seeking advice on inheriting property

[undercovercarrot]

My DP's uncle recently died, and in his will he left his house to my DP. He had no children of his own, and had discussed with us about leaving his house to DP. He left the house to us on the (unwritten) agreement that we would live in it, which we are going to do. At the moment my Dp is, I think, feeling a strange mixture of grief for his uncle (whom he was very close to) and excitement about our new life in the country..

DP is an executer of the will and we are currently applying for probate which may take a couple of months. The house is in a bad state and needs much work doing to it. My question is does anyone know if its ok to begin work on the house/stay there at weekends doing it up before its officially transferred?

am wanting to be cautious in case something goes wrong (although not sure what could at this stage?)
anyone had any similar experiences/have any advice? Thank you!

I think it may be a bit dodgy and depends on who the other beneficiaries are and how they will feel about it.

I just know within my family there was a somewhat different situation that caused a lot of bad blood where my dad was joint exceutor with ex wife for a dear friends estate. Thing was prior to this ex-wife had been granted power of attorney as dear friend was in a home following a stroke. She knew she was getting the house in the will and so spent a lot of dear friends money doing his house up "for his return from the home" we all knew he was never coming out of the home- this meant that the inheritance me and my brother were left was a fraction of what it should have been as it had all been spent doing up her house(which I don't care about as that isn't the issue- the issue was her evilness).

Anyhow if there is anyone who could possibly contest the will/feel angry about you doing it be very careful. Ensure that any money you do spend on the property is your own and not the uncles (even if there is inheritance to come I would say don't use it in case you are accused of doing what my dads evil ex did.)

Not sure about the legal ramifications of any of this or if you are allowed but thought would post my perspective on it.

I would be careful in case the other beneficiaries object. I'm sure your DP is an honourable sort but my DH is curently suing his uncle over his grandfather's estate.

Uncle got Grandfather to transfer house into his name a week after Dh's mother died and then forged the will .
Anyway, DH is suing on the grounds of undue influence and the uncle has already spent money doing up the house to rent it out. It looks like the uncle is going to lose the case and will also have lost the money he has put into the house.

Also, forgive me for being blunt but it doesn't look good, renovating the house before probate has been granted. Surely you can wait a few months.

Thanks for your messages, and sorry to hear of your bad experiences too.

We are a bit worried about the other beneficeries as they are some of his other nephews/neices who we really dont know that well. I felt that there was a bit of 'frostiness' towards us at the funeral (maybe my paranoia? not sure!), but I do know that DP's uncle had offered the house other newphews/neices for them to live in, but no one else wanted to (the house is based in an aera they didnt want to live & needs lots of work), and I believe that the uncle had discussed his wishes with his brothers so as far as I know the will wasnt a surprise to anyone.

Its not so much we are renovating it - more just cleaning it/sorting out his belongings.

But I will definitly bear in mind your experiences and hold fire a bit until everything is official..

I agree that it isn't necessarily just a legal issue. As your DP is the executor then it's important that he looks whiter than white in the eyes of the family. Bereavements are stressful times for everyone and it's easy to take offence - many family rifts have started that way.

A few months isn't so long to wait anyway.

Do you think any other relative has a legitimate claim to the property or that the will might be challenged for undue influence?

I think its unlikely - the uncle was divorced and had no children. He has 3 brothers, and he also named 4 other nephews in his will as beneficeries to the rest of his estate.

his wish was for his house to stay in the family, and prior to his death he spoke to his other nephews and ex wife about who to leave the property to (it was a considered decision)

my main worry is that DP is only his nephew by marriage (DP's aunt was the uncles ex wife) and that his 'blood' nephews might be upset my his decison (which wouldnt make sense as the uncle had asked if they would like the house left to them )- however they all seem very resonable and have not indicated they might contest the will. even if they did im not sure what grounds they could contest it on.

sorry meant to add to my above post - this could be naive thinking on my part as I have no clue about how easy it is to contest a will/what the grounds for contesting a will have to be!

I'm no lawyer but ..........
if your uncle had died without a will your DP would not be entitled to the estate as he's not a blood relation but the other nieces and nephews would be. Therefore, they could protest. You would have to prove that you had no involvement in the drawing up of the will (didn't go with him to solicitors etc.)

It's very expensive so they probably wouldn't but I's tread carefully and don't upset anyone!

But he did make a will, so in the absence of any contest by someone else, and that would only be successful if either

1. They were financially dependant on the deceased

1. They could prove that the will was invalid, for example that the deceased did not have mental capacity.

Having said that, I wouldn't personally advise doing anything to the house until it's been transferred.

Sorry, should have added after point 2"there's no problem".

Thanks very much for all your replies - I will take all your advice on board. Reading back my OP sounds like we are being a bit callous and are just wanting to take over his house before taking time to grieve and do things properly. This really isnt the case - his death was a real shock (he was only 68) and DP has just been made reundant which means we are struggling to pay rent in London hence the query about doing some work to the house now.

Im so worried about upsetting the family - just trying to do everything 'right' and sensitively as possible.. thanks for taking the time to respond!