Money left in a will

[caseycat]

Hello. I have changed my name for this as info is extremely outing.

About 30 years ago my MIL told us that a friend of hers was leaving everything to my DH in her will. She had no other family at all, was a single child of single children. My DH and I didn't take much notice, we hardly ever saw this lady or built a relationship with her and we certainly weren't counting on receiving any money. My MIL continued to be in contact with her, and helped support her to get carers in, have repairs done to her house etc. I don't know if she had legal power of attorney but she certainly had access to her bank accounts.

The lady died a few days ago, in her mid 90s, in hospital. My MIL told her other son but not DH. DH found out and rang her to ask if she was ok, as she has lost a friend. She bought up the will, and said that the money was to go 50:50 to DH and BIL, and that she and brother in law were going to sort it out. DH told DD and I. DD then says that she has seen the will within the last 9 months - MIL has been extremely unwell recently and all her important documents were put together in one folder that the family could all access - and that it only had DH as beneficiary. This would fit in with what DH was told years ago.

MIL and BIL are already proven liars when it comes to finances - she enabled him to hide funds from his first wife when he divorced her, and he asked DH to do the same, DH refused. The relationship between DH and BIL is very strained, he isn't a particularly nice person. and frankly nor is MIL. We aren't sure where to go from here, or how easy it would be for MIL and BIL to do something that goes against the will without DH knowing. I think that MIL and BIL will put themselves forward as executor of the wills.

DH is in two minds about what to do, part of him is thinking that he has never relied on getting the money so to receive anything would be a bonus. However, he is also uncomfortable with his family lying (if indeed they are). I have said that he needs to ask to see a copy of the will - he was told yesterday by MIL that she had lost it but that BIL was going to look for it - and take it from there. I don't think that he will be allowed to though. I am also concerned as DH has been very unwell recently (he has a life limiting illness) and when he is stressed he becomes ill very quickly.

Is there anything else that he should be doing? It's very strange because DH doesn't feel as if he "deserves" the money, he only met the lady 2 or 3 times in his life. However at the same time she chose to leave him the money and if she didn't change her mind, then surely her wishes should be abided by, both legally and morally?

If a proper, signed will exists, this is how you'll find it: www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

What will matter here is who the executor is, and what actual access MIL has to the lady's accounts. Best hope she doesn't just ignore her wishes and grab the money - she could be challenged of course, but that would cost a lot of money and possibly wipe out whatever your DH may have inherited

Hi everyone I thought I would update this. MIL continued to try and act as executor even though the copy of the will was unsigned. DH took over after she started doing some illegal things re the lady's bank account and so we shut down accounts, informed banks etc, with the knowledge that he might not be able to undertake any further executor duties as the will was not signed. To be fair MIL is nearly 81 and it was obviously all too much.

DH and I decided to do a search to try and find a signed copy of the will, mostly because there was the real possibility that MIL could get into legal trouble as she was trying to organise emptying the house out etc when no signed will had been found and no probate granted. We found a valid and signed copy of the will via a solicitors who had taken over from the lady's original firm, which leaves the property and all its contents to DH and the jewellery to MIL. DH is named as executor. DH has decided that he will accept this inheritance. It has taken a while for him to feel comfortable with this and we explored lots of alternatives (ie trust funds for nephews and niece etc). But in the end he feels that he has been left the property and contents legally and that it will make a huge difference to our lives to accept this. As I think I said earlier he is not well, he has a major operation in 10 days time and this could allow him to cut down on work etc.

MIL is lying to anyone who will listen that DH has stolen from her, but to be fair people rarely believe what she says anyway. BIL hasn't said anything - my guess is that he realised that MIL's suggestion of sharing the inheritance wasn't going to be considered reasonable.

Glad that it is all sorted and that there is a solicitor administering the estate. Dh will now have to do nothing except sign things asked by the solicitor. Think it's better this way as it removes him from the Administration of the estate to having it done by a 3rd party avoiding any aspersions being cast his way.