fathers will

[BrandonsMum08]

Excellent new section! welcome marie and mark.

I will start this new section off with a question that has recently been bothering me.

My mother passed away 9 years ago. she owned the family home. my father has 2 children from a previous relationship who have never lived with us. their relationship with my mum was never great and now it is the same between me and them. we are very distant.

My mother left the family house to my father but on the condition that it is left to me only in his will. as far as i know from what he has told me this is the case although i have never been allowed to see a full copy of my mums will for reasons i guess there is something in there that would allow me to cut the apron strings from him and be worry free (our relationship is also strained and ge likes to be in control).
Obviously when he passes away there will be things of his left to my siblings but they will be in the house left to me. will they be allowed to access his/my house without my permission? (they know the house is left to me) the reason i ask is because there are also alot of things of my mums in there still that i worry will be taken or mistaken as my dads.

[Jenn]

Claire - I don't know about the legal side of it - but in my experience - unless you have all the keys then they can really do what they want. as i say only my experience - my sister bought my nan's house after she died. Our uncle (not on speaking terms) never gave the key back - even though my mum and aunt had emptied the house fully - he went in one day and went in the loft and left the loft hatch open - hence why we knew!

My sister had the locks changed that day!

as i say only my experience!

[Lawyer Mark]

BrandomsMum08,

Thank you for your welcome and for posing the first question!

There are a couple of ways the property could have been left in your mother's Will as you mention:

1. It could have been left in trust to you father for life and then after his death to you outright. You would normally expect to see the property being transferred to trustees and the whole position would be relatively formal with the trustees becoming the owners of the property.
2. It could be a much less formal gift whereby the property was left to your father with a request that he eventually leaves it to you. This would not be legally binding and he could change his Will on this.

The only way to be certain would be to see a copy of your mother's Will (possibly a copy could be obtained from the Probate Registry assuming a Grant was taken out in the estate) and/or check the Land Registry records to see whose name the property is in.

In terms of your siblings, assuming the property passes outright to you then it is unlikely they will have any right to access to the property although they might be entitled to receive possessions belonging to your father, dependent on the terms of his Will

I hope this helps, though if you need any further clarification do let me know. Generally, if it is something that is bothering you and you are unsure of the exact position, then getting the information from the Probate Registry and/or Land Registry could clarify matters and help establish exactly what your rights are or entitlement is.

[BrandonsMum08]

Thank you mark. they way you describe type 1 sounds like how my mum explained it to me. i was only 15 when she died which is why i have always thought i was never at the will reading.
i have bought a copy of the will but it isnt the full copy and to be honest it was gobbledigook to me haha. i will dig it out and type up what it says with regards to the house and maybe you could translate for me?

Thank for your help. it is much appreciated.

[Lawyer Mark]

No problem, if you want to type it up I will do my best to explain it to you! OR if you wanted to pm it to me or email me then that is fine also!

Regards
Mark