New bride from abroad and sadly Father In Law has died.

[Jooleshop]

My elderly, unwell widowed FIL met a lady on line and started a relationship. He married her about 6 months ago and she has been back to her home more than staying in the UK with her new husband.
Unfortunately my FIL passed away while his wife was away again.
Her British Citizenship has not yet been finalised and it seems they both lied on documents to say they have lived together for a year before they were married.
It seems that my FIL has taken equity out of the small bungalow to pay for many things abroad.
When my FIL needed his wife she was not there.
It now seems all she wanted was the money and not a real relationship with my FIL.

A year and a half ago my FIL discussed his will and his money would pass on to the grandchildren when he passed.
Now it seems the old will is void as he got married, so everything goes to his new wife, who is flying to the UK in a few days... Now her husband has passed.

Does anyone have a clue if we can contest the new wife? In hind sight she is not what she seemed at the time.
We don't have a lot of money and a nest egg for the boys would be wonderful!
It feels wrong that his wife left him when he was ill and he died alone...
Now she's coming to claim the house etc...

Any help greatly appreciated.

There is no way you can get an answer here it is way to complicated, but if the marriage was in the UK or a marriage recognised by the UK then on the face of it she gets the first i think 325K and all his belongings.

Citizenship in of itself has no relevance.

However, you might be able to make a legal challenge, under the Inheritance Act.

You need to speak to a solicitor pronto.

Also i wonder if you are muddling up an application for a spousal visa to reside in the UK, with a citizenship application.

A marriage by itself does not entitle one to reside in the uk, one has to apply for a spousal visa for permission to reside in the UK.

As far as i am aware you have to have been in the uk for five years before you can apply for citizenship, and there are other requirements.

So She can visit on a visa but cannot live here.

Now it seems the old will is void as he got married, so everything goes to his new wife, who is flying to the UK in a few days..

Did your FIL actually change the will? As remarrying on its own doesn't make a previous will void.

If you've got the evidence that they lied on the application for the visa, can you use that as evidence to report the marriage as a sham marriage? IDK if you can do that after the death of one party, but I'd take that angle if it's viable, as if you can prove it was just for gain on her part, you might be able to easily sort all of this out. Disclaimer: IANAL https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6001bf39d3bf7f33aed4d5ee/criminal-investigations-sham-marriage-v3.0-gov-uk.pdf

In England and Wales it does.

If the marriage was legal then the citizenship issues are not relevant, she still stands to inherit whether or not she is entitled to citizenship or a visa.

You can contest in court, you'd probably have a reasonable case for at least some of the assets BUT it will be an expensive process and unless the estate is worth a lot of money you will likely find most of it is swallowed up by lawyer fees.

@MiraculousLadybug yes i agree but she needs a solicitor.

Yes it does. This catches out many , many people.

Get legal advice. And tbh if your solicitor says you have a good case, get a second opinion. In my view contesting a will is almost never worth it, and in this case you're not contesting a legal will, you're contesting someone dying without a legal will.

I hope your FIL got something out of the relationship. I'm afraid it sounds as if he was taken for a fool and whatever is left will be gone. The alternative is that you spend a lot of money you don't have on lawyers and end up either in debt or in a best case scenario, the estate gets spent to pay the debt.

Did nobody think there was anything suspicious about a young bride from overseas wanting to marry an old man from the UK that she'd met online but barely knew?

Really?

It's quite possible she's married in her home country as well, have you check that, because that would invalidate her English marriage.

How much do you know about this woman? Did you attend the wedding? Are you sure it's legal?

If so, then yep, she stands to inherit everything unless you contest, and even if you contest you may end up spending more in legal fees than you would inherit.

Why do these old men assume these ladies are after anything they have to offer except money? He's been an old fool and she has played him like a fiddle.

@PermanentTemporary i think your comments are sadly probably true, unless his estate is high value

You need legal advice asap. Speak to a solicitor.

@Lincoln24 @YourSnugHazelTraybake

OK. I find that totally shocking. And I can believe a lot of people get caught out if their intention was for their children to inherit.

If she was legally married to your Fil and was in the Uk on a spouse visa (rather than a visitor visa) she can apply to settle in the Uk (by making an application for indefinite leave to remain using the death of a partner concession that allows her to apply for ILR early). After a year in the Uk with ILR she can apply for citizenship.

The marriage voids the earlier Will and you can only challenge her inheriting the entire estate ( assuming he did not make a Will after his marriage) if you or the grandchildren are not left with reasonable financial provision .

Unless FiL was very wealthy the reality is that she will say she needs the house to live in or the equity to rehouse and you may struggle with a claim against the estate if you were not getting financial help from FIL.

Reporting immigration fraud would hamper her ILR application but probably would not affect her inheritance claims if it was a legal marriage but neither was honest with the home office about the details - not sure why they would have lied as they did not have to have lived together for 12 months before applying for the spouse visa.

You do need legal advice - your best bet is probably mediation because otherwise , as others have said , most of the estate will be eaten up in legal fees.

We were suspicious about the relationship but the lady was older and seemed to have good intentions... before the marriage.
FIL was very lonely and unhappy and found this lady who chatted all day and took him with her...via video calls when she went to parties and outings.
Tbh we were happy FIL would have a companion and someone to look after him in his old age.
Unfortunately once married she wanted money to take home and didn't want to stay.
Yes they were married in Bangkok then came to the UK.

FILs estate probably only worth £250,000
But equity of £50,000 taken out for money to repair home in Bangkok.
We feel a solicitor would probably eat into what was left after the equity company sell the house at a reduced price???

With an estate of below £322k, she will get it all under intestacy rules (assuming your FIL is in England or Wales). If it turns out to be more than that, she will get the first £322k and half of anything over that plus his personal possessions. The rest goes to his children or, if they are no longer with us, his grandchildren.

As it seems he did not make a new will after marrying, there is no will to contest. The most obvious grounds on which his children or grandchildren could make a claim against the estate is a failure to make reasonable financial provision. Unless any of the children or grandchildren were financially dependent on him at the time of death or are in serious financial difficulty, I'm afraid a claim is unlikely to succeed.

This sounds like it may have been a predatory marriage. Unfortunately, this is an area where the law needs to change, but that doesn't help you.

I am sorry for your loss.

If she was not living in the uk at the time of death she may struggle to get ILR and may not want it if she has a home overseas.

If there was equity release it would be interesting to see how much interest has accumulated and how it will increase until probate is obtained and the house can be sold - you may want to check the scheme and find out what happens on death with house ownership and sale as the rules on what happens depend on the scheme.

If a solicitor was involved with the equity release to help with the costs of the overseas house are you sure that FIL didn't make a Will with them ?

After taking legal advice, your best bet may be mediation and an agreement to help with probate, house sale etc if her plan is to return home and in return the grandchildren get something.

Technically, she is entitled to all house contents if there is no Will - including any sentimental items such as old family photos and old toys etc . Be aware if relationships are fraught with threats of reports to the home office etc that these could all be destroyed or go missing.

@prh47bridge Glad your commented terrible situaation.

@Jooleshop

I'm sorry to hear about your loss, OP.

I would suggest making an appointment to see a solicitor this week.

You may decide not to instruct the firm following the appointment, but you should still make an appointment to clarify what the situation actually is.

https://solicitors.lawsociety.org.uk/

Was it a legal ceremony in Bangkok?

I would empty the house asap. Then get a solicitor involved for the estate. She sounds a right chancer.

I'd get a solicitor right away - you might be able to prove that they lied about living together. Text messages etc? Even a statement from you etc.

OP can't empty the house. That's theft.

A marriage invalidates a will. I wish more people were aware of this.
I am so sorry OP.
It is the oldest trick in the book. I know so many people whose elderly fathers have been targeted this way.

Agree that it is theft to take things from the house as everything in it now belongs to her if he died intestate.

It may be that getting photo albums or a treasured story book wouldn’t cause any issues but if she rocks up to a furniture free place, I think she might notice!