A bit of background information is needed first,
25 years ago my mother and father owned 2 houses outright and when my sister got married my parents signed one of the houses over to her. I lived with my son in a council house and my parents said when they were gone the house would go to me. A few years later my mother passed away and my father was absolutely devastated. A couple of years later my father remarried, his new wife owned property of her own and when she moved in with my father she sold her property and gave the money to her children to help them onto the property ladder. It was made clear right at the start (nothing in writing) that the house they lived in would go to myself when they passed and all was fine.
Fast forward to 3 years ago, my father paid all the bills except for his wife's car but due to an email error he received a rather large bill for gas and electricity. My father has money but it takes a bit of time to access it so he asked his wife to pay it as she had a large savings account and he would pay her back when he could access his money. His wife refused and an argument started. It was settled later and the bill was paid but my father now asked that all the bills be split 50/50 to which his wife was not happy about but complied with.
A few months later they had another argument, this time over my fathers will as it stated that I get 100% of the house when he passes. This has festered over the last couple of years and last week my father got up to find that she had packed her clothes and she had moved into her daughters.
It is safe to say that they will not be getting back together and we are now wondering if she has any claim on the house. If they get divorced will she have a claim on the property or if my father passes and they are still married will she have a claim on the house. They are both in their late 70’s.
Any advice will be greatly received
Maria