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Hi, I'll try and cut this long long story very short. Father passed in 2014 following long illness. He lived with my Mother in their marital home of 49 years, until his final few months of Respite care home where he passed. My mother kept the marital home via survivorship as it was owned as Joint Tennants. My father also owned a second property. There are 2 daughters, myself and sister. My mother and myself are estranged from my sister for many years. Within months of my father's final illness and passing, my sister persuaded my father to change his will in her favour, making my sister the sole beneficiary. My sister had my father transfer £40K from his bank account to herself a couple of months before he passed. My sister benefited from his remaining bank accounts and his personal pension. My mother was left with no choice but to go to a solicitor and issue an Inheritance Act claim (it was a much longer and more difficult expensive road to prove undue influence). Fortunately this was successful, a compromise agreement was reached after 4 years of mediations and prior to court. My father's second property was eventually sold and my mother received a lump sum plus costs from my father's estate.
My fathers Will openly left everything to my sister, including 'Personal Chattels' (no further descriptions). During mediation, this was argued back and forth, back and forth. My mother's solicitors stuck out for most being Matrimonial Property (antiques, jewellery, pictures/frames, garage things, speakers, clay pigeon guns, coins, etc) , a few very obvious personal items were eventually offered up for collection but as these were not what my sister would call 'in their entirity', the offer was ignored thereby rejected. My sister then had a provision put in the compromise agreement that she was at liberty to issue a claim against my mother for my father's 'personal chattels' when she sees fit. My mother put in a counter provision for a potential claim for return of her and my father's 'wedding album' which my sister had previously broken into their house and stolen.
So, here we are, no further claims issued as yet. We have also since put my mother's (marital) home into my name also as Joint Owners between my mother and myself.
The next bit is two-fold. My mother has now decided that she would like to move house (many memories in this one). Hence, she would like a clean break and wants to dispose of anything and everything to de-clutter. My mother has kept to one side all that she wants to keep for sentimental value and I have thus arranged for an antiques shop to come and assess all that she has left over to go to auction.
I have a concern from my personal point of view, which I have not yet felt it appropriate or able to burden my mother with further given the whole trauma of what she has just been through. As the entire history of this, cuts back to my sister's jealousy over my breathing oxygen, I have a strong suspicion my sister is simply waiting until my mother has passed away, to issue her claim on my mother's estate for my father's chattels, what will be in her eyes a 'revenge' claim (yes, im afraid this is what I have to deal with).
My mother has completed her will and left everything to myself. I do not plan to have to obtain probate when my mother does eventually pass in the distant future, she owns much of nothing apart from the house we now share in name which will pass to me by survivorship. Her accessible funds she is happily depleting as we speak so this will be small, to cover funeral costs etc.
A) Is my mother completely and entirely at liberty to dispose of these items as she feels fit (given they are in her possession and my mother argued for 'matrimonial property' and some were not taken up on anyway).
B) Indeed my sister can issue a claim, and not necessarily get anywhere with it / or win (she will believe there is no counter claim for the wedding album at this point to fear) - or does the physical 'ability' to issue a claim for fathers chattels within the compromise agreement, die with my mother's passing as the compromise agreement would die? (I realize there are probably hundreds of senarios here, this would be seen as vindictive, revengeful, etc, why did she not come forward again during my mother's lifetime, but wait until she had passed, etc, etc - hopefully all set up to fail !)
C) What are the consequences or worst case senario for my mother's estate / me in disposing of these items?. I would obviously go in with the fact that my father's personal chattels don't exist anymore and thats that, but is this the end, or would there be expectation somewhere that the sum of which (at that time £3K) would be claimable by my sister, or she could try?
In truth, my mother would be mortified if any of this has any repercussions or went on to effect me and her granddaughter afterwards and it would be the last thing she would want. At the sametime, I would not wish to be landed with a large legal bill which I can ill afford to begin, or perhaps this wouldn't be the case anyway if there is much of nothing left in my mother's estate (pray god this is many years away) . I would be very grateful if anyone were to offer some much needed advice or what is the best direction to go in here, as this is keeping me awake at night, wondering if there is something blindingly obvious that we have omitted that would be catastrophic yet simply avoided ?
Thank you for reading so far...
My fathers Will openly left everything to my sister, including 'Personal Chattels' (no further descriptions). During mediation, this was argued back and forth, back and forth. My mother's solicitors stuck out for most being Matrimonial Property (antiques, jewellery, pictures/frames, garage things, speakers, clay pigeon guns, coins, etc) , a few very obvious personal items were eventually offered up for collection but as these were not what my sister would call 'in their entirity', the offer was ignored thereby rejected. My sister then had a provision put in the compromise agreement that she was at liberty to issue a claim against my mother for my father's 'personal chattels' when she sees fit. My mother put in a counter provision for a potential claim for return of her and my father's 'wedding album' which my sister had previously broken into their house and stolen.
So, here we are, no further claims issued as yet. We have also since put my mother's (marital) home into my name also as Joint Owners between my mother and myself.
The next bit is two-fold. My mother has now decided that she would like to move house (many memories in this one). Hence, she would like a clean break and wants to dispose of anything and everything to de-clutter. My mother has kept to one side all that she wants to keep for sentimental value and I have thus arranged for an antiques shop to come and assess all that she has left over to go to auction.
I have a concern from my personal point of view, which I have not yet felt it appropriate or able to burden my mother with further given the whole trauma of what she has just been through. As the entire history of this, cuts back to my sister's jealousy over my breathing oxygen, I have a strong suspicion my sister is simply waiting until my mother has passed away, to issue her claim on my mother's estate for my father's chattels, what will be in her eyes a 'revenge' claim (yes, im afraid this is what I have to deal with).
My mother has completed her will and left everything to myself. I do not plan to have to obtain probate when my mother does eventually pass in the distant future, she owns much of nothing apart from the house we now share in name which will pass to me by survivorship. Her accessible funds she is happily depleting as we speak so this will be small, to cover funeral costs etc.
A) Is my mother completely and entirely at liberty to dispose of these items as she feels fit (given they are in her possession and my mother argued for 'matrimonial property' and some were not taken up on anyway).
B) Indeed my sister can issue a claim, and not necessarily get anywhere with it / or win (she will believe there is no counter claim for the wedding album at this point to fear) - or does the physical 'ability' to issue a claim for fathers chattels within the compromise agreement, die with my mother's passing as the compromise agreement would die? (I realize there are probably hundreds of senarios here, this would be seen as vindictive, revengeful, etc, why did she not come forward again during my mother's lifetime, but wait until she had passed, etc, etc - hopefully all set up to fail !)
C) What are the consequences or worst case senario for my mother's estate / me in disposing of these items?. I would obviously go in with the fact that my father's personal chattels don't exist anymore and thats that, but is this the end, or would there be expectation somewhere that the sum of which (at that time £3K) would be claimable by my sister, or she could try?
In truth, my mother would be mortified if any of this has any repercussions or went on to effect me and her granddaughter afterwards and it would be the last thing she would want. At the sametime, I would not wish to be landed with a large legal bill which I can ill afford to begin, or perhaps this wouldn't be the case anyway if there is much of nothing left in my mother's estate (pray god this is many years away) . I would be very grateful if anyone were to offer some much needed advice or what is the best direction to go in here, as this is keeping me awake at night, wondering if there is something blindingly obvious that we have omitted that would be catastrophic yet simply avoided ?
Thank you for reading so far...
