Wills and legalities

[GhostlySinCity]

Try and picture the scenario.

A man and wife. Both elderly. Been married since their twenties. Have quite a bit of money stashed away and own their own house.

Man is on last legs so wrote a will in which he leaves half of "his" house to his son and half of "his" money to his son. His daughter gets nothing because he dislikes her

The deal is son gets the house legally when he dies but he is not allowed to kick his mother out and must allow her to stay until she dies too.

Now I think someone has made a huge cock up here...the man, ignorent twat that he is...is boasting about how son will get everything and daughter will get nothing but surely when he dies, despite the will...LEGALLY his wife gets half of everything anyway? Surely as they are married, the house cannot just be given away and will become "her" house as they were married? Therfore, legally....if when he dies, woman decides to leave half of the money to the daughter and half to the son, that will and can happen?

Or will the bloke get his way?

Wouldn't it depend whether they were joint tenants or tenants in common? Joint tenants where when one person dies the house automatically all belongs to the other person, or tenants in common where they literally have half each and can leave their half separately.

what flowerybeanbag said.

Are you the daughter Ghostly?

The man can basically do what he likes with his money and his house. Obviously it will depend how the house is currently owned - is it all in the man's name, or is it jointly owned with the wife, and if so is it tenants in common or joint tenants? But if it's tenants in common (or if the man owns the house in his sole name), he can choose who to leave his half to.

The daughter would only have a claim in the rare case of her being dependent, eg if she is disabled and has been receiving an allowance from her father. If she is an able-bodied adult, she wouldn't normally have any legal claim.

That's my understanding as well, Tutti.

You can find out whether they hold the house as joint tenants or tenants in common by doing a search of the Land Registry. It doesn't say so in plain english, what you'd need to look for is a restriction, I think it's in the proprietorship part but don't do conveyancing so not too sure.

He can give half his savings etc to the son, and half to the wife but as GSC says, there's nothing to stop the wife leaving her (& half of his) savings to the daughter.

As previously said - if the house is a joint tenancy it passes to the wife automatically. She can leave it to whoever she wants. Different scenario if it is solely in his name or they own as tenants in common. Also, money in joint account will pass to wife automatically so she can pass it on in her will as she wishes. My knowledge is only as an executor, not as a solicitor, so could be wrong.