Death in Family

johny_horizontal

Hi

To cut a long story short my mum and dad were married for 20yrs and in that time managed to buy a small house out right with no mortgage remaining on the house then my mum left my dad and they got divorced, but she said he could keep the house as i was going to stay living with him (house is in both parents names), a few weeks ago my mum died without leaving a will i’m just wondering who would now get my mum’s half of the house does it go straight to her next of kin if so would this be me (i am over 18) or another family member or would it go to my dad? The reason i am asking is coz my dad’s found someone else and i wouldn’t like to think when he dies she will get the whole house as me and my dad now aren’t getting on very well, and i believe he will leave his half of the house to her, they have no kids and she doesn’t work so is not contributing to any bills within the household,
Is it as easy as seeing a solicitor and changing the deeds or is it a lot more complicated than i think?

Many thanks for your time and advice,

James

Errata

James, you are your mum's next of kin if you're the eldest child. In law your dad is no more related to your mum than I am because they're divorced.

You do need to check if your mum and dad owned the house as Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common. This is something that would have been sorted out when your parents divorced.

Joint Tenants means that both own 100% of the house so when one dies the other automatically gets the property. Tenants in Common means they each own a percentage of it - usually 50% each - so each can leave their share to whoever they wish, and if there's no will the share goes to the next of kin.
HTH