Dispute over late husbands estate with stepson

[Beacholmenin]

I married for the second time a few years ago. At the time we each made Wills leaving our individual assets to our individual children but with the proviso that the widow(er) be allowed to remain in the property as long as they wished and the house be sold and the capital divided equally between the 2 families on the final death. We had both contributed equally to the purchase of the property. The remaining spouse was to have all the goods and chattels associated with the property. Most of the furniture etc had come from me but various items of furniture, home ware.etc were purchased during the marriage, quite often my husband purchasing the larger items and myself the finishing touches.
A few weeks before his death my husband ordered a stair lift and paid a 50% deposit with his Barclaycard. Unfortunately before the stairlift could be installed my husband died and I cancelled the stairlift. The company stated they would refund the deposit less a small cost for measuring etc. I asked them to pay this into our joint account as I did not know what else to do. My stepson has now instructed the solicitors acting as executors to demand the return of this sum (£1350). Questions:- could this be classed as the purchase of a chattel from marital funds, had the stairlift been installed it would have been a chattel and therefore included in the home assets? The firm of solicitors acting as executors are also my solicitors and hold my will, is there a clash of interests here and should they be impartial? Is this a Contention of Probate Issue for the firm? As his family are inheriting over £600k I feel that this is a very petty thing for them to do. Any advice!

[des8]

Hi
Best to keep just on one thread!

I take it that unfortunately you don't get along too well with your stepson as it does seem rather a petty demand.
However the stairlift was not installed, the contract was cancelled so the money would normally have been returned to your late husband's credit card.
Due to his passing this was not possible, but the credit still remains due to his estate.
I realise that is not what you wanted to hear, but IMO that is the position.
Others might have a different view.

If you want to dispute this demand you could probably (depending on how this firm is structured) instruct a different individual solicitor within the office.
However the cost of instructing a solicitor for such a sum would make it not worthwhile.