Helpdesk: Should my late wife's estate receive share of father's will?

MY WIFE died three years ago, and her estate is not yet wound up. My father-in-law has just died, and I was shocked to hear that she will not be getting her share of the will, along with her brother and sister. I am being told that her share will be split equally between our two children.

I cannot understand why the money is not coming to her estate. This may seem petty and mean, and I appreciate the money will go to our children, but it seems a point of principle to me that my wife, and as she is dead, her estate, should be the beneficiary of her share.

I am being told by the family that this is how the law works, and that the will was drawn up with the intention that the money went to her during her life but after that her children. Is this correct, or can I contest it?

BM, Edinburgh

Lianne Lodge, a solicitor at Pagan Osborne, writes:

I am sorry to learn that you are having such a difficult time. Every case is different but generally speaking much of this will depend on whether your father-in-law left a will, and if so, what the terms of it are.

If there is no will then, under the laws of intestacy, your father-in-law's estate, assuming he was neither married nor living with a partner, would be divided equally between his children. If a child has passed away before the parent then their share would pass to their own children. Because your wife died before her father, she does not inherit any share of his estate and rather any entitlement she would have had passes directly to her children.

If there is a will, then that would govern what would happen to your late wife's share as she is unable to inherit. It is common for people to elect that if a child dies before them, then that share should be divided amongst that child's own children, ensuring each branch of the family benefits equally.

Your late wife cannot inherit from her father's estate as she was not alive at the date of his death. Who inherits the share which would have been destined for her had she survived very much depends on the circumstances of your case.