Cohabiting rights

P

Palomino

New Member
Messages
3
Our dad passed leaving the house in the will to be sold and divoded among the three children. His partner refuses to leave the house and wants to stay there until she dies and then have the house sold. She has two other properties and a lot of money in the bank. She is not and has never paid any bills in the house. She threatened to put in a claim if asked to leave. What is she entitled to if she puts in a claim? They were together 18 years. Can she put in a claim to stay ? If she does that does she get an entitlement tomstay until its resolved legally? I know she put in a claim of course for anything but what are her entitlements?
 
Condolences about your Dad. She can indeed claim. Citizens advise here. Given what you say she probably would not succeed in her claim. How old is she, people can be very reluctant to leave a home they had for 20 years. So how about the executor offering to pay for the move?

A firm to come in and pack up everything and move it for her? Might be enough of an incentive to get her to move on. A letter from the executor giving her a date to move out so the house can be prepared for sale may help.

She must be grieving the death of her partner too so she may need some time and grace before she is ready to move.
 
Last edited:
Palomino said:
Our dad passed leaving the house in the will to be sold and divoded among the three children. His partner refuses to leave the house and wants to stay there until she dies and then have the house sold. She has two other properties and a lot of money in the bank. She is not and has never paid any bills in the house. She threatened to put in a claim if asked to leave. What is she entitled to if she puts in a claim? They were together 18 years. Can she put in a claim to stay ? If she does that does she get an entitlement tomstay until its resolved legally? I know she put in a claim of course for anything but what are her entitlements?
Click to expand...
There's a lot to unpack there.

How do you know she has 'never paid a bill' and even if that's the case so what.

Do you really want to turf out your father's partner of 18 years? Do you three children want to go down the legal minefield of getting her out. Your first step is to pay a solicitor for proper legal advice. This is a very serious issue for you. My advise, seeing as you're on here looking for advice, is to leave her stay there until death. Because I image that's the best thing to do, and it's probably what your father wanted. He shouldn't have left such a mess. And he's left a grieving partner behind now having to face being turfed out of her home.

I see in Clamball's link there is a 'redress' option for the cohabiting partner.
 
Bronte said:
your father's partner of 18 years
Click to expand...
Even if (as it seems) you have little regard for them; believe that your parent clearly did.

Also consider who took care of your parent, kept appointments, medication etc.

None of that happens by accident.

I'm sorry for your loss, take legal advice, and include compassion for everyone who is grieving.
 
Would his partner consider buying the house? She would be able to stay in her home and the children would get their inheritance. It sounds like she's not stuck for money!
 
It's not a legal argument but 18 years is hardly a summer fling. How old is the will?

Regardless of the above the will is clear. The children are to inherit the home. It's less certain on when or how quickly that should happen.

How badly the OP and their siblings need access to the money will be a factor. Usually it's good to avoid uncertainty but leaving your late dad's partner insitu might be the cheapest option, depending on her age and willingness to put up a legal fight.
 
It sounds like the will specifies that the house is to be sold. It doesn't say that the partner has a lifetime right to stay there.
Maybe the will was written before meeting his partner.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
What did the deceased want?


Did the deceased marry his partner so that she would inherit? No.

The wishes of the deceased seem very clear to me.
Click to expand...
People who meet other people do not consider what will happen when they die 18 years later. He might not have been able to marry if still married to someone else. You cannot know the wishes of the deceased based on his will, which might have been made prior to his meeting his partner of 18 years.
 
I am aware of two similar cases and in each a very large pay-out was required to get possession of the house. Legal action was threatened by the party occupying the property in both cases, but as far as I am aware both were settled before it ever got too far down the legal route, which would only add additional costs anyway. In one case it took about 3 years and in the other at least a year.
 
Dr Strangelove said:
I go by an unchanged will and his actions, which both imply he didn’t want his partner to inherit anything.
Click to expand...
I would go along with that, particularly as the O/P said the partner owns 2 other properties and has a lot of cash in the bank.
As someone else pointed out she can buy the house if she wants to stay there, why deny her deceased partners children their inheritance.
 
  • Like
Reactions: POC
Des Pondent said:
I would go along with that, particularly as the O/P said the partner owns 2 other properties and has a lot of cash in the bank.
As someone else pointed out she can buy the house if she wants to stay there, why deny her deceased partners children their inheritance.
Click to expand...
She's not denying them their inheritance though. She wants to stay there until she dies, then they'll inherit the house. If it was their mother there they would have to wait for their inheritance. What's the difference?

Please have compassion for your father's grieving partner instead of trying to turf her out of what's been her home for 18 years.
 
Last edited:
DannyBoyD said:
There could have been other reasons for this that we don't know about.
Click to expand...
Bronte said:
People who meet other people do not consider what will happen when they die 18 years later. He might not have been able to marry if still married to someone else. You cannot know the wishes of the deceased based on his will, which might have been made prior to his meeting his partner of 18 years.
Click to expand...

Maybe the executor should arrange a séance to resolve these intangibles.
 
Yes there should be compassion on both sides. But if the will said the house is to be sold, it's not reasonable for the children to have to wait indefinitely (possibly decades) for their inheritance. The deceased would have expected them to get it soonish if the house is sold.
 
Des Pondent said:
I would go along with that, particularly as the O/P said the partner owns 2 other properties and has a lot of cash in the bank.
As someone else pointed out she can buy the house if she wants to stay there, why deny her deceased partners children their inheritance.
Click to expand...
Nobody is denying the children 'their inheritance'. They've waited this long for 'their' inheritance, so what if they've to 'wait' another while.

Do you think if he were married to the children's mother his children should be denied their inheritance by their mother staying in the house?
 
Dr Strangelove said:
I go by an unchanged will and his actions, which both imply he didn’t want his partner to inherit anything.
Click to expand...
Which is why there are some legal options for the partner of 18 years. In recognition of people not thinking thru and sorting out legal messes as regards homes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top