
6.1.2. 6.1.3.
6.1.4
"the Property Trustees" shall mean my Trustees for the time being "the "Trust Period" shall mean the period between my death and the death of the Life Tenant or until the future marriage or civil
partnership of the Life Tenant
"the Trust Fund" shall mean my share of my property whether leasehold or freehold which I own at the date of my death and known as ABcxxxxxx
3

registered at the Land Registry under title number AVxxxdd free of any mortgage debt or charge secured thereon but if such property does not form part of my Estate I give instead the property which I owned and last used as my principal residence before my death
6.1.5. "interest in possession" shall have the same meaning it has for the purposes of the Inheritance Tax Act 1984 (or any statutory provision which amends or replaces it and which is in force at my death or thereafter)
6.2 I give the Trust Fund to the Property Trustees to hold upon the following
trusts.
6.3 The Property Trustees shall pay the income of the Trust Fund to the Life
Tenant for the Trust Period if the Life Tenant shall survive me by 30 days
6.4 The Property Trustees may at any time or times during the Trust Period as to the whole or any part of the Trust Fund in which the Life Tenant has for
the time being an interest in possession:-
6.4.1 lend money or assets comprised in the Trust Fund to the Life Tenant on such terms (whether including provision for the payment of interest) as the Property Trustees think fit
6.4.2 payout of any proceeds of sale of this property or any substituted property (purchased as a result of this sub-clause) to purchase a freehold or leasehold property which will be held for the benefit of the Life Tenant on the same trusts to which this clause refers
6.5 I declare that in exercising the powers conferred upon the Property Trustees in clause 6.4 above the Property Trustees shall be entitled to have regard solely to the interests of the Life Tenant and to disregard all other interest or potential interest under my Will
6.6 Subject as above the Property Trustees shall permit the Life Tenant to occupy or use rent free any property or assets which or the beneficial interest in which is for the time being comprised in the Trust Fund subject to those conditions for the payment of outgoings insurance repair
4

decoration and any other matters as the Property Trustees shall from time
to time consider reasonable
Subject as above the Property Trustees shall hold the capital and income
of the Trust Fund for my grandson xxxxx and my daughter xxxxxxx in equal shares and if either of them shall fail to obtain a vested interest leaving issue who are living at the end of the trust and reach the age of 21 years then such issue shall take by substitution and if there shall be more than
one of such issue they shall take in equal shares per stirpes but so that no issue shall take whose parent is alive and so capable of taking
Gift of Residue
IF MY Husband survives me I GIVE the rest of my estate to him but if this gift fails then the following provisions of this Will shall apply instead of this clause:
Further Gift of Residue
I GIVE my Residuary Estate to be divided between such of Xxxxxxx and xxxxxx as shall survive me and if more than one in equal shares but if either of them dies before me or before attaining a vested interest leaving a child or children then such child or children shall take by substitution such failed share and if there shall be more than one of such children they shall take in equal shares per stirpes but so that no grandchild
of mine shall take whose parent is alive and so capable of taking
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@icantwaitforsummer

Ive just copied and pasted my mums will so you can see what was written in her will
She passed away in 2019 and my dad in 2021

I agree that you need a solicitor to help out. If that's not an option that try citizen's advice - they sometimes have a tame solicitor available maybe for a couple of hours a week.

The 28 days thing is pretty standard just to ensure that if they 2 of them are driving and get in an accident he has to out live her long enough to inherit. But if your names were put on the registry for the house then they shouldn't or couldn't have been removed without your knowledge and agreement. Get an up to date copy to have ready for when you see someone.

Is there other family at all? Thinking that if stepdad has this stitched up then it will all be going to his family and not to you and your sibling.

Clause 6 is important @icantwaitforsummer . I can only read some of it but it clearly sets out what is to happen if her husband dies.

I'm not sure your mum can state this because the will clearly says if he survives her by 28 days everythingbis his, but clause 6 talks about what your mum expects in relation to you and your sister.

If he somehow agreed to the contents of will, then the house must be put into trust for you and your sister. But your mums wishes are over written, unless he agreed them, by his will.

You need to talk to the company that drafted the will for your mum but it doesn't look good...

I think you need legal advice on the whole Will, not just one part of it. Certainly the part you pick out does mean provided her husband was alive 30 days after her, then everything goes to him. That's really clear. However, there are other parts about her husband being able to live there (which obviously he would if he had survived her) and enabling her daughters to inherit, and your children to inherit. I think you need to take the whole will to a solicitor and ask for advice.

As an aside, Wills can be confusing. My DH and I have just redone our Wills, we gave clear instructions to the solicitor, but actually when they were drafted we found numerous mistakes we we are having corrected. So they do have to be checked - I mention this in chase it's not in line with what you're expecting and perhaps your mum didn't check it. Good luck sorting it out.

I haven’t read all the comments so this may have already been said but mum has given her husband a life interest in her share of the house - so he can live there for as long as he likes. When he dies, you and your sister will get mum’s share of the house. The rest of the estate - the money/investments etc goes to her husband absolutely provided he survives her 28 days

Good luck, OP. Apologies as HNRTT but are you able to see when the Land Registry changes were made to reflect you and your sister's ownership? Might be interesting to see if this happen prior to your DM's unfortunate passing or as the result of recent executor's solicitor's actions. Some PP's replies seem to imply the latter but if the will is ambiguous regarding the issue and your DSF is the executor then it might not be something he'd prioritise instructing a solicitor to do. Certainty about whether the house forms part of your DM's estate or whether her share was transferred prior to her passing may make any ambiguity about whether your DSF inherited your DM's share of the house irrelevant though if he is close to passing then you'd want certainty about what happens to any remaining share of the house.

She had left her residual estate to her husband.

That is what is left after all debts, expenses and specific bequests have been made.

Her share of the house has been left as a specified bequest to you and your sister (with a life interest to him).

He gets the residuary: anything else.

You need to see the office copies from the land registry website. Depending on what it says, if the property is held as tenants in common and if you're registered at the Land registry then that passes outside if the will, so it's yours.

If you are registered co-owners (as evidenced by the Land Registry entry) then it will be difficult for any executor of your step father's estate to sell or transfer ownership without your consent.

Have a conversation with a solicitor. You can have a flag added to the Land Registry record to notify you if anyone tries to sell the house - ask to get that added.

Everything to the husband apart from the property. Your mother's share of this passes to you and your sister equally when your stepdad dies.

Yes will do, we will go and see a solicitor with the paperwork and the land registry.

He has 3 other children so could get complicated.

Thank you all for your help

Find out when you were put on the deeds
we were put on about a year after my mum passed but it was Covid at the time and it should have only only taken a few months once we asked the solicitors to sort out the trust

You need to check the Land Registry to see who is the registered proprietor. If you and your sister are named as owns of half the house it falls outside your mother' estate and belongs to you irrespective of the terms of the will.

You can tell if a property is owned jointly or as Tenants in common by looking for a form A restriction on the title, you can download it from the land registry for £3.

I imagine Capital gains Tax will be payable if/when the house is sold if it belongs to you and your Sister.

I would have thought the fact that you are named on Land Registry documents means conclusively that you and your sister have legal ownership in part.

I’m quite surprised that you can be gifted property ownership without having to sign anything or at least be officially notified.
It could cause all sorts of problems if you didn’t know - it would invalidate ftb status, could be used in divorce proceedings, stop entitlement to means tested benefits etc. not to mention if you died and your executors had no knowledge.

Goodness me everyone is making this very complicated and it's really not.
Your late mother and her husband owned the property as tenants in common ie. they each owned a half share and could therefore bequeath that share to anyone they liked under their own will (as opposed to holding it as joint tenants when it would automatically pass to the other on the first death).
You mother left you and your sister her half share of the property (the REALTY) in her will, subject to her husband's right to live there for his life or until he re-married or cohabited with someone else. On her death, the executor registered your interest in the property with the land registry. The remainder of her estate (the PERSONALTY) passed to her husband absolutely as he survived her by 28 days. If he hadn't survived her by 28 days, the later clauses in the will would have come into play.
On your mother's husband death (or re-marriage etc.) his half share of the property passes to whoever he has left it to in his will.
On his death the property should be sold and half the proceeds will be paid to you and your sister and the other half to whoever benefits under his will.
Please ensure that your contact details are up to date with the land registry and that no one else moves in to the house making it difficult to get vacant possession (there has been a few threads about this recently).