Right of residency

[Noelmc]

My dad passed away last July. Myself and five sisters were made beneficiaries of the estate, mainly my dad's house which is worth about 495,000. My two brother-in-laws were made executors. My mam suffers from dementia and living in a nursing home. However my dad's girlfriend resides in the house and given right of residence. My parents never separated, so apparently we have to take out a power of attorney to claim my mam's share of the proceeds, however we cannot do anything until this lady dies. The Will has caused contentions in the family already. Can anyone explain as clearly as possible re revenue implications re right of residence please?

 

[mf1]

There's not enough information there to advise.

When did your parents marry? When did they separate? Was any provision made for your mother when she separated? Where did your mother live after they separated?

Did your father buy the house in his sole name? When? Was there a mortgage? There is a will obviously. When was that made?

Your mother very likely has significant entitlements to your father's estate- unless there was some form of separation agreement.

Unless your mother made an Enduring Power of Attorney while she was still compos mentis, the only avenue is to have your mother made a Ward of Court so that her representatives can claim her entitlements.

If you've already taken legal advice and you have answers to the above then you move on to the value of the estate - if there are six beneficiaries and none of you have taken significant benefits in the past, then each of your shares ( assuming your mother may have already waived any entitlement to her husbands estate) will fall well below any Inheritance Tax thresholds.

See this link:
[broken link removed]

It goes without saying - but I'll say it anyway- your mother and all of the beneficiaries need proper legal advice.

mf

 

[DirectDevil]

+1 mf1.

Additional thought. If husband and wife were not even separated does wife not enjoy a right under Succession Act 1965 to appropriate the family home and associated chattels in absolute priority to anyone else.

Put another way can the girl friend's right of residence - howsoever that was constructed - trump the wife's legal position or is the right of residence a legal nullity ?

 

[Vanessa]

+1 mf1.

Additional thought. If husband and wife were not even separated does wife not enjoy a right under Succession Act 1965 to appropriate the family home and associated chattels in absolute priority to anyone else.

Put another way can the girl friend's right of residence - howsoever that was constructed - trump the wife's legal position or is the right of residence a legal nullity ?

If legally still married the wife is entitled to a legal share of the estate.
If the house is the family home and owned by both then I would certainly question the entitlement of the husband to give anyone a right of residence without his wifes permssion