Died Intestate, what now

Hi All,
Im looking for some advice her for my mother in law.
My MIL's father died in feburary 2007. He did not have a will. There are assets of house and land. There is his wife, son and two daughters left(including mil).
So the wife should get 50% and the other 50% split equally between the three children. The wife and son decide they arent happy with this and want MIL to give up her share and that son and other daughter will do the same so that the wife owns everything.
The wifes solicitor contacted MIL about this and MIL has decided that she dosent want to do it. The solicitor will not take no for an answer. My mil is receiving numerous phonecalls from the solicitor and her mother/brother and now the mother has started phoning my husband to try and get him to change his mothers mind.
What can my MIL do now? Is there a certain length of time before probate has to go through? Any advice welcome.
MIL did consult a solicitor herself when she found out that there was no will and he offered no advice, just said she either had to say yes or no to signing away her right.

"MIL did consult a solicitor herself when she found out that there was no will and he offered no advice, just said she either had to say yes or no to signing away her right."

I don't understand what advice she was expecting? It is as straightforward as sign or don't sign. It would be perfectly normal for a family to enter into a Deed of Family Arrangement in such an instance to provide for the widow. The fact that MIL does not want her mother to have the entire estate ( as in she wishes to hold onto her 33% of 50% share ) says a great deal about the relationship between all the parties.

If your MIL has made her decision and is sticking to it then she should state that quite firmly to all concerned. If they will not take no for an answer, and if they persist, your mother can instruct her own solicitor to write to all those being persistent and ask them to stop.

Probate can take a long time when there is a dispute like this. MIL should not hold her breath. Ultimately, if she wants her share, she can , I assume, compel her mother to deal with the Grant.

Things are likley to get very strained and very ugly here. Is it worth it?

mf

There are ways around this if people are creative. From the sound of it, MIL is not confident that she will get back the share of the property out of the wifes estate. Her refusal to sign now is also possibly ensuring this.

One way around this would be to agree to give the wife a life estate, with the children being remainderpersons of their respective shares and the wifes share going to her estate which she can distribute as she sees fit. The result of this would be that MIL wouldn't have access to the inheritance now, but would when the wife dies (I'm guessing she's relatively elderly now). Another way would be to create a trust.

But that all requires some level-headedness, and it doesn't sound like that is present here by MIL. The other side are frankly being fair enough, contacting her to try to get her to change her mind.

Don't understand why wife of deceased is only entitled to half- this should be two thirds, surely?

Vanilla i agree, in cases of intestacy with wife and issue, it is 2/3 to wife 1/3 to issue. therefore MIL would only get 1/9, is it possible for her to quantify or liquidate the 1/9 share??? i would think it unlikely that she would want to force the wife to sell the house to get the 1/9 share, if there is house why not take a full value of the house and lands and if the lands could be sold separately then the childern could all get their share from the lands. alternatively i would agree with j26, a life interest would be an idea or a trust. i think they need to think outside the box rather than it being a yes or no issue.

j26 said:

But that all requires some level-headedness, and it doesn't sound like that is present here by MIL. The other side are frankly being fair enough, contacting her to try to get her to change her mind.

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Eh? The MIL may have valid reasons for not wanting to relinquish her 1/9 share. I think it's unreasonable for the other siblings and the mother AND ESPECIALLY HER SOLICITOR to be telephoning her trying to get her to change waive her inheritance.

It's only 1/9th, let the other siblings waive their inheritance if they wish-the mother will likely have the legal right to reside in the home until the end of her days anyway (perhaphs the solicitors could clarify-my mum's solicitor says she has this right even though she owns 2/3 and the kids own 1/3 after my dad died) so I don't see why any of them would waive their inheritance unless for tax avoidance purposes.

murphaph said:

Eh? The MIL may have valid reasons for not wanting to relinquish her 1/9 share. I think it's unreasonable for the other siblings and the mother AND ESPECIALLY HER SOLICITOR to be telephoning her trying to get her to change waive her inheritance.

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I don't think it's her solicitor that has phoned her about this.

A very valid reason could be that the son who one assumes is farming the land wants everything in the mother's name and then mother makes a will leaving everything to him (or to him and the other sister). In 10 years time when this come to light where will MIL inheritance be then? OP it's very simple your MIL just says no or comes to a settlement now that is suitable to her. It's her entitlement and her's alone. In the interst of family relationships if she can come to an amicable settlement all the better but it may not be possible.

Bronte said:

A very valid reason could be that the son who one assumes is farming the land wants everything in the mother's name and then mother makes a will leaving everything to him (or to him and the other sister). In 10 years time when this come to light where will MIL inheritance be then? OP it's very simple your MIL just says no or comes to a settlement now that is suitable to her. It's her entitlement and her's alone. In the interst of family relationships if she can come to an amicable settlement all the better but it may not be possible.

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I think the family relationship is now damaged beyond repair as it is. So, in my opinion, she should stick to her guns, say no to all interested parties through her solicitor.

Thanks very much for replies.
Yes it is a 1/9th share.
MIL does not want to put her mother out of home or anything like that. It is the solicitor acting on behalf of wife that is constantly phoning my mil. BTW the wife is my MIL's mother just incase it wasnt clear from previous postings. Its just easier to keep referring to her as the wife.

The scenario that bronte has said is more or less what is happening. There is no farming of land involved however. Son dosent live in family home permanently either. But the wife will will everything to MIL's brother upon her death. He has no family to pass it onto so more than likely will sell up, so why should he be the only person to gain.

J26, thanks for your post. That is exactly the type of information my mil requires. It is a life interest in the property which she wants.