Father Died Remarried Left No Will - Has Debts Who is Entitled to What?

Horasio

My husband's father died in 2004 and left no will

He has a mortgage of £6000. There is a debt too.

He remarried when my husband was young and had two more children. The wife is dead too.

His other son lives in his house and has run up debts in the last 2 years.

The house is estimated to be worth about £40000

Does anyone have any advice whether we are entitled to anything and whether we will have to pay anything out before we can sell the house, what costs are involved and how much?

Should we leave well alone or persue it?

Spendless

who died first FIL or his second wife?

http://www.property4viewing.co.uk/iwcwills/intestacy.htm

Bossyboots

Spendless has asked the crucial question.

Also, was the property in joint names with the wife and if so were they tenants in common or joint tenants.

silvercar

your husband could be entitled to a third of the value of the estate. the estate would be the 40,000 house value, less the mortgage, less any other debts. whether it is worth instigating a family row with the other children is your decision.

A friend of mine had a similar situation and lost contact with her siblings over it. The end result was her half-brother living in the house had to take out a mortgage to buy off her, a third of the houses value.

Horasio

Wife died first, went to her husband (my FIL), he died, no will left.

My husband has a full brother, half brother and half sister (both from his second marriage)

His father left them flat and gave them no maintenance. Heard nothing about him until 2000 when my brother in law tracked him down, living in an ex council house they bought.

Bossyboots

In that case, the four siblings are each entitled to 1/4 of what remains of the estate after the debts are paid. I don't understand why nothing was done in the last two years.

Has no-one been notified of his death? What has been happening about the mortgage repayments? Who are the other debts to?

The debts the son has run up are his own problem if they are in his name. If he has run up debts in his dad's name, then this is fraudulent as all concerned parties should have been notified of the death at the time and all accounts frozen.

Horasio

Bossyboots wrote:

In that case, the four siblings are each entitled to 1/4 of what remains of the estate after the debts are paid. I don't understand why nothing was done in the last two years.

Has no-one been notified of his death? What has been happening about the mortgage repayments? Who are the other debts to?

The debts the son has run up are his own problem if they are in his name. If he has run up debts in his dad's name, then this is fraudulent as all concerned parties should have been notified of the death at the time and all accounts frozen.

Thank you.

We are wondering why it has just come to light ourself. We assumed the house was a council house or not worth very much. We didn't think there would be much to gain tbh in 2004. The price of property in the area has gone up. I don't think it has been upgraded and it isn't in a great area but should get something out of it after all expenses and debts have been paid, hopefully there won't be any other surprises.

I don't know the full details that you ask and these are questions we must ask, thank you for bringing them to our attention, I have got this information third hand via my husband from his brother from his half sister but we will be looking into it.

The half brother son does have the same christian name as his father:rolleyes:

Horasio

Double post - deleted

benood

I'd arrange a session with a solicitor and take it from there.

Bennifred

Just out of interest, what would have been the position if the FIL had died first - would the half-siblings inherit everything?

Bossyboots

Bennifred wrote:

Just out of interest, what would have been the position if the FIL had died first - would the half-siblings inherit everything?

Yes, because they would have inherited from their mother, who had inherited from the father. Father could have made a will covering this angle and the property could have been held as tenants in common but planning for death clearly wasn't on their agenda.