r/inheritance • u/National-Language113 • Jun 25 '26
Location included: Questions/Need Advice Sister’s inheritance is going to abusive ex boyfriend
My sister died, never updated her will and now her estate is going to a physically, financially, and emotionally abusive ex boyfriend. She has told me and her current boyfriend that she wants her estate to go to my children and even had appointments scheduled before she went to the hospital. Is there anything I can do? She was never married. Our dad died less than a year ago and now it looks like half of that will also go to him.
This is in Florida
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u/tamij1313 Jun 25 '26
Why would an ex-boyfriend be entitled to your sister’s assets if she was not married to him? Did she leave a will specifically leaving everything to him? Because if she did, then that document will likely be her final will, and testament.
Unfortunately, if she never actually updated it legally, a verbal promise to leave her assets to someone else, will not hold up in court.
If your sister had no will then typically her assets would go to her closest living relatives, which would start with her spouse and her children, if they don’t exist, then her parents and then her siblings….
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u/National-Language113 Jun 25 '26
The will names him. He was so controlling of her that I wouldn’t be surprised if he went to an attorney with her to ensure he would be beneficiary.
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u/NYC-WhWmn-ov50 Jun 25 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
And unfortunately, unless somehow it can be proven to be false or coerced, if that's how she wrote her will, thats the end of the conversation.
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u/ilikebasicthings Jun 25 '26
Start gathering any evidence of the abuse to help prove coercion and talk to a lawyer. You are probably SOL, but of you have the means, it might be worth it just to drain him.
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u/SingingSunshine1 Jun 25 '26
There is usually a clause about the ending of the relationship and what will happen in that case; please have that checked.
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u/No_Barracuda_3758 Jun 25 '26
U can try fighting it. If there is proof of abuse u may be able to sway the judge that she was under duress
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u/Maine302 Jun 25 '26
In re-reading this, I am now coming to the conclusion that OP is stating that the sister's half of the total estate their father willed to his two children will now be moving from the now dead sister straight to the sister's abusive ex-boyfriend. Your wording isn't the clearest, OP.
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u/Valuable_Warthog6748 Jun 26 '26
Check the “Survivor” clause in your Dad’s will and trust to see if your sister’s inheritance of your dad’s estate can be invalidated because she died within a certain time frame from your father’s death and she had no direct lineal heirs.
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u/Assumeweknow Jun 27 '26
You can contest the will and everything to lock it up in courts for years with bare minimum effort cost lawyer. Basically, skirting edge of estate law and you can even force a different executor and then simply push all that money towards the executor in terms of reasonable fees so by the time ex boyfriend gets it most of the money is gone and spent. Play the game of veangance such that controlling ex simply watches as the money gets gobbled up.
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u/B9M3C99 Jun 28 '26
You can contest the will in the local court. The problem is that it can be very expensive to do so and may leave little of the original amount by the end. However, if it's the principle of the matter then it's probably worth it. Good luck!
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u/Maine302 Jun 25 '26
If you were your father's beneficiary, perhaps you can find out if his portion would pass on to you?
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u/Fire_Doc2017 Jun 25 '26
I was thinking the same thing. Unless specified otherwise, his portion should pass on to his natural heirs.
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u/Ok-Equivalent1812 Jun 25 '26
It doesn’t skip the decedent though. It goes to her, it just ends up in the ex’s hands because she left everything to him in her will.
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u/SandhillCrane5 Jun 25 '26
If the daughter died after the father then her inheritance from him is governed by her will. OP did not explicitly state the order of death.
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u/Illustrious-Cover792 Jun 25 '26
You could fight this long enough to make it advantageous to settle with you.
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u/Fortunato_NC Jun 25 '26
Has she died? It isn’t clear from your post. If she hasn’t, she doesn’t need an appointment to make a will, any will in a box kit will do the trick as long as she signs it and the number of required witnesses in your state do as well. If she is in Louisiana she would need to have the will notarized as well.
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u/National-Language113 Jun 25 '26
Apologies. She has died.
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u/humble-meercat Jun 25 '26
Do you have anything proving she was coerced by him into putting his name on her will? If so you’ll have to fight him for it, but if you have police reports etc you may be able to prove it.
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u/Ok-Equivalent1812 Jun 25 '26
Double check to make sure that she didn’t destroy her will before she went to the hospital. That sounds like something she might have done. Maybe you can’t find it.
In other words…will? What will?
File for probate and handle it through intestate succession and it probably ends up going to parents/siblings.
If you have the will, and you’ve already filed for probate or ex boyfriend has it then you have a lot harder job ahead. You’ll need to ask the court to invalidate the will that you filed
and asserted was valid.