Right to make last visit to partners house

In the same circumstances I wouldn't dream of expecting the son to provide me with a bed for the night especially if I would be in the house on my own. Nor would I expect to be able to go back into a house that didn't belong to me and where I had never lived without supervision, not because I would have dishonest intentions but because it is someone else' property and I would have no right to be there. I would have returned the key at the first available opportunity, ideally the night of the death but it would have been forgivable to overlook such a matter at the time.

absent

I can understand what you are saying but it appears that the son drove over to her house and returned her clothes and it appears some time has elapsed since the death of the father.
Under normal circumstances I think a son / daughter would have let her have a bed for the night but may have only offered her a basic breakfast.
Also there has got to be something wrong for him not to let her come back some time later to check she had not left anything behind.
When my father split with his lady friend she had a change of clothes in the house and I returned them to her as she did not want to return to the house.
Oddly enough I have found a ladies watch in a drawer since my father passed away and I am unsure if it was my mothers.
I did not contact her but she has passed away now and I know that watch is only worth about £50 new.

Frank

Goodness what a lot of suspicious minds. Perhaps the son just wanted to be on his own the night of his father's death and not play host to someone who, perhaps, he didn't know very well.

Something I have thought of in the lady may want to involve her house insurance.
They may write to the son and request permission to got in to the house to try and find this watch. I am unsure if they could take any form of legal action if he refuses and it may not be economic to do so even if it was possible but he may trust somebody from the insurance company more.
The insurance may pay up but they could request proof this watch exists.
I have got doubts if the police would be interested.

Frank

Exacly Frank - we don't know the details which is why I used the conditional

bluebell

I see what you are saying but the son may have not trusted her to be in the house for some reason.
He did change the locks.
We don't even know if the son was staying at the house that night.

Frank

Another problem is does the son know the mothers jewellery well?.
If not how will the lady prove to the son it belonged to her?. She may have just seen it in the house and thought I will have that.
Also was the son aggrieved about her staying in the house. It is not clear if the son was also in occupation of the house but he may have been entitled to be if he was a half owner through inheriting his mothers share especially if he had spent money on the house.

tanith

You are correct. There may be paperwork in the house which proves the property belongs to him. He could be concerned that it may go missing if he lets people in.

annodomini

It may have been dangerous for the woman to drive in the dark but the son is not legally responsible for her safety.

Frank

Tanith - no but it constitutes a friendship, especially after spending the days leading up to his death with him. I know we don't know much about it, but if the son did refuse to let her spend the night at that time in the evening, it was very unkind and unfeeling. As for the watch, if the son is as he appears from the info' we have, she can probably say goodbye to that.

Driving 40 miles late at night while she was emotionally distraught might prove dangerous, Frank. As we get older, some of us are not too happy with driving in the dark.

I don't see why the son should be responsible for her hotel bill and surely if she explains about the watch he can have a good look for it.. other than that I see no reason why she needs to go back in the house to be honest.
If you look at it from the sons point of view an occasional overnight stay doesn't really constitute a partnership and he is protecting the property till the will/probate are sorted out.

This one is going to be difficult to resolve.
I can not see how the partner can expect the son to pay the hotel bill.
Was the woman in a car?.
If so 11pm is not that late to drive 40 miles in any case.
The other problem with the watch is theft could be difficult to prove. If the partner has no receipt I think the case is a non starter and of the watch is in an obscure draw the son may not know it was there.
If she has a receipt unless it identifies the watch with a registration number it will still not prove the watch belongs to her.
The son may claim it belonged to his mother.
The only chance I could think of is if they did not start manufacturing the type of watch till after his mothers death the court may say on the balance of probabilities it belongs to the woman but if the son says he had a girl friend or a wife she may not get the watch anyway.

Frank

I do think he is being a bit harsh about not letting your friend see if anything else of hers is in the property but I do not think he is responsible for the £75.00 hotel bill as it was not him who made the booking and he is not obliged to supply accommadation for her.
Is he maybe taking the cautious route with regard to the property and changing the locks as he may not be sure as to who has possession of keys? and once someone is in the house it could be a problem to remove them,just looking at the two sides to the story really.

I wouldn't think she has any rights at all in the matter. If she thinks the son is stealing her watch, she should go to the police about it.

I just question why he was so brutal , did they not get on ?