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Should my husband make a Will now or wait for the Will to be probated
21-Nov-2023 (In Property Law)
We are a Roman Catholic family consisting of my husband, myself and my husband's brother whose wife and two children live abroad. My husband and I have no children. A Will was made by my mother-in-law leaving two properties to her two sons and not for her two daughters who got gold and had their weddings made by their parents. Currently the Will is in high court awaiting probate. Up till now my brother-in-law has not paid anything to us as lawyers fees or even maintaining the house, He came to live with us in April 2015 his last visit being in 2008. Since 2006 my husband has been paying all utility bills. Since the brother wants half of the property, should he not pay utility bills since 2006? He has agreed to pay only maintainance charges and not for electricity, gas etc. I need to put it down in writing on a stamp paper saying he needs to pay us from 2006 but he says he will not sign. What should I do? He is the elder brother aged 59, my husband is 57 and I am 55.
He should be paying the expenses equally if he wants share in the property.
You can issue legal notice to him for payment and if he refuses to pay then you can file case for the payment of the expenses.
You can issue legal notice to him for payment and if he refuses to pay then you can file case for the payment of the expenses.
Helpful?
23+
23+
Adv. Namitabh Kothari
Mumbai | 400+ Answers
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Dear Querist,
Your query "should my husband make a Will now or wait for the Will to be probated"; is not clear. A person can make a Will anytime subject to meeting the minimum requirements such as age, sound health, free will or volition and only with respect to the property, assets, right, title or interest lawfully owned or acquired by him during his lifetime and a Will is probated only after the death of the Teststor.
In your case as you mentioned there are 2 properties willed to your husband and your brother in law, in such a case it is important to know whether these are seperate properties or 2 levels of a house / bungalow or 2 connected flats. If the 2 properties are situated distance apart from each other why would your brother-in-law reside in the property/ house so bequathed to you. I assume it is a common house to both of your which your are refering as 2 properties. Although the payment of utility bills is purely your family issue and though I am not entitled to provide an opinion as such; but in my limited personal view ideally it should be fair that you pay for the utility bills such as gas, electricity etc. for the time you enjoyed exclusive stay in the Family Home. However you can split maintanence, property taxes, Lawyer Fees. You may ask your brother-in-law to share the houseold expenses for the time he shared accomodation with you, again it depends on the family ties and cordiality of relationship which the two brothers share among themselves. You may also want to reconsider the amount of utility bills you feel is due and payable from him vis-a-vie the pending probate matter in High Court. If the amount is not too much you may wish to settle the issue of distribution of properties first so that the names of your husband and brother-in-law are reflected to the respective properties. Sometimes the smaller gains may not be worth fighting for specially if their insistence is delaying the more immediate and necessary task at hand.
Your query "should my husband make a Will now or wait for the Will to be probated"; is not clear. A person can make a Will anytime subject to meeting the minimum requirements such as age, sound health, free will or volition and only with respect to the property, assets, right, title or interest lawfully owned or acquired by him during his lifetime and a Will is probated only after the death of the Teststor.
In your case as you mentioned there are 2 properties willed to your husband and your brother in law, in such a case it is important to know whether these are seperate properties or 2 levels of a house / bungalow or 2 connected flats. If the 2 properties are situated distance apart from each other why would your brother-in-law reside in the property/ house so bequathed to you. I assume it is a common house to both of your which your are refering as 2 properties. Although the payment of utility bills is purely your family issue and though I am not entitled to provide an opinion as such; but in my limited personal view ideally it should be fair that you pay for the utility bills such as gas, electricity etc. for the time you enjoyed exclusive stay in the Family Home. However you can split maintanence, property taxes, Lawyer Fees. You may ask your brother-in-law to share the houseold expenses for the time he shared accomodation with you, again it depends on the family ties and cordiality of relationship which the two brothers share among themselves. You may also want to reconsider the amount of utility bills you feel is due and payable from him vis-a-vie the pending probate matter in High Court. If the amount is not too much you may wish to settle the issue of distribution of properties first so that the names of your husband and brother-in-law are reflected to the respective properties. Sometimes the smaller gains may not be worth fighting for specially if their insistence is delaying the more immediate and necessary task at hand.
Helpful?
15+
15+
Adv. Abhiraaj Sanjeev Kulkarni
Pune | 25+ Answers
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Disclaimer: The above query and its response is NOT a legal opinion in any way whatsoever as this is based on the information shared by the person posting the query at lawrato.com and has been responded by one of the Divorce Lawyers at lawrato.com to address the specific facts and details.
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