Contesting a will

[Upnorthnow]

Hi - my brother and I recently inherited my deceased father's estate, but the will is being contested by his girlfriend on the grounds that she was dependent upon him at the time of his death. She was beneficiary to his pension which is worth (over ten years - though she will get it until she dies) more than his entire estate put together. They had no joint finances or property and my father lived off his pension which covered rent and living expenses. Other pertinent facts are:

• she was with him for ten years, they split up for 8 years (but remained friend)and then she moved back in with him 9 months before he died although left him again one month before he fell I'll again suddenly.
  
• she owns her own apartment but rented it out while living with him.
  
• she has a successful career,although she put it on hold for 9 months to spend time with him (although she was not his carer - he was a bit frail but still independent)
  
• her children from a previous marriage are all grown up and in no way dependent on her (her ex husband was very wealthy)....my father never had anything to do with her children as they lived with their father when they were growing up.
  

-all my father's "estate" is in shares - he owned no other assets.
-she would easily be able to prove he supported her for those nine months as he paid for rent, utilities and groceries for both of them, AND she was not working.

My brother and I have tried to negotiate with her but she wants us to give her half of the estate which I think is too much......besides, she has behaved in such a mercenary manner about all of this, I would rather the money went to charity than to her!!! What do you think a uk court will rule?....they lived in Malaysia, though he retained his uk domicile and all his money is in the uk. I would like to avoid a long battle in court, but I don't want to just roll over and give her what she wants. At the end of the day, my dad wanted my brother and I to have that money to pay for his grandchildren's university fees (6 grandchildren), not more shoes and handbags for her.

[Upnorthnow]

Do my dad's wishes get taken into consideration at all? It seems ludicrous that she can override a will because she wants "more" of his money. I could understand if they had children together, or if they owned a house together that she would be in danger of losing...but she is getting exactly the same amount of money that my dad lived on for the past 15 years of his retirement as he never touched his savings....she told my brother and I that she thinks that dad didn't want her to have to work any more (she's 50) and he would want her to be a lady of leisure and for this she needs both the pension and a lump sum of money.

I know this is unrelated but my mother is 65 and still works hard for a living in order to supplement the tiny pension she gets (as she spent 20 years bringing us up while trailing my dad round the world and therefore doesn't qualify for anything more)....it sickens me to think his ex girlfriend can qualify for his cash because she was clever enough to move back in with him upon hearing the words "terminal illness"!

[mumblechum1]

You need someone who specialises in contested probate matters. Going by your nickname, I can recommend someone in Humberside if that's near you?

[Upnorthnow]

Thanks! Scotland I'm afraid!!! But luckily I have been able to talk to a lawyer today.....it looks good as as she was only with him for 9 months which we can prove as her moving costs are referenced in my dad's financial statements and my dad gave me a letter she had written to him just before they moved back in together referring to the fact that they had only recently started seeing each other again and she needed to think about whether or not she could properly get back together with him (apparently you need to prove a minimum of 2 yearsearned you need to be together at death). I also have a letter from her telling him she was moving out again as she had had enough of his boring and penny pinching ways, dated a month before he died. Even if she manages to establish some form of dependency, the fact that she is already receiving the pension would probably mean it would be hard (under the family act) to prove to a court that she was used to receiving more......according to his bank records, my father hadn't sold any of his shares since he'd received them in the 90's, proving that he lived solely on the pension...... So we are going to hold our nerve and see if she proceeds. Thank goodness I kept all his old administration...I couldn't bear to throw it all away and carted it all back in my suitcase after he died. Who would have known it would come in so useful.....

[KatieMiddleton]

Wow she sounds vile. She wasn't married to your father, has been bequeathed a pension but wants more?!

A solicitor will be well worth the money to be rid of this parasite.

Obviously I'm no lawyer but I am just incredulous at the woman's nerve.

[Upnorthnow]

Agreed! My brother and I are determined that she will not get one penny more as she has acted atrociously...when he was in a coma she was withdrawing $1000 a day from the ATM machine in the hospital lobby using his debit card (which she was not authorised to use as he was very peculiar about stuff like that) while pretending to my brother and I that his wallet was in the hospital room "safe". She also cleared his apartment of all his watches and cufflinks (including 2 rolex watches which were intended for his grandsons) and told us he had "lost" them. We also subsequently found out that she had called his financial advisor and told her that she was his wife and could they sell all his shares and wire the funds to her bank account (all while weeping at his bedside while he was unable to talk or move).....thank goodness I only found this out afterwards as it would have been horrific to have been dealing with her deception while tending to my father's final days - i would have hated for him to feel such bad vibes. I feel like such a fool for initially trusting her (i even helped her with the pension paperwork)! Sorry - I'm having a bit of a rant now, but I just can't believe how some people can be so callous.

[ajandjjmum]

You've lost your Dad and I know how hard it is to think straight in those circumstances.

Could you contest the will as being too generous in her favour - it was presumably written before she moved out just before he died?

Sorry for your loss.

[KatieMiddleton]

I'd be sorely tempted to report her to the police for fraud. But ultimately I think I'd just like to never see her again if it was me.

Get rid ASAP and move on.

Huge sympathy for your loss too.

[lisaro]

You have posted this previously OP. are you hoping for different answers?

[whoknewthat]

Similar thing happened to us.

DH uncle forged his Grandad's will to write DH and BIL out of it. Then we found out that uncle had made grandad sign over house 2 days after DH's mum died when he was already receiving SS help for being mentally incapable.

Eventually, he had to pay out because we found out he had also been drawing pension for 18 months after Grandad's death and threatened to go to the police.

However it did cost £60k in legal fees and DH ended about £15k up in the end .

I would get some legal advice but maybe send her solicitors letter saying you will refer ALL matters to court including cash withdrawal and watches. As executors you are entitled to know what that money was for. It is theft.

[kilmuir]

She sounds horrendous. hope you can put a stop to her ways

[ajandjjmum]

Not meaning to hijack (sorry OP), but if you are a beneficiary of a will, is it normal for you to see a copy, and to know what the other gifts are?

[omgomgomg]

I remember your original thread although at that point I think you believed that your dad had not written a will so as to leave everything to his children and not have to actually specifically exclude the on-off girlfriend.

Presumably a will subsequantly turned up via a solicitor or something and the girlfriend is not happy at being excluded.

Thankfully you have a shed load of paperwork to support your case and esnure that your father's wishes are carried out.

Can you quantify the amounts taken via atm and the value of the missing assets (watches etc) possibly scaring her with the threat of a counterclaim for return of the value of these asset/monies.

[Upnorthnow]

Hi - yes - I did post about this before, when the will hadn't been found and when I still thought the girlfriend was a good person. We originally thought he had died intestate and I was actually considering giving her some money as I felt bad about inheriting "by default". Turns out he had done it just before he died but had it sent to the family soliciter back in his hometown....and you guessed it, she was NOT happy to have been explicitly excluded and at this point the gloves came off. I think previously she was hoping she could guilt me into giving her cash.....vile...I could just do without the hassle though. I just want her to go away!