Death of dad - stepmother wont move out

[juzza999]

Thank you all.

House always belonged to dad, no joint tenancy, proceeds from the sale of her house she kept in her own bank account my dad did not benefit from or have access to ever.

The legal position is "she has no legal right to stay" legally we are not required to give any notice to quit, we could ask her to leave today. But morally this would be wrong we feel. We have an appointment on Tuesday with the solicitor, should work out at a couple of hours work for them £500 plus vat.

In the meantime we are going to try and speak to her.

[king12345]

As others said, I would speak to her and look at different possibilities:

1. Buy the house

2. Rent the house from you

3. Move out

 

If she decides for option 3, give her 6 months or so and try to avoid any legal dispute which will make things very bitter and surely your late father wouldn't have liked.

If she then wants to live forever in your house for free, unfortunately you will have to go down the legal route.

Regarding the joint account, I have witnessed a similar dispute where the wife name was added to the joint account years after it had been opened.

It became very bitter and eventually she kept the money which accordingly to the judge did not form part of the estate because by having a joint accounts, the deceased gave full access and ownership to that money to his wife.

Again, a specialised solicitor will confirm this.

Good luck and sorry for your loss.

[unclebulgaria67]

Another point that might not have been thought about. But what about current council taxes, insurance, water bills, energy bills etc. If you are in process of inheriting this property you should make sure everything is up to date, that your Stepmother is coping ok. Although you say she has money, she might be struggling to deal with matters. Make sure there is Buildings Insurance cover in place, just in case anything major happened.

[steampowered]

As you can see from the advice, the situation is much more complicated than one might think!

 

It is probably best to resolve the probate situation first, get IHT sorted and get the correct owners registered on the land registry.

 

Then you can think about working with the step mother to see if an arrangement can be reached, or even eviction if necessary.

 

It hasn't been long since June, so the step mother may need time and a bit of help to find somewhere else to live, if that is what she needs to do.