Where there's a will there's a way.

As many of you know, my father passed away without a will, and it caused all sorts of problems for me, who at the time was living 2 States away, and my (psychopathic)brother. Hence the reason for my rant/post! A time that you will often see good, law-abiding citizens at their worst is when they are dealing with wills and inheritance. Terrible fights can erupt over the estate of deceased relatives. The arguments might arise because some had expectations to do better out of the will than they did, and a sense of injustice follows.There are often disputes about wills. These have to be dealt with through the courts. If they are, in the usual course of events a court case will be paid for out of the estate. It is the last thing the deceased would want. Fortunately for me, at the time, my brother and myself did not fight over anything material, our fights were over him being in the same State and not keeping in contact with myself and the solicitor we had appointed to sort the mess out.
However, something more despicable than fights after the death of the person is when people start to badger the poor parent or grandparent or other relative before they die.
One case involved a brother and sister. They were each concerned that the other might do better than them out of their mother's will once she died.
The mother was still alive and in a nursing home. She was old and frail but was still able to write a will. She was subject to constant nagging from the brother and sister alternatively, about how much they should get in the will. Each would make out their case to the old lady: they deserved more because they loved her more. When they worked out it might be too late to wait for the will, they then badgered the mother to give them control over her financial affairs while she was still alive.
This involved nagging the mother to do a power of attorney – the sister for her, the brother for him. The poor woman was getting more and more confused and upset by all of the unpleasantness.
In the end, she just hated her children's visits because she would only be nagged.
She was taken to the Guardianship Board so the children could fight it out there.
These selfish children, obsessed that their sibling not get more than them, made their mother's last years a misery.
I know of a case where a woman was admitted to hospital and one of her children appeared with a will and asked the nurses to witness the woman's signature.
The nurses refused as they had just given the woman a significant dose of morphine and they thought she would not be in any position to execute a will. Later, another child appeared with a different will, but the same request. There is protection for people in that situation, through the Office of the Public Advocate and the Guardianship Board.
But fancy people being so selfish that they would, for their own interest, let matters get to that stage.
Courts will look closely at wills executed in unusual situations, especially if there is evidence of duress. However, beware the badgering child, because significant amounts of property can be given away while a person is alive. Often others only find this out when the person dies. Anything for peace.
We now have the phenomenon of the reverse mortgage. This is when retired people obtain a loan from the bank, with their house as security. When they die, the house is sold and the bank is repaid. It is one example where you would be happier for the bank to get the money than the selfish children.
But these problems can be solved, to a degree, by getting powers of attorney. Otherwise, more importantly, talking to your children to make sure they are all aware of your wishes should help to prevent these fights.

till next time, Michelle.