Dad Passed Away, No Will, Few Questions

Beancounter · 20 February 2015 at 11:03PM

My Father passed away this week and has left no will.

He had moved into a sheltered housing complex so I had just started the process of selling his flat as per his wishes (I had Power of Attorney)

I told the estate agent of my sad news and they said "We won't be able to market the property until your dads estate is finalised and the property is transferred in accordance with his Will"

Obviously as there is no will what do we need to do, do we need to change the name on the deeds to mine? (I believe my mum and dad's names are both on the deeds, currently held by the lender)
I have spoken to the solicitor who drew up the POA and we will be seeing her soon and she said it was a fairly quick and easy process. The estate agent we were using suggested "it could take a few months"?

I would be the only beneficiary of the estate and we are in Scotland.

Quick question re the bank. I will be contacting my Dad's bank next week to inform them, I know they will freeze the accounts. He had his utility bills paid by DD from his main account, do i need to keep the gas and electricity going in the flat and if so then can i just transfer the supply to my name and have the DD set up on my accounts?

Finally, as we have to clear the sheltered flat we rented for him I thought that rather than return the furniture etc to the old flat I thought we could just sell it but I would imagine that legally I cannot do that at the moment?

Torry_Quine · 20 February 2015 at 11:12PM

If he hasn't left a will then his estate must be divided in line with intestacy rules. Were your parents married as she will inherit if they were?

Beancounter · 20 February 2015 at 11:13PM

Torry_Quine wrote: »

If he hasn't left a will then his estate must be divided in line with intestacy rules. Were your parents married as she will inherit if they were?

My mum passed away 2 years ago so I am the only beneficiary, I should have mentioned that.

midnight_express · 20 February 2015 at 11:20PM

You need to apply for letters of administration.

Mojisola · 20 February 2015 at 11:24PM

Beancounter wrote: »

I told the estate agent of my sad news and they said "We won't be able to market the property until your dads estate is finalised and the property is transferred in accordance with his Will"

Unless the law is different in Scotland, this isn't right.

It's best to sell the property as a probate sale otherwise you will have to pay to have the property put into your name and could find problems selling it within a short time.

I sold Dad's house as his executor and the ownership passed directly from his name into the new owner's name.

g6jns_2 · 20 February 2015 at 11:24PM

Beancounter wrote: »

My Father passed away this week and has left no will.

He had moved into a sheltered housing complex so I had just started the process of selling his flat as per his wishes (I had Power of Attorney)

I told the estate agent of my sad news and they said "We won't be able to market the property until your dads estate is finalised and the property is transferred in accordance with his Will"

Obviously as there is no will what do we need to do, do we need to change the name on the deeds to mine? (I believe my mum and dad's names are both on the deeds, currently held by the lender)
I have spoken to the solicitor who drew up the POA and we will be seeing her soon and she said it was a fairly quick and easy process. The estate agent we were using suggested "it could take a few months"?

I would be the only beneficiary of the estate and we are in Scotland.

Quick question re the bank. I will be contacting my Dad's bank next week to inform them, I know they will freeze the accounts. He had his utility bills paid by DD from his main account, do i need to keep the gas and electricity going in the flat and if so then can i just transfer the supply to my name and have the DD set up on my accounts?

Finally, as we have to clear the sheltered flat we rented for him I thought that rather than return the furniture etc to the old flat I thought we could just sell it but I would imagine that legally I cannot do that at the moment?

Unless the rules are different in Scotland you should be able to sell the property and the solicitor should be able to sort out the name on the deeds. In other words no need to change it until the sale. The utility bills should easily be changed to your name. Check that the insurance is still valid.

PasturesNew · 20 February 2015 at 11:28PM

As you've the PoA and are the only beneficiary of no will .... and if there's nobody that'll leap out of the woodwork at you, then you can dispose of the furniture, just keep receipts/records.... and you won't need them as you'd only need to prove what you did with stuff if it's worth a lot and there's inheritance tax involved and/or if somebody leapt out of the woodwork and said "Oi, that's for me, half of everything's for me, you've been cheating me, I'm getting legal advice".

But, if it's a regular situation, without a huge fortune of an estate involved, then you can get on clearing things up etc as you see fit.

But - you can't sell the flat until the probate's all sorted, which can take months, depending how complex all the financial etc side of things is. You're not trying to rob the taxman, or rob anybody else of their inheritance, so just do what's right and what you need to do.

Addiscomber · 20 February 2015 at 11:34PM

I'm sorry for your loss.

In England you would apply to the Probate Office for Letters of Administration, quite simple to do yourself without any need to pay for a solicitor. Presumably there is something similar in Scotland.

I don't think it is mandatory to keep the gas and electricity on but it might be best in case the weather turns really cold and you need to have the heating on very low to prevent burst pipes etc. I'm sure you could transfer the utilities to your name and set up DDs. Don't forget household insurance will need to be kept going too, especially as it is a flat and will have responsibilities to adjoining flats, although buildings insurance may be the responsibility of a management company or similar.

If you are the only beneficiary who is likely to challenge you over the furniture, especially as it isn't in his flat anyway? Dealing with all this sort of thing is stressful enough, so why make it worse for yourself by having to move everything twice.

PasturesNew · 20 February 2015 at 11:37PM

Insurance can be a pain though - they often insist that if nobody's living there then the water/gas have to be turned off. I had this trouble when I was looking after a house (visiting it daily) and leaving the heating on as it was winter.

Mojisola · 21 February 2015 at 12:05PM

PasturesNew wrote: »

Insurance can be a pain though - they often insist that if nobody's living there then the water/gas have to be turned off. I had this trouble when I was looking after a house (visiting it daily) and leaving the heating on as it was winter.

Shop around - I insured Dad's house for a long time (because the first sale fell through) - I kept the heating on frost protection and had to visit twice a week and someone had to sleep over every six(?) weeks.

I used to go over before viewings and put the heating on so that the house felt much more welcoming for viewers.

Flugelhorn · 21 February 2015 at 4:08PM

being a sheltered housing complex, the OP may not be eligible to own the property anyway as there may be age restrictions

Dad Passed Away, No Will, Few Questions

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