Death in the family, but no will. Anything that can be done here?

Mojisola

Dunroamin wrote: »

For goodness sake - wait til the poor man's dead before doing your vulture impression!

K_P83 isn't going to be a beneficiary so really being a vulture.

People react differently to deaths - and imminent deaths. Some people cope by being very practical. As K_P83 has been through the probate process recently with his/her father, it's not strange to be looking at potential difficulties with the upcoming formalities.

NAR

Quite right Mojisola. I wish people would stop being judgemental, especially when they haven't a clue about the background (which is none of their business btw), and answer questions asked by the OP if they can - or simply hold their water!

Nine_Lives

Thanks moj & NAR.

Moj - that's nail on head. I'm a practical person. Regarding my dad's death, he said shortly before he died that >I< would be the one who'd know what to do. I didn't get it at the time as i didn't have a clue, but afterwards, i suspect he knew exactly what i was like & while others around me will be losing their heads, i'll be deeply upset, yes, but practical/clinical at the same time & he was right. The annoying thing about him was that 99% of the time, he was right, even when 99% of the time i thought he was wrong.

As for Mr. cant-be-bothered-to-read up there ... for goodness sake, calm yourself down & have a read before you reply. Vulture?? No my friend, not at all. Think about what accusations you are throwing in future before you look even sillier.

Nine_Lives

Spendless wrote: »

Were all the children of the marriage adults at the time of the split? Isn't your Mum or her siblings on speaking terms with your nan? She must surely know who owns the house she lives in even if her ex husband is being a bit vague?

I don't think they were all adults. I'm not sure tbh. Some certainly were adults, but others i'm not 100% sure.

Tbf i've got the answer i was looking for anyway.

Why must my mum know who owns the house? Maybe it's not something they speak about. You know .... hi how was your day, what have you been up to lately .... who owns your house?? It's not really how conversation goes.

It was only recently i found out about the different ways you can own a house (joint tenants, tenants in common). I didn't know who owned OUR house - be it my dad, or both parents. I also didn't know HOW it was owned. So maybe my mum doesn't know how her old house is/was owned.

Maybe nothing will even come of it. But it's nice to know what will/can happen if folk start looking into something like this & saying the wrong things, causing friction etc.

Mojisola

K_P83 wrote: »

Why must my mum know who owns the house? Maybe it's not something they speak about. You know .... hi how was your day, what have you been up to lately .... who owns your house?? It's not really how conversation goes.

It was only recently i found out about the different ways you can own a house (joint tenants, tenants in common). I didn't know who owned OUR house - be it my dad, or both parents. I also didn't know HOW it was owned. So maybe my mum doesn't know how her old house is/was owned.

If your Grand-dad was still a part-owner of the family home and he owned it as a tenant in common with his ex, then his part of the house will be part of his estate and the ownership will be passed on to his beneficiaries.

If he still owned part of it but it was owned as joint tenants with his ex, then the ex would become the owner of the whole property.

zzzLazyDaisy

OP, i suggest that the first thing you should do is to check if the land is registered. You can do a search for the address for free at the land registry website

http://www.landregistryservices.com/?gclid=CJ28vsy42q4CFQUOfAode17sdg

If the property has been in the same ownership for all that time, it may well not be registered, in which case you won't find it. But if there was a mortgage that was paid off in the intervening period, or if the ownership of the house was changed (for example to add or remove someone from the title deeds) or if a new mortgage was raised against the house, or loan secured on the house, it is possible that the property might have been registered at that point.

If you find the address on the land registry website, you can download a copy of the title register for £4. Anyone can do this, you don't need to be the owner. This will tell you whose names the house is held in, although I don't know if it says whether this is as T's in C, or joint tenants (I have a feeling that info is elsewhere in the paperwork, but no doubt someone will be along to correct me if I'm wrong).

At least you will then know whether you are dealing with registered or unregistered land, and if registered whether your Grandad's name is in fact on the title deeds.

Nine_Lives

Thanks, although i'm struggling to see what you call free. http://www.landregistryservices.com/land-registry/ everything seems to be requiring payment.

zzzLazyDaisy

Sorry, i should have said, the site only works during office hours. As far as I know you can search on an address to see if it is registered - and you only have to fork out the £4 if you actually then wish to look at/download the title deeds. But you won't get far until Monday anyway.

Spendless

K_P83 wrote: »

I don't think they were all adults. I'm not sure tbh. Some certainly were adults, but others i'm not 100% sure.

Tbf i've got the answer i was looking for anyway.

Why must my mum know who owns the house? Maybe it's not something they speak about. You know .... hi how was your day, what have you been up to lately .... who owns your house?? It's not really how conversation goes.

It was only recently i found out about the different ways you can own a house (joint tenants, tenants in common). I didn't know who owned OUR house - be it my dad, or both parents. I also didn't know HOW it was owned. So maybe my mum doesn't know how her old house is/was owned.

Maybe nothing will even come of it. But it's nice to know what will/can happen if folk start looking into something like this & saying the wrong things, causing friction etc.

No not your mum. Your Nan. What I said was 'aren't your mum or her siblings on speaking terms with your nan SHE (as in your nan) must know who owns the house she lives in' As in why can't they ask their mum? Does your mum live in the house where Nan and husband does otherwise why did you think that I was talking about your Mum? My kids don't know who owns the house they and me and my husband live in but WE do.

The reason I ask if the children of the marriage were adults at the time of the split, is because usually in a divorce it is decided who is entitled to what % of equity, it's not always a 50/50 split as it will often be taken into consideration if the woman has restrictions on working due to caring for children etc and then the person with residency of child/ren still school age remains in the home and a charge for the ex partners equity goes onto the house and that is paid when the youngest child leaves f-time education (or even when the person living in the house remarries or co-habits), either by selling the house and dividing the proceeds accordingly or by the person in the house raising enough money to pay their ex their share.

It sounds unusual that 30 years after a divorce that your Grandad hasn't been paid out his share of what was his marital home.

daska

If your family come to you to help sort out his estate, given your recent experience, you might find the divorce documents amongst his papers. These will, hopefully, spell out what the financial settlement was.