Someone is contesting my dads will, contesting a will, he

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How long were they together and what does she think shes entitled to?

It would appear that the partner is claiming under the Inheritance (provision for family & Dependents) act 1975.

The best she could hope for, if she didn’t contribute to the house, in my opinion, would be the right to live in the property for life. She wouldn’t get all the equity in it.

However if he left a different property I think the chance of her getting anything else is remote.

I don’t know whether she is bringing this claim herself or whether she has solicitors but I can’t help feeling the solicitors are leading her down the garden path to line their own pockets only to later drop it as having no chance of success.

Nonetheless, you are going to have to deal with it.

I agree with you that she has adequate provision but clearly she has pound signs in her eyes.

It’s not me however that you need to convince. It’s a county court judge, if it gets that far.

Do remember that I can only give you my opinion.

Another lawyer may have a different opinion. Litigation needs at least 2 parties and neither goes to court expecting to lose.

Nonetheless, one of them does, even though they have been told by their respective legal advisers that they have a good chance of success.

If there was a black-and-white answer to every legal problem there would be no need for anything to ever proceed to court.

Thank you for letting me assist you with your legal question. I am glad that I was able to help.

I am not certain whether that answers the question for you or not, but I am happy to answer any specific points arising from this.

It will be my pleasure to help you again either further with this or any future questions you have

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Stuart

I agree with everything you are saying.

If they were not married but she has no entitlement to any kind of maintenance.

None family member can still make an inheritance act claim if they were dependent on the deceased.

If she has been in prison for. Human’s, you can raise the issue that you can’t believe anything she says because she has proven to be disingenuous. Never use the word liar.

Can I help you any further with this?

It's my pleasure to help. I’m glad that I was able to help so far.

Thank you for trusting Just Answer with your legal problem.

I'm happy to clarify anything which is outstanding.

Please don't hesitate to ask.

Kind regards

Stuart

you can put the house up for sale but it cannot be sold until you have got grant of probate/letters of administration so you would need to tell the agent that it was subject to probate. And they may refuse to start marketing it because at the moment probate could take a protracted period of time.

I don’t know whether she has solicitors and whether they have put a caveat at the Probate Registry because that would stop it being granted.

You can’t do a search of the probate registry to find out, all you do is make the application.

You have no counterclaim against the property that your dad left her unless you are going to contest it on the grounds that he lacked capacity or that he was coerced into leaving her something. It would form part of your defence to her claim, by way of counterclaim.

You could always say that if she continues down that path you will make a counterclaim which means that she may get less than she is already.if you can prove coercion or lack of capacity.

Did he legally have to leave her anything? There is no statutory provision to leave anything but she has a statutory right to make a claim under the Inheritance Act which is what she’s doing.

If you can prove that she wasn’t dependent, and she has no claim. She is not entitled to something just because they were living together. She has to be dependent on him in some way.

She is not entitled to live rent free so I would suggest that you started charging her rent and if she doesn’t pay, give her notice to quit.

Can I help you any further with this?

It's my pleasure to help. I’m glad that I was able to help so far.

Thank you for trusting Just Answer with your legal problem.

I'm happy to clarify anything which is outstanding.

Please don't hesitate to ask.

Kind regards

Stuart

I would ask for all of that.

Yes and ask her to leave telling her that if she doesn’t leave voluntarily you will be making a court application to get her out. You will need to go through the formal notice process but no reason not to make her worry about it and screw her weekend up.

I can tell you now that bringing in defending any Inheritance Act claim is not something to be underta***** *****ghtly and this is really something that you need a solicitors weight behind.

I’m not pitching for this and I’m not a lover of lining solicitors pockets.

I’m afraid that we are specifically not allowed to take instructions from here.

If the site were to be a source of potential clients, we would no longer be independent because we would have an interest in pursuing litigation. With no interest in pursuing litigation, we can be really objective with our view is to whether something has a good chance or a limited chance of success.

In any event, for logistical reasons you would be better using a local solicitor .

She can’t claim that she has nowhere to live because she has a flat.

If she has been left the flat in the will, then it belongs to her and you are not entitled to give notice and even then it can only be given once the is grant of probate. The rent belongs to her from the date of death although she would be obliged to repay it if the property got taken from her as a result of any claim that you make to challenge the validity of the will.

The joint account now usually belongs to her. Nothing normally to do with the will.

She can legally keep the money from the flat that was hers unless you are going to contest your father giving it to her on the basis of coercion or lack of capacity.

You can actually ask what you like but whether you would get it would come down to the court.

These arguments can be very expensive for the loser. When not talking about the loser paying a legal bill of thousands of pounds or several thousand pounds but tens of thousands of pounds and potentially many tens of thousands of pounds.

You are asking me to make decisions which only a judge could make.

It would be for the judge to decide whether she can keep whatever she has rent or property and whether she has a claim on anything else.

You can ask her for what you like but whether she pays it or not is a different matter altogether.

You say your father was of sound mind which doesn’t fit in with him giving her a flat worth GBP300,000.