Entitled to inherit or not? I am wondering whether you could advise me if we have a case: are the children entitled to inherit anything?.My aunt passed away 5 years ago and did not have a Will. Her husband immediately stated that her other children from a previous relationship, would not be getting anything and that their house was for his children only.He has since made his own will leaving their house to his two children leaving my uncles other children with nothing. Are his other children entitled to make a claim against this, can they fight his will or make a claim on a percentage of the house once he has died etc? We as a family feel that they should be entitled to something at least as she would of wanted her children to ALL have a share.Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciatedProbate Answer.

Whether the children are entitled to inherit, It does depend on the value of the estate and how the home was owned, so there is no simple answer.

It may well be that they owned the house as joint tenants, so it would have belonged to her automatically.

If there was a substantial additional estate, then the “ex” children could well be entitled to inherit a share. See attached.

That is why it is so vital in these cases to take proper professional advice. See www.TheFamilyBank.co.uk for one suitable arrangement.From that you will see that the home is owned 50% / 50% and the survivor is left the right to reside in the other half of the property which used to belong to the deceased partner.  When the second partner dies, each half of the property is deal with under the Will of the original (50% owner.) So each partner gets to leave their share of the  property to whomever THEY chose, without disadvantaging the survivor, who get to use the home for as long as they need to.  Then the shares of the property are distributed as the original half owners each wished, even if the survivor subsequently remarried.

Are The Children Entitled To Inherit?

More on Probate Disputes.  Probate Claim Checker.

Probate question: Is probate needed? “My father who died on Tuesday and left a last will and asking my brother and I to be executors and he has left everything to my mother.Do I need to get the will checked at the Probate office to confirm it is legally correct?  Is probate needed? If it is, go here. The flat, bank accounts, car, policies are in joint names with my mother so do we need to do anything?”

Is Probate Needed?

First point is that you need to make sure the Will and related papers are preserved until after your mothers death, just in case you need to use Dads Nil Rate Band for Inheritance Tax when mum dies. Looking after these papers could just save £100.000 + in Inheritance Tax.There is a fair chance that you may not need to get a grant of probate, but it only takes one awkward bank etc to demand it and you have no choice.Hopefully they will all accept a copy of the Will and the death certificate (get lots).If their home is owned joint tenants (they both owned all of it) then just send the death certificate to the Land Registry and ask for his name to be removed.  If they owned the property in shares (tenants in common) the probate will be needed to transfer ownership.  As the last will is so simple, they are probably joint tenants, which makes it very easy at this stage, but does put the home at risk from Community Care Tax.As long as both your mum and dad are English or Welsh, can’t think of any other problems offhand.Once the dust settles, mum should review her legal planning and get Lasting Powers of Attorney and consider Asset Protection so her whole estate doesn’t go to the Council.I have attached some of our guides for you.Fingers crossed!Steve 

Is Probate Needed?