AIBU to ask if I could contest my mother’s will?

[impossibletocontest]

Is it always impossible to contest a will in England.
I’ve been told I will not be inheriting and that my brother will be the sole beneficiary. He has a good very well paid job as does his wife, own their own home and are comfortable. Dm has a large estate so he will inherit a large amount.

I live in HA accommodation, with one child (disabled and SEN) plus I have a physical disability which is progressive and I can only work PT so reliant on UC top ups and will probably end up totally reliant when health deteriorates further.

I know England is difficult with this issue is there any chance a court would look at the situation and see that it’s fair to award me something?

ive been told that I won’t even be able to get a caveat before probate as they won’t tell me immediately on the death of dm so the assets will already have been given ? They are very low contact with me so I think they’ll absolutely do this. Is there anything now I can do or do I have to just accept that I will always struggle and my brother gets everything. As a child I was my DM carer as she had alcohol and MH issues so I feel really really used and cast aside.
She is 84 now and in poor health and the only contact I get is her telling me how I won’t get anything from her .

Any decent mother and brother would be delighted to help you if you are in such a dire state...are they horrible or what is their issue with you?

She may be of sound mind, but do you think your brother is manipulating her and exerting coercive control over her?

Sounds like she does well via others a lot. I’m sorry OP, she seems to be a garden variety horrid person.
I can see posters knowledgeable about the law are saying you might have a case, which is positive, but whatever happens I believe you can find your way forward without her, and will pray for your breakthrough 🌸💖

A caveat is put in BEFORE grant of probate is obtained to stop the grant from being issued but that is only if there are grounds to contest the Will.

I agree there may be grounds for the OP to pursue a claim under the Inheritance Act 1975, due to her ill health, financial situation and size of the estate which may be taken into account. It's also possible that the brother could agree to an out of court settlement. It's worth a try but you have to wait for your mother to die.

OP why are you even entertaining her? She is spiteful to you and your child and won’t be leaving you anything. Just go completely no contact. Free yourself of her.

How?
She had the choice to make her own money, and the degree would have helped towards this.
I assume OP was able to buy property when prices were cheap went to university when there was no loans if her mother is 84.
So why be so dependent on an inheritance?
That's her mother's money she can spend on herself or it may be used on care home fees. Besides, she could give to who she wants to.
You can make your future without her inheritance. She doesn't want to give it you then leave her to it.

she sounds hateful.. and seems to be getting a perverse kick out of telling you this. i'd tell her to go fuck herself ...good luck sweetie

Then you don’t get her will. I would be disgusted if someone contested my will when I made it in sound mind.

Lonely up there on that moral high ground is it? And chilly too I should think.

What a ridiculous comment! The op sacrificed her childhood to her mum's MH, and now she is ill herself and would really benefit from the money. Of course she wants something!

@impossibletocontest I am so sorry this is happening to you, it seems so unfair and your mother and brother sound very unreasonable.
But I'm afraid I agree with others, you need proper legal advice obviously, but my personal view is that you will struggle to find good reason for a claim on her estate.

Unless she hasn't actually made a will - that's your best option I think.

😂it will be very difficult to be disgusted when you are dead.

This is a legal board there are a lot of people on here talking nonsense. Please go back to AIBU where you will be much more at home.

You can try, but from what you’ve said you lack valid grounds to do so successfully, imo. You’ve had little or no contact for twenty years, and you aren’t her dependent. If they anticipate you trying to make a claim on the estate, and it sounds as if they do, I would fully expect her to have put countermeasures in place to reduce the chance of any challenge succeeding.

Howe v Howe hasn’t been published yet, but from what I can remember there was enough supporting evidence provided that constituted a moral obligation of the deceased to provide financial support. That said, it’s very much an outlier, and what she received amounted to under 9% of the total estate to be held in and distributed by a trust. It was not a big win, monetarily.

Worth noting is that challenging a will can get very expensive very quickly, and if you don’t succeed you can potentially find yourself liable for the defendant’s costs in addition to your own.

ETA: we’re also assuming that she hasn’t transferred her assets to a trust to avoid probate entirely.

There is obviously a reason she has done this, I get she might have been mad when you left, but you have had plenty of time to make amends, it works both ways. Your brother may have been a carer for her for all that time or even in more recent years, she obviously feels he is more deserving.

As far as how you will cope in the future goes, in England your probably better off not having anything, because if you or your child does need care, if you have any assets you won't get any help, if you have nothing you get given everything it seems, stupid but true in this country.

Done well for herself? All that money couldn’t help her. I understand your frustration but unless you can prove she’s not of sound mind then I don’t think there is much you can do here. She may surprise you as she hasn’t passed away. You absolutely know that she has not left you because she told you? She might just be saying that. She sounds mentally unwell to be honest.

Oh for goodness sake, I so wish there was the ability to ‘turn off comments’ on threads.

This is the LEGAL board. Legal experts have given their professional advice in accordance with legal rights and legislation.

Have you even bothered to read the thread to see what the known experts on here have advised? It is different to your ‘expert’ advice, not surprisingly.

So much incorrect information being posted.

No you can’t contest it successfully for that reason. It’s her choice where her money goes to and not yours.

Why would you expect to inherit anything when your relationship with your mother isn’t in a good place? You’re practically no contact.

It’s no one else’s responsibility that you “need something to survive on”. Have some dignity and respect the Will as it’s written.

"I assume OP was able to buy property when prices were cheap went to university when there was no loans if her mother is 84."

I very much recognise myself in that. **

However, not everybody succeeded equally. Some graduates did well and others didn't.

It appears that the OP has had a more challenging life than you or I. I really do reiterate my previous comment that what you said was particularly nasty and demeaning.

.

** For context to my above statement, my mum is 86. I did indeed go to university with being paid grants instead of having loans. I took a year out and worked before going to university and so also qualified for unemployment benefit during my first Christmas break at university (the rules changed after that year to prevent that happening). I still have my original UB40 from back then (I'm a bit of a hoarder).

I bought my first house (by myself) in 1997 for £39,000 and then sold it in 2007 for £160,000.

I was lucky, I had done a STEM degree and worked in financial services so I was earning enough to be able to afford that. For me, the 95% mortgage was less than one times my salary (for context, back then the median salary for a full time worker was £16,600 per year).

This just shows how much house prices (and other asset values) have risen over the last thirty years compared to wages. Back in 1997, that three bed semi was the equivalent of £80,000 in today's money (according to the Bank of England website). Today it's worth £250,000.

Unless you were lucky and got on the property ladder exactly back in the mid/late 1990s (and so missed the earlier 1980s/1990s property crash - this was the era of 'negative equity' - and benefited from the fall in prices) then, even being a graduate doesn't really help very much. Especially for those in challenging situations.

It's obvious you do not have a good relationship with your mother and brother and you may have valid reasons but my issue is the only reason you want to contest the will is because you want the money not because you think you have a relationship that justifies being included in the will.

Whatever the reasons it looks like she has disinherited you and you don't have any relationship so I don't see why you should be contesting the will.

And it's telling that you also don't even seem to have a relationship with your brother and well. You're not contesting because you think she's not of sound mind or that your brother has coerced her, you're contesting because even though you don't have a relationship with her, you need the money and feel that's enough justification.

As others have said speak to a lawyer to see what options you have but I don't think you have a clear justification for contesting the will if you've been LC for over 20 years. Your intentions are purely driven by money especially as you're not even interested in trying to build a relationship for the remaining time she has left.

I give up….🤷🏻‍♀️😂

(didn’t even read the post above never mind any of the expert LEGAL advice).

🫠

My goodness have you read the thread, seemingly not

firstly she has received sound legal advice on here, from several qualified solicitors.

Secondly she would not be making an application to contest the will, as set out upthread she would be seeking adequate provision, in her particular circumstance she is likely to have a case.

thirdly estrangement has sod all to do with it legally speaking.

And yet you pop on here despite a clear and informed discussion, cluttered with, as with others before you, talking utter nonsense.

This isn't helpful, I just wanted to say your family sound delightful.

Focus on the positive that at least they should be out of your life more when she is gone. Sad but true.

So what? By the sounds of it, the mother is a nasty piece of work who has been cruel to the OP her whole life. Nevertheless, the OP wants the money to ensure her child is taken care of as she is ill and soon won't be able to work. What's wrong with that?

"That said, it’s very much an outlier"

I really don't see how relevant that case is to the OP. There are other cases that are much more on all fours with the OP's situation when making a claim under the Inheritance Act

"That is your job to do provide."

With a worsening, debilitating disease like Multiple Sclerosis, how do you suggest she accomplishes that?

Her mother and brother are horrid!