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jmorris323 · Nov 14, 2007, 10:02 AM

If you live with someone and they have a lawyer draw up a will leaving me 1/3 of
His house upon his death can his 2 children fight that?

charlotte234s · Nov 14, 2007, 10:03 AM

The will is the legally binding, I don't see how his children would fight that legally, or why as they get their own 3rds I'm guessing.

jmorris323 · Nov 14, 2007, 10:06 AM

I did not mention this I am a nys resident so I am not sure

JudyKayTee · Nov 15, 2007, 11:54 AM

Originally Posted by jmorris323

If you live with someone and they have a lawyer draw up a will leaving me 1/3 of
his house upon his death can his 2 children fight that?

Of course they can fight it - basically you can fight anyone over a Will. Do they have a chance of actually winning? If the facts are as you explained, I would say no. I am a little surprised that the Attorney drafted a Will awarding you 1/3 of the house and someone else, perhaps the children, the other two-thirds. Sounds like a legal problem waiting to happen.

What will happen to the house upon his death? That is a bigger question.

Fr_Chuck · Nov 15, 2007, 01:33 PM

Yes, of course I could fight it, I would not win, if the attorney draws up the will properly there should not be an issue.
Now of course if you only have 1/3 of the home, is the home going to be sold, who decides what is a OK price to sellt he home for and so on.
I would say that partial ownership is a nightmare ready to happen

ScottGem · Nov 15, 2007, 01:50 PM

As noted anyone with legal standing can contest a will. It depends on how good the lawyer who drew up the will was as to whether they can win. There are various grounds they can use to contest the will and the lawyer would need to have plugged all the loopholes.

That being said, I agree that leaving you 1/3 the house is a minefield. You could see the estate used up by attorney fees to deal with this. If I were him, I would leave you the house in its entirety and leave everything else to the kids. If this doesn't divide evenly, then someone needs to come up with money to buy the kids out.

Is this person close to dying? If so, I would consider having you buy the house for 2/3 of its value, gifting you the other third. Then use the money to give to the kids.

charlotte234s · Nov 15, 2007, 09:23 PM

These people are all correct, you can contest it, although a will that'd drawn up properly will be legally binding and you won't win.

Clough · Nov 15, 2007, 10:04 PM

I would just like to ask if the home is fully only in the father's name and not also in one or both of the children's names also? This could lead to some other issues if that is the case. Maybe this is a moot point, but I just thought that I would ask. It was an issue in my own family because one of my siblings got my mom to also put his name as owner of the home. Even though it stipulated in her Will that everything was to be divided equally, he ended up getting the home after her death.

JudyKayTee · Nov 16, 2007, 09:26 AM

Originally Posted by Clough

I would just like to ask if the home is fully only in the father's name and not also in one or both of the children's names also? This could lead to some other issues if that is the case. Maybe this is a moot point, but I just thought that I would ask. It was an issue in my own family because one of my siblings got my mom to also put his name as owner of the home. Even though it stipulated in her Will that everything was to be divided equally, he ended up getting the home after her death.

Depends on how the property is deeded.