my friend lived with a man for eight years. she died there was no will. the man is living in the house.my friends mother claims he has no right to the house. is this correct
thos Sun 11/05/08 19:32
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Yes. Technically, there is no such thing as common law marriage, and no rights to go with it. I assume he owned the house, but as he left no will, the first claim for anything is with the family.
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Question Author
thanks for that my friend was a woman. I keep saying there is no such thing as common law marriage and my friends mother has a solicitor fighting for the house this has been going on for a year with no reult
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Question Author
postdog can you give advice as to what my friends mother should do.The man is still in the house and all the mother has had are bills rom the solicitor.
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Postdog is correct in what he says about there being no common law marriage (although he may be a bit confused over who died).
If your friend owned the house, then it should be distributed as part of her estate (according to the rules applicable, given that she died without a will).
If your friend was the only person named/listed on the property deeds, it would be very difficult for the man to claim any share in the house. Even if he had a verbal agreement with your friend that they had an equal share in the house (due to equal contributions in mortgage payments etc), a court would be very unlikely to uphold his claim, without some formal notarised document.
The first thing her mother’s solicitor should have done was to determine who is (was) the legal owner of the house. If it was owned by your friend, then in effect, your friends mother has a non-paying tenant living in the house (who has no legal right to live there). Her solicitor should be taking the necessary legal steps to have the person evicted.
But looking at the situation from your friend’s boyfriend’s position – he has lost his partner and may now loose living in the house they shared. Perhaps they could come to some financial agreement without recourse to the courts, to ensure he was not out on the street, with nothing (which may be what the courts ultimately decide).
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I can't because aside from what I said, I know little, but there are a few regular visitors here who are quite knowledgeble, and hopefully they might see the post. This sounds to me like it might be complicated by tenancy laws as well, but what has the solicitor said ? - after a year they must have some view on it.
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Question Author
thanks for your input Hymie and Postdog-as far as I am aware the solicitor tells her it is ongoing-I agree the boyfriend would lose his living place so he and the mother should try to reach an agreement -I dont know how that could work as they are not in communication-anyway thanks a lot
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