Help please

[abell080]

Hi, Could anyone offer any advice on a possible problem. My father who is 96 is worried that a son of a near neighbour who has a history of befriending elderly single people will attempt to make contact with his wife (my step-mother) after his death. My father & step-mother have mirror wills leaving everything to each other & then passing down to my daughter. This is really starting to worry him & he keeps asking me to make sure this person doesn't manage to manipulate my step-mother to change her wishes or make gifts to him. My step-mother would be really angry if I said I was going to choose who she could talk to in the future & as they live a distance away It would also be impossible. Many thanks to anyone that can help.

Abell080

[Amethyst]

Presumably he has discussed these concerns with his wife ? Is she much younger than your dad ? ( why does your dad consider she may be vulnerable to this person ?)

If they do share these concerns they could look at changing their wills splitting the estate ( changing the house to be owned as tenants in common) and passing your father's part of the estate directly to your daughter but leaving a life interest in it to his wife ( in which case only your stepmothers part of the estate would be at risk should anything happen with this neighbours son ) - they'd of course need to seek advice on doing that and your stepmother could do the same if that's what she wanted.

[abell080]

Presumably he has discussed these concerns with his wife ? Is she much younger than your dad ? ( why does your dad consider she may be vulnerable to this person ?)

If they do share these concerns they could look at changing their wills splitting the estate ( changing the house to be owned as tenants in common) and passing your father's part of the estate directly to your daughter but leaving a life interest in it to his wife ( in which case only your stepmothers part of the estate would be at risk should anything happen with this neighbours son ) - they'd of course need to seek advice on doing that and your stepmother could do the same if that's what she wanted.

Thankyou so much for your reply, yes, my stepmother is 18 years younger than my father, very dominant & wouldn't like to be told what to do. She makes no secret of admitting she likes this chap & I have to say he does have a bit of charm about him (which maybe wrongly I worry about), My stepmother is the type of person that if you tried to advise her on something she would do the opposite just to show her independence. This is what my father is concerned about, if he mentions it to her she tells him to stop being ridiculous.

My step-mother has always joked she is going to spend, spend, spend when my father passes & as he nears 97 this is increasingly worrying him which is quite sad to see.

Thanks again for any advice.

[Amethyst]

It sounds like changing his will may be the only option open to him to put his mind at rest. He can't of course control what she does after he passes but he can have a say in what happens to his share of the estate in the future.

This is an overview https://www.makeawill.co.uk/page-rig...e-file-33.html but it would be a good idea for your father to talk to his solicitor about the situation - I'm not sure myself what would happen with his wifes will if he changed his will without the knowledge of his wife being that they currently have mirror wills. des8 ?

[des8]

can only agree with what has already been posted.
It might cause a period of awkwardness within family relationships, but your father should be talking to his solicitor with a view to changing his will so that at least his share is passed eventually to your daughter.

It could of course be that his wife is just winding people up by saying she will be off on a spending spree.
Perhaps a young 78 year old, but she may not last much longer.
She may have no intention of "squandering" the estate, but if the changes go ahead she might feel there is no trust and so even change her will.

I don't know the participants, but just be careful as the outcome might not be as wanted

[Amethyst]

Thank you Des xx

[BarbaraT]

Yeah, you shoud be careful about the real outcome. Who knows wha else can happen... Btw you can check out Legalshield reviews and find some additional info on how to deal with legal services