Dad left the family home to his new partner, can we challenge his will?

Our late father left the family home not to me and my siblings, but to his new partner. He wasn’t married to her, but they lived together at home.

Do we have any justification to defy the will and take back the family home in which we grew up?

This is Money’s Jane Denton answers: More and more families are involved in inheritance and will disputes.

It is important to highlight how expensive, stressful and time-consuming challenging a will or trying to disrupt the administration of an estate can be.

According to data obtained through a Freedom of Information request from TWM Solicitors, more than 11,500 applications for suspension of property management were made in 2025, a 12 per cent increase on the previous year.

Data released through the Ministry of Justice showed that applications for inheritance warnings, which temporarily prevent the granting of inheritance, increased from 10,313 to 11,589 last year.

A probate notice allows a person to block the administration of an estate for six months while concerns about a will or the administration of an estate are investigated.

Higher property prices and more complex family dynamics increase the likelihood of disputes over wills and inheritances.

People are increasingly factoring inheritance windfalls into their long-term financial planning. When facts fall short of expectations, this can quickly lead to disputes and legal challenges.

The rise in dementia cases is also leading to an increase in allegations that wills were not prepared properly.

You and your siblings are not automatically entitled to buy your late father’s house, even though it’s where you grew up.

However, you can challenge willpower, but your chances of success will depend on several factors.

If the house is highly emotionally valued by all of you, you probably won’t succeed.

However, if you or your siblings rely on your father financially and perhaps live at home, then the chances of success will be higher.

Interestingly, under new Government proposals, more than 3.5 million couples living together could gain automatic inheritance rights if one of them dies intestate.

According to the government, the broad set of rights is intended to be ‘distinct and distinct’ from the rights of married people and to help ‘protect the sanctity of marriage’.

Claire-Marie Cornford, partner and head of private client dispute resolution at Irwin Mitchell, says: This scenario is becoming increasingly common as families are more complex than in previous generations, with second marriages, blended families and non-traditional family structures becoming increasingly common.

In addition, the rising cost of living means younger generations are more likely to rely on inheritance as part of their financial planning and achieve greater financial security.

An aging population and the increasing prevalence of age-related conditions such as dementia also sometimes lead relatives to question a loved one’s mental capacity at the time the will was made.

Claire-Marie Cornford is Irwin Mitchell’s partner

Losing a parent is hard enough without the added shock of discovering that the family home has been left to an unexpected person.

For many people, their childhood home holds great emotional significance, so it is not uncommon for this to lead to a dispute.

Whether you can contest a will depends on the circumstances, but there are several potential legal avenues to consider.

One of the most common is a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975.

This law allows some people, including adult children, to make claims if they believe the will does not make ‘reasonable financial provision’ for them.

The court will look at a variety of factors, including your financial needs and resources, the size of the estate, the nature of your relationship with your deceased father, and any obligations he may have had to you.

For example, if an adult child is financially dependent on their parents and lives in the family home or has certain health problems or financial difficulties, this may strengthen the case.

Conversely, if the children are financially independent adults, the court will not intervene simply because the home has moral importance.

There are other grounds on which a will may be challenged.

If there are concerns when making a will that your father lacked mental capacity, did not fully understand its contents, or was subject to undue influence or pressure from another person, the validity of the will may be disputed.

In some cases, disputes also arise where there are concerns about fraud, forgery or whether the will was properly signed.

Timing is very important. Claims under the 1975 Act generally need to be made within six months of granting probate, so it is important to seek specialist legal advice as early as possible. Delays can make requests more difficult and limit the options available.

This scenario is a reminder of the importance of open communication when it comes to inheritances and wills, especially where the childhood or family home is part of an estate.

Stuart Downey, partner and mediator who leads the wills, trust and inheritance disputes team at TWM Solicitors, says: You and your siblings potentially have a claim, but it largely depends on the facts.

If your father left the house to a new partner rather than you and your siblings, there are two broad avenues to consider.

The first is a claim made under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 if the will does not provide reasonable financial provision for you. Another way, in addition to or instead of the first, would be to question the validity of the will.

Stuart Downey is a partner at TWM Solicitors

Whether such a claim will be successful will depend on a number of factors:

– your financial needs and resources;

– size and nature of the property;

– your relationship with your father;

– their obligations towards you; And

– needs of the partner or other beneficiaries.

An important point is that adult children do not automatically have the right to inherit. If you and your siblings are financially independent and not supported by your father, this can significantly reduce the likelihood of a successful claim.

A second possibility is to challenge whether the Will itself is valid. Common reasons include:

– lack of appropriate formalities, for example failure to properly sign or witness the will;

– lack of mental capacity;

– lack of knowledge and approval of the content;

– excessive influence;

– fraud or fraudulent libel.

These claims are fact-sensitive and often require detailed evidence, such as the attorney’s probate file, medical records, and witness evidence.

Before making any challenge it is important to ask: What happens if the challenge is successful and is there willpower sooner? If there is a will made before, who will inherit this will? And if there is no previous will, is the inheritance subject to the rules of inheritance and can the partner assert his or her own claim against the inheritance?

Even if a claim is successful, this does not mean that the house will be returned to you.

The court may decide that the partner remains there or that the property be sold and the inheritance distributed in another way.

Claims under the 1975 Act are subject to a strict time limit of six months from the date of grant of probate.

Although the time limit for will validity claims is more flexible, it is still important to seek advice promptly as the claim may fail if there is too much delay.

In short, you may have grounds to object, but you don’t automatically have the right to take back the house just because you grew up there.

The strength of any claim will depend on your will, the surrounding circumstances, your financial situation and the evidence available.