General Chat

I read somewhere that one of the Fonda clan left $1 to one of his children because he didn't really want to leave anything to him but he couldn't contest it because he was left something. Don't know how true that is though.

When Mr Owl’s gran died last year her estate was split equally between her daughter Jane and Mr Owl as her son John, Mr Owls dad died of cancer in 1983. Mr Owl’s cousin complained bitterly at not being left anything despite his mum trying to explain to him that if Mr Owl’s dad (her brother) was still alive then Mr Owl would not have inherited.

Cousin went to a lawyer to try and get something from the estate but was told it wouldn’t be worth trying to get anything. He resorted to hounding his mum to see if she would give him anything.

I know wills of 2 people that were made , that left everything to charities.

First will left minimal money to a few people, the majority to 2 charities.

Second will left an amount to 1 person, and the rest to 1 charity. Quite a large amount

There was no spouse surviving the 1st one, 2nd had no marriage or children, but nephew.

OH and I have wills leaving everything to the other, then to our only child. Of course, if one dies, then the survivor can, and should, re-do the will.

We have also included 2 or 3 charities in the current will, I can't remember now whether it was 1 part or 2 parts shared between them ......... that is one thing that the survivor might want to change ;-) . We did compromise ..... OH had one he preferred and so did I, so we tossed a coin! :-D


When wills don't leave anything to a spouse here, and that is challenged, the judge can consider how long the marriage had lasted, whether the couple is still together or separated, or how long they have been divorced, support that had been previously given, whether all, some or none of the money involved had been accrued during the marriage with the help of the surviving spouse,, etc etc.

There was one case where the wife had acted as secretary (mostly unpaid) when the husband started a new business and they had little money. The business succeeded, the wife continued as secretary with some pay for a few years, then stopped to take care of the family when the business was doing well enough and getting big enough to hire an administrator and secretaries. The marriage broke down, and when the husband later died, he left nothing to her. She succeeded in her claim for some money from the estate although not as mush as she had asked for, if I remember correctly.

It all gets really really complicated, and sometimes very nasty.

Thanks Andysmum, as i had no idea it was different in Scotland. As I only recently divorced, I havent made a will yet. But for the future when my parents are no longer here, I shall have to as they both own properties and eventually my estate will go to my 2 children equally(unless i remarry!)

Florence in the hebrides

Florence, others have beaten me to it but, yes, that is what it means. When I first found out I also thought it unfair, although it doesn't affect me personally.

Both OH and I have wills leaving everything to the each other and, after the second one of us dies, our sons get anything left divided equally. I explained the law to them and both said they had no intention of making claims. As one of them said, if we are desperate for cash all we have to do is ask! Such faith in the bank of Mum and Dad. :-

My mother in law made her first will she named those that would not benefit from her will and why, she was then advised that if she didn't name them they could not benefit, her only daughter was one she didn't name, so didn't get anything.

Andysmum ........... we have something similar here in that a spouse can file a court case against a will that has left her/him with nothing, and the judge will usually apply a certain percentage (I have one third in my mind, but might be wrong). If there are young children, then there will also be money awarded for their support. I'm not sure what happens with adult children who file.

Common-law spouses and divorced spouse can have a bit more difficult time.

Of course, every province can have different rules, but the cases could be taken up through to the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in the relevant province and then up to the Supreme Court of Canada for a final decision. That takes years.

Lots of money for lawyers in the process!!

Andy's mum is correct.
She is also correct that north or south of the border matters involving wills and trusts need an expert.

Case law in England & Wales suggests a shift towards Scottish practice.

Most European countries have something similar eg in France wives (inc ex wives) and children cannot be disinherited.

I think that dependant relatives can make a claim, but non-dependants are less likely to win.

Zzzz, the charity just wanted to get as much as possible.

That friend left set amount bequests to a couple of friends to 'go to London, have a good meal and take in a show, then stay overnight'. The amount left wasn't enough for a couple to do that, it was going to cost them a fair amount to comply. The solicitor said they had to. Can't remember what happened in the end. And he left a sum for a 'trophy and bottle of champagne' as a prize for a competition that he thought might be good for his club, but no one wanted to enter. .....
We got round that somehow, we ended up with the champagne which had to be bought before the estate could be wound up.

Andy's mum,are you saying then,doesn't matter what you say in your will, your family are entitled to a share?So if you are say a widow but your only son hasn't spoken to you in 20 years and you will everything to a charity,then the son can make a claim legally?
I think that's unfair.I know a family member who has not left a child a penny.They have not spoken in 20 years and have left strict instructions they are not to get a penny!

Florence in the hebrides

The law in Scotland is different from that in England/Wales and close family left out of a Will can put in a claim. It is quite complicated, but brief details are below. (Moveable assets are everything except property or land.)

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Where a deceased left a spouse or civil partner and children, the legal rights fund for the spouse or civil partner is one third of the net moveable estate and the legal rights fund for the children is one third of the net moveable estate. For example, if a deceased person leaves a surviving spouse and three children, and makes no provision for any of these in their will, the surviving spouse is entitled to claim one third of the deceased's net moveable estate and each of the children is entitled to claim a one ninth share of the net moveable estate.

I knew of a will written many years before the lady died. She left stated amounts to two charities (one small local charity and one huge national charity) with the rest of her estate to be divided between her two children.

Alas, by the time the lady died her estate had dwindled somewhat and it appeared that her children were going to get practically nothing. Their solicitor, however, contacted both charities and explained the situation to them mentioning the original intention that the children were going to be the major beneficiaries but the lady had lived much longer than expected and many years after her will had been drawn up.

The smaller, local charity agreed to a waiver in favour of its bequest being given to the children. Alas, the huge national charity dragged its feet and seemed reluctant to acquiesce. It took a phone call between the two charities before the huge charity decided to act in the spirit of the original intention of the will and to sign over to the children its expected bequest.

I think that the lesson here is to leave bequests in percentages rather than stated amounts.

I think a will is not a legal document but a request so if someone decided to say cut their only son from a will & leave it all to charity they can. The son could contest it but on what grounds? Surely the request made by the will maker is their choice no matter how bitter the son may feel.

The will maker is under no obligation to leave anything to anyone they dont want to, no matter how sad it makes any relatives feel. If I decide to leave all my estate to say Battersy Dogs home then sadly my children would have to accept that ,as that is my dying wish,

Daniel Craig aka James Bond said recently, his children will not inherit his millions as they should have to work for a living like he did & earn their own money, not get it handed to them on a silver platter! He is leaving most of it to charity.

Florence in the hebrides

We wrote our will 3 or 4 years ago, we had decided that as we possibly would have more money to leave due to the horrible increase in house prices here we would try to leave some money to our nieces and nephew. That meant less to our daughter, but we wanted to also set up a Trust Fund for our grandson to be available later in life, eg after the age of 30 or 35.

The lawyer went through the pros and cons with us, and we decided on using the idea of dividing the "estate" into parts, so 2 parts would be left to so-and-so, 3 parts divided between the 5 living nieces and nephew plus to the child of the deceased 6th, etc. Daughter got only 1 or 2 parts.

All this applied no matter how much was in there, so there be could anything from only a very small amount or nothing to a very reasonable amount.

When we had finished, he asked us if we thought daughter would fight the will. We don't think so, because she would see that we'd provided for her son, but also because she knew that we'd written off a lot of "loans" made after she got married.

We didn't tell him that her OH might be upset!!

You never do know how people will act, you can only hope!

You could always make some statement in a covering letter that says your children and relations are well provided for by their own endeavours, etc etc!

Then it all depends on the court on what happens.

Nowt you or we can do after we're dead, though!

Where there's a will there's a relative

where there's a will there's a war

That's odd grannyfranny why on earth were they not prepared to be involved with that?

An elderly friend of OH's left everything to a charity apart from a few personal bequests to friends and a god daughter, but he had no family. OH was executor.
However the charity were a pain with the house sale, they expected the best price but weren't prepared to get involved with the sale.

You need a copy of the will to see what is says. If there is a big time difference between the death and probate if might indicate there was a problem.