Q: My mother has died. I am her executor and in her Will she left everything to me and my three sons in equal shares, but one of my sons died four years ago. However, six weeks before he died his then girlfriend persuaded him to marry her. I believe she coerced him into the marriage to secure her financial future but have no proof. Is she entitled to my deceased son’s share of my mother’s estate?
A: This depends on the wording of the Will. You say everything was left to you and your three sons equally. It does not sound like any substitution gift was explicitly included i.e., who your late son’s share would go to should he predecease.
Did your late son leave any children? If he did, s.33 of the Wills Act 1837 (assuming this provision was not expressly excluded or disapplied because of a ‘contrary intention’) implies that the gift to him would take effect as a gift to his children. If he left no children, the gift to him would fail and your mother’s estate would be divided equally between you and your surviving two sons. Your late son’s wife would not be entitled to his share of the estate in either case.
The above highlights the importance of the drafting of a will. If you are administering the estate yourself, you might consider instructing a solicitor to review the Will and advise of its effect to ensure you distribute the estate correctly.
As for your belief that your son was coerced into marriage, it sounds like this could have been a ‘predatory marriage’ but the options four years on are limited. A claim could be made under Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 by, for example, any children he left with a maintenance need, but this must usually be issued within 6 months of a Grant of Probate/Letters of Administration being obtained in his estate.
This question has been answered by Harriet Roberts, a Solicitor with GHP Legal. If you would like to speak to someone about this or any other legal matter, please visit our website www.ghplegal.com and use the contact us form, or call us on: Wrexham 01978 291456, Llangollen 01978 860313, Oswestry 01691 659194
