Even in normal circumstances, without stepmothers or whatever, it may well be that the child/ren were named as executors because it would be expected that they would live longer and be more able. Without seeing the will you will never know who were the legatees. In our wills our children are executors but the spouse benfits in the will Sheila Constantine One Name study [email protected] ________________________________ From: Polly Rubery via <[email protected]> To: NIKKI BROWN <[email protected]>; [email protected] Sent: Thursday, April 7, 2016 10:16 PM Subject: Re: [G] Probate to son not wife? Here the wife is a step-mother and not the son's mother. It would be natural for the father to provide for his sons over their step-mother and indeed his will may have been written (and would still have been valid) before his first wife died or he re-married. If the step-mother had been left everything, even if she had not wished it to but omitted to make a will all her estate would have (and still does) go to her blood relatives, and not to her step-children. This happened to my mother when her father left his estate to his widow, on the clear understanding that she would leave it in her will on her death. But she made no will, and my mother lost her father's inheritance to her step-mother's family. One of the reasons why you SHOULD make a will! But it sounds as if your family gained their inheritance, and indeed the step-mother may well have moved away, perhaps even married again. The only way to find out is to obtain a copy of the will. Polly ----- Original Message ----- From: "NIKKI BROWN via" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2016 9:25 PM Subject: [G] Probate to son not wife? Hi I have a Frederick Pullum, born 1876 in Shoreditch, son of William Banner PULLUM and Caroline GLOVER. Baptised 20th October 1878 at St John, Hoxton. 25th December 1897 he married Ada Kate Harriet FIELD at St John the Baptist, Hoxton. They had 11 children (including Alfred born 1906) His wife Ada Kate Harriett died in 1923 aged 46 9th November 1929 Frederick married Mary Ann GEERS at St Paul’s Church, Haggerston. Mary Ann GEERS was born Mary Ann GLOVER (they were in fact first cousins) However when Frederick dies in 1938, his probate is to son Alfred, even though his second wife is still alive (found with her widowed brother on the 1939 register). Alfred is not the eldest child but his elder siblings (one brother and 3 sisters) are married and he is not. On the 1939 register Alfred and all his living younger siblings are living at the address of his father in the probate. I am quite sure I have this right as I have checked all residences, occupations etc and they match. Can I ask, was it common for the children to inherit over the wife? or have I misunderstood something (again!)? -- Nikki Brown #6552 Pullum ONS https://pullumons.wordpress.com _____________________________________________ _____________________________________________ RootsWeb lists - surnames, regions, software, etc: http://lists.rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message