PROPERTY LAW
SHORT STRAW
MY husband had nothing when I married him, but while we were together he received a redundancy payment and windfall shares. He will also be able to draw from his pension plan next year. Now we are getting divorced he has stripped the home of everything we bought and I’ve been told I’ve no claim on anything because we
weren’t married long.
You don’t say how long you’ve been married, but these days a marriage of six or seven years is not necessarily considered to be a short marriage. The court would consider among other things your respective ages, health, children, earning capacities and resources generally. See a solicitor immediately to prevent your husband disposing of shares and savings and any of the contents taken from the home, with a view to determining your claim generally.
TRUST TRUSTEES
A CLAUSE in my will gives my trustees carte blanche to deal with my estate, including the right to invest in unsecured, interest-free loans and to handle my affairs ‘without any of the consents required by section 41 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925’. What does that mean? The 1925 Act laid down a narrow range of investment options which are commonly regarded as out of date nowadays and which might make it difficult for your trustees to handle your finances efficiently; fortunately, statute has been altered since then and now the investments permitted by law are much wider. The aim of the clause is to give your trustees, or executors, full and unrestricted freedom in administering your will and transferring assets.
PASSING STRANGERS
WE have lived on a council estate for 40 years and bought our house ten years ago. Since a new neighbour moved in, a large number of people have begun using the passageway we share with next door as a short cut into the next road. When I questioned one of the men, he told me he knew the girl next door and she didn’t mind, but I find it frightening to have large numbers of strangers passing my back door. Whether anybody can come and go up and down the passageway will depend on whether or not there is a right of way. You will need to check your deeds. If the right of way is just for yourself and your neighbours, then unless the people using the right of way are guests invited by your neighbour, then you are entitled to put a gate or a door on the passageway, and lock it, so long as your neighbour has a key. If they are people who have been invited by your neighbour then the right of way will probably mean you have to persuade your neighbour to ask them to use another route.
AGE NOT AT ISSUE
MY sister claims that, because she is the oldest, my mother’s house will go to her. In her will my mother leaves the house and contents to my father, with everything else to be shared between us. However my father has died since she made the will, so surely the house will go into mum’s estate and the proceeds will be shared? Unless your mother is a duchess and your sister is due to take the land and the title that goes with it on her death, the fact that she is older than you is irrelevant. Your mother’s will probably contains a clause anticipating the possibility that your father would die first, and stating what will happen to the property in that event. Failing that, the house will, as you say, form part of your mother’s estate and be divided equally among the children. »»Call Bromleys Solicitors LLP on 0161 330 6821 or visit www.bromleys. co.uk If you have any legal questions, write to Property Law, MEN Media, Mitchell Henry House, Hollinwood Avenue, Chadderton OL9 8EF, or email mail@ lawQs.co.uk