Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Canada
Stepmother has had a new man move in...where does that leave us!
Our dad had a will made up on his death bed.In the will it sais beacause once he passed away the home him and his wife were living in was paid in full because of insurance.But in the will it was said that we may not get our share until either his wife is deceased or she sais the home...whichever comes first.Which is really fine by me because all though she was happy to not see my sister and i get any share of the home she forgot that real estate always goes up in value and will be worth much more later on...so i really hope she doesn't sell.But she has now found someone new and they have recently moved in together in this house and my concern is if he is there longer than 1 year they become common law does that entitle him to any part of our share and if not if she does pass away do we have the right to kick him out or must we wait for him to die as well.He is 15 years younger than she is.And i must mention that the way the will was written was that my dads share was to be split in half with me and my sister and that my stepmothers share would go to her daughter.So what do we do just sit and not worry about it cause it has no bearring or must we take some sort of action.Thank you so much for any advice.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Stepmother has had a new man move in...where does that leave us!
Subject to a provincial statute to the contrary (this reply comes from BC, so you may wish to check with a solicitor in your community) your step-mother's common law spouse will not obtain an interest in your share of the estate. Her common law spouse could only ever gain an interest in that which your step-mother owns. When your step-mother dies, her interest in the house immediately ceases so the common law spouse could have no interest in ownership of the house after she dies. You need to check your local tenancy laws to see if he might acquire some right as a tenant when living with your step-mother. Even if he does, you should be able to collect rent and evict him if you either sell the house or choose to occupy it yourself.
If your step-mother sells the house, her interest in the property immediately ceases so the common law spouse could have no interest after she sells. The one complication I could see is if your mother neither dies nor sells the house but simply moves out and leaves the common law spouse there. Hopefully your father's Will also covers the situation if your step-mother vacates the property.
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