Land inheritance

[Django1988]

Hi,

Does anyone know how to include something decided in a divorce settlement in to a will?

My parents divorced in 1995, my brothers and I no longer speak to my dad.

There is a large piece of green belt land that is shared between my dad and his 3 siblings. In my parents divorce it was decided my mum would have half of my dads share.

We have recently done her will and she wanted to include that when she passes, her share of the land will go to her 3 children. She has no written document as evidence so I have emailed the courts and I’m now waiting for them to post me the Decree Absolute.

When I get it, I’m not sure how to add this in to my mums will, does anyone know how this is done or who do I speak to? If/when this land is sold, how do we ensure the money from the sale goes to my mum or is if she has passed?

Thanks for any help in advance, I’ve tried googling/ai etc but just got myself confused and as my brothers want nothing to do with it I need to figure this out on my own

Assuming you're in England/Wales. You can't just 'add' something in to a will, if your Mum wants to make specific provision for the land she'll need to either make a new will or it might be possible to do a codicil, either way and particularly if trying to do a codicil you should take professional advice from a solicitor or will writer as you definitely do not want to accidentally invalidate the whole thing. But she might not need to, if her will was properly written it will have said who gets the 'residue' of her estate, i.e. Whatever is left after the specifically named items are distributed. If this is already stated to be divided between her 3 children, then in all likelihood the share of the land would fall under residual estate and be distributed according to her wishes, without it needing to be specifically named. But do check this point with a proper solicitor.

In terms of current ownership, depends a bit on what exactly was written down in the divorce agreement, was it that she was to be immediately transferred her share of the land, or at your dad's death, or when it was sold, or at some other future date? Is she already listed as co-owner or having a charge or interest in the property? Again worth checking all this now with a solicitor....

I would start with whats on the Land Registry - assuming its registered.

If it is registered then the entry should be updated with your mothers interest noted.

Its fairly simple to check and only costs a few pounds.

If it isnt or the land isnt registered then it might be worth getting it registered to protect your mothers and hence your interest.

The decree absolute won't have any information at all about the split of assets, so that's a bit of a false trail. Did they actually do the financial part via a court or was it an informal agreement?

Your dad needs to split his share of the land via the land registry, that's a legal process that may now involve some legal work as it was agreed so long ago.

Once the property is in her name you can keep a copy of the deed which will form part of her estate. It doesn't need to be lodged separately, maybe a mention in the will, along with other assets. If it is still in her possession at death it will need to be sold or bought out by your dad and his brother's.

Sounds messy - should have been sorted 30 years ago. Glad you're/she's finally getting round to it now though as it's just another part of the puzzle when she goes.

Thank you so much for your replies. Yes I am in England. If this all works out my mum will make a new will to include it. She is away at the minute but when she gets back I will have a look at her current will and see if it states anything about residual estate, she had it done by a professional will writer so hoping it will be on there. The problem is that my mum just doesn’t have a clue about any of it really, she was quite naïve about it and thought that because it was said verbally that we would inherit it when dad or her passes. She doesn’t remember anything else about it.

I had a look at the land registry; the land is registered but my mum isn’t on it, gutted.

Thank you, you have saved me £45! I wont bother getting the Decree absolute, I thought that would detail everything shared out in the divorce.

Its very messy and yeah I’m glad I’m sorting it now before anyone passes. I’m a little disappointed in my mum for not having sorted this at the time or keeping any paperwork but what can you do. After doing some research last night it looks like I will need a TR1 form but I will look in to getting a solicitor to help me and getting my mum to pay for it haha 😊

This sounds like a job for a solicitor. It is too complicated for an individual to do something like this, and it could all go tits-up if not done 100% correctly.

Does your mum not have any of the paperwork re the finances after divorce? Unfortunately many people don't formalise these arrangements so unless she has an actual court order confirming the division of marital assets it may be that this was never done. In which case it doesn't belong to her and so will not form part of her estate. She needs to figure this out before seeing anyone about her will I think.

Thanks for that, I don’t think she does have any paperwork. Currently asking my now ex step dad to see if he has it! I assume it wasn’t finalised and she was happy with the verbal contract, like I said she was and is quite naive. And her naivety has possibly lost me and my brothers over £60k each

There isn’t a verbal contract for ownership of land though. It has to be registered to owners. A solicitor would have done this when the divorce was finalised. If there’s no registration, she’s not got the land but she should have dealt with this via a solicitor and the financial settlement should be in writing as a court order. If she doesn’t have that, get it done! Or there can be ongoing financial claims - she could get advice on this.

What Court dealt with the divorce?

They should have the records

@JohnofWessex Will they if there was no financial order?

Indeed but they should have whatever there is

Nothing to stop your mother applying for a financial settlement now if there wasn't one done at the time

@JohnofWessex That’s what I would do. Get the financial order now. Open up negotiations and the financial order should have happened for a clean break divorce. If dm did get the FO, it will be found.

Just wanted to update you. I’ve spoken to the court that dealt with the divorce and they said they only hold records for a certain amount of time (18 years) and that the financial order would have been destroyed from the archive in 2013.

I spoke to my step dad who said he definitely remembers seeing a document and told me the solicitor who dealt with the divorce, they aren’t around anymore so I can’t ask them either.

Time to get a solicitor I think! Although I don’t hold much hope 😕

If, as sounds to be the case, there was no formal order, then in theory your mum could still apply for one, though it would be pretty difficult after so much time has elapsed.

Although the solicitors that dealt with it may not still be around there is probably a `successor practice' that took over the firm, and the SRA might be able to identify that firm. But, again, even if you could locate them it's very unlikely they would still hold a file from so long ago.

My advice would be for your mum either directly or through a solicitor just to approach your dad and ask him if he's willing to transfer the half share of his interest in the land as he promised to do. Whilst he may well say no, there's at least a possibility that he would agree, so she's nothing to lose by trying.

If, as will probably be the case, he denies any such agreement then she can tell him that she intends to apply to the Court for a financial order.

However, a crucial question, as you mentioned a step-dad, is whether your mum has remarried? If so, that would make things a lot more difficult, as section 28(3) of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1973 basically bars a claim for financial remedies unless an application for one had been made before the second marriage.