Challenging a Family Will

Ginger83

Hi, I thought I would throw this up to get a few opinions.

My partner is the youngest of four, 2 brothers and a sister.
Her parents recently mentioned making a will and leaving the entire lot to the eldest son which my partner and the others do not agree this to be fair. There is the family house and a nice bit of land with it and also some land elsewhere in a different area.

Q- If her parents make out their will as they intend, when the time comes can the others do anything to challenge it for their share?

In my personal opinion all children are considered equal and this estate should be divided as such.

dats_right

Ginger83 wrote: »

In my personal opinion all children are considered equal and this estate should be divided as such.

That's nice, but the law does not adopt this approach. Provided any will is valid and the deceased died testate, children are not automatically entitled to any share of a parent's estate, but do have a possible remedy under s117 of the Succession Act 1965, where an application can be brought before a court by a child claiming that a parent failed in their moral duty to make proper provision for the child. See generally:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1965/en/act/pub/0027/sec0117.html#zza27y1965s117

But this is only a starting point as there are other factors to be taken into consideration, accordingly this is not legal advice and your partner should talk to a solicitor for legal advice, or preferably in my opinion, to her parents to try avert any potential legal disputes.

Manchestomato

Hi