Living estate 4th wife issues

[laurelcreekmom]

What is the name of your state? West Virginia

Father in law recently passed. My father-in-law’s will States a living trust to his 4th wife of the house and surrounding yard and personal belongs that she came into the marriage with are of course hers. . 45 acres of land, including all the outbuildings, their contents and father in laws belongings. was left to his son, my husband. The 4th wife was never on the deed to any of the land or home.
Our issue is we are selling the lumber on part of the land. This was arranged prior to his death. He signed the contract with the lumber company with instructions that due to his terminal illness and short time left to live, and the fact that his son was inheriting all the land, that payment would be made to the son and the money was the sons. Now that money is coming in, the 4th wife thinks she has a claim to it because she has living estate. We are still in probate because the death of father in law was one month ago. Will she have a right to that money?

 

[FlyingRon]

I'm sorry for your loss. You have however made some probably incorrect statements of the terms. You should talk to the attorney handling the probate.

I'm going to assume for now that the sons are going to inherit the land and she has a LIFE ESTATE on the property.

"Arrange" is a vague term. If he didn't have a contract covering the timber in place before he died, then the wife as the life estate holder indeed likely has the rights to log the land and retain the profits. If he actually sold rights to timber before he passed, then the subsequent payment for that becomes part of his estate and the will (or the rules of intestate succession if the will is silent on the residual estate assets) apply.

 

[LdiJ]

I'm sorry for your loss. You have however made some probably incorrect statements of the terms. You should talk to the attorney handling the probate.

I'm going to assume for now that the sons are going to inherit the land and she has a LIFE ESTATE on the property.

"Arrange" is a vague term. If he didn't have a contract covering the timber in place before he died, then the wife as the life estate holder indeed likely has the rights to log the land and retain the profits. If he actually sold rights to timber before he passed, then the subsequent payment for that becomes part of his estate and the will (or the rules of intestate succession if the will is silent on the residual estate assets) apply.

Except that the arrangement he made with the loggers was for them to pay the money to his son. Therefore it sounds to me like he gifted the timber to his son before his death. Dad certainly intended for the timber to belong to his son and not his wife.

I also think that it would be odd for a life estate to permit logging as that changes the nature of the asset for a good long time...at least a generation's worth of time, if not longer.

 

[FlyingRon]

I'm not sure I parse the sentence that way. If that was in the contract, perhaps it was so enforceable. However, if this depending on that agreement, the "arrangement" may not be enforceable since after the father passed, the rights to the land did go to the wife.

You make think things are ODD, but life estates unless they are qualified to the contrary allow for "cropping" the land and just about any other use.

In any event, the attorney handling the estate should certainly look at the "contracts" for the timbering, the life estate (if such does exist) and the will and figure out who the money goes to.

 

[laurelcreekmom]

The will specifically states the 4th wife can live in the home and the yard immediately surrounding the home until she dies or leaves. Whatever she came into the marriage with she retains. the house is to be in my husbands name. All the land. Outbuildings. Equipment. Tools and such, including his personal belongs are my husbands. My father in law created the logging contract with the logging company with the above mentioned stipulations while he was still alive. It is signed by him, my husband and the logger.

There is no other paper work other than his will. Maybe I shouldn’t call it a living estate? His wishes were that we let her live there until she dies or moves out.

My father in law discussed everything in his will with all of us for 12 yrs. that’s how long ago he made this will. He wanted to transfer everything over into my husbands name 2 year ago but my husband wouldn’t let him do it. He just felt wrong about it.

Now that he has passed the 4th wife is realizing she won’t have enough money from social security to support herself living in the house. Big house comes with big bills which father in law stipulated she would have to pay as long as she lived there. Including the taxes and home owners insurance

 

[FlyingRon]

The term is "life estate." THat's what you should call it.
Again, not being able to see the will, the contract, and what the probate has already determined, we can't guess.

TALK TO THE ATTORNEY HANDLING THE ESTATE.

 

[laurelcreekmom]

Except that the arrangement he made with the loggers was for them to pay the money to his son. Therefore it sounds to me like he gifted the timber to his son before his death. Dad certainly intended for the timber to belong to his son and not his wife.

I also think that it would be odd for a life estate to permit logging as that changes the nature of the asset for a good long time...at least a generation's worth of time, if not longer.

Dad intended for EVERYTHING to belong to his son. All of it is to be in his sons name. Wife is just supposed to be allowed to live in the house.

 

[FlyingRon]

Again, what you claim he INTENDED is rather immaterial. What matters is what the will and other documents say.

 

[laurelcreekmom]

There are no other documents. Just his will. It states ....he bequeaths the 45 acres, homes and outbuildings and all contents and his personal belongs to his son. The wife may continue to reside in the home until her death and have use
of the contents of the home (furniture, home goods, appliances) and the surrounding yard. She is required to maintain homeowners insurance, pay her portion of the taxes and all untilites and maintain the home in good repair. If she decides to move out she retains possession of anything that she came into the marriage with.

 

[FlyingRon]

Again, we can't comment without reading the actual documents which we are not going to do.
Talk to the lawyer.

 

[laurelcreekmom]

Just heard from the owner of the logging company. He contacted his lawyer yesterday and tells us the contract Dad made last summer is very detailed and very clear and binding. The 4th wife has no rights in its regard. He said she can get a lawyer and contest it but it will hold up and it will just cost her money to find that out. His lawyer also offered to speak with her and explain it to her if she continued harass my husband and the logging company. I didn’t know, but apparently yesterday she left 8 messages in 1 hour telling them to make the checks payable to her and deliver them to her personally! Amazing how a little bit of money can make someone turn into a big jerk.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

The logging contract doesn't have a dog in this fight other than making sure that the logging company does violate the law to breach the contract. You will need to talk to your own lawyer.

 

[LdiJ]

The logging contract doesn't have a dog in this fight other than making sure that the logging company does violate the law to breach the contract. You will need to talk to your own lawyer.

Huh? A contract survives the death of one of the parties to a contract. Other than that, I think maybe that your fingers and your mind weren't in sync because that does not make sense.

 

[LdiJ]

There are no other documents. Just his will. It states ....he bequeaths the 45 acres, homes and outbuildings and all contents and his personal belongs to his son. The wife may continue to reside in the home until her death and have use
of the contents of the home (furniture, home goods, appliances) and the surrounding yard. She is required to maintain homeowners insurance, pay her portion of the taxes and all untilites and maintain the home in good repair. If she decides to move out she retains possession of anything that she came into the marriage with.

If that is the exact wording, and not you paraphrasing the wording then it does appear that she only has use of the house and the surrounding yard, not the entire property. Have a local attorney confirm that.

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Huh? A contract survives the death of one of the parties to a contract. Other than that, I think maybe that your fingers and your mind weren't in sync because that does not make sense.

"Contract" should have been a contractor.

See how easy that is to admit an error.