wills

[littlegriff]

my father died and left the family home in the will for me and my 2 sisters to share, one has downs and the will stated she could live there with her carer until death. my oldest sister became her carer and moved in with her husband. now her husband and her r gettig divorced and he is trying for 50% of the house because he has been they 10years etc doing maintance and decorating blar blar, does he has a right to take my inheritsance of me ?

[mrs_overall]

You and your sisters own one third each so he could technically try for 50% of one third of the house. Given that the house is the home of your sister with Downs, I don't think he stands a cat in hells chance of anything.

[ubasses]

Cannot see how, the property was left to the 3 of you and your sister has right to live there for the rest of her life. The maximum he could claim would be half of his wifes 3rd share and he would probably have to wait for that until your sister with downs syndrome could no longer live there.

[littlegriff]

thanks both, it is worring me, but cant affordisolictor at the moment to vary it

[Barmaid]

Right, the property is in trust but subject to the life interest of your sister. During her life, she has the right to live there and you have no "vested in possession" interest until her death. The husband is being a bit ridiculous because as ubasses says, he can only claim against your sister's share of the property WHEN IT VESTS. You need legal advice and the executors/trustees of the Will need to "intervene" in the divorce proceedings to protect the house.

[mrs_overall]

A solicitor will give you a free 30 minute initial consultation. Make use of it, to set your mind at rest.

[Barmaid]

Actually its unlikely you'll get 30 minutes for free. Your absolute best bet is to become the litigation friend for your sister (who presumably does not have competence to deal with her own affairs) and seek the advice of a wills and trust (STEP or ACTAPS) solicitor who has a legal aid franchise. Ultimately, if he tries for a 50% share of the house, it WILL affect your sister who is the life tenant of the trust. Thus someone needs to fight this on her behalf.

[mrs_overall]

I stand corrected Barmaid. Maybe it's just the firm of solicitors I use that offer the free 30 minutes

[Barmaid]

There are fewer and fewer offering it now Mrs O. The difficulty with this case is that it involves quite complicated wills and trust issues. General litigators will sometimes offer 30 minutes free but a lot will not - there are fewer specialists doing it now. That's why I suggest the OP goes to a legal aid franchise firm on behalf of his disabled sister.

[mrs_overall]

Good luck with this one littlegriff

[hc4361]

Lots of other things to be taken in to account, too. It is not easy, as barmaid and others have said.
If husband owned his own house, sold it to move in to help care for your sister, spent a lot of his collateral on improving the house because it was intended it would be their home until it was sold and 'divvied up' then he may have a valid entitlement. His wife could feasibly have pay him one half of her third.