When is a surviving spouse no longer entitled?

Sweetrevenge

A question re a friend of mine. Her mother died intestate some weeks ago. There are four surviving children and seven grandchildren. Unfortunately because of significant feelings within the family against her mother's husband, he had been living separate from the mother for the last 10 years. She, for the sake of appearances, never started divorce proceedings.

His name stayed on the mortgage deeds and he has now moved back into the 'marital home' and is apparently expecting that all her assets belong to him.

While alive she accumulated some money in a personal bank account which she expressed should be used to pay for her funeral and the remainder to be distributed to the grandchildren. He has stated that it will pay for the funeral, but nothing else.

Is there a case for fighting this?

pollypenny

Hmmm! Sounds as if he is correct and there'll be a fight.

I'm sure someone with expertise will be along soon. Rob will know.

Crabapple

He's still the legal spouse so unfortunately he is going to inherit. There is a financial limit to that but he may well get everything.

No matter what she said about the money in the account, unless it is stated in a valid Will or Codicil it isn't going to stand. He will need to pay any debts of the estate from those funds, which it sounds like he is proposing to do by settling the funeral account.

Unless any of the family members were financially dependent on the deceased (ie. they received regular payments from her) I can't see there would be any grounds to challenge things.

This is sadly a classic case where a person should make a Will.

Sweetrevenge

So separation of any length of time has no bearing? that's very interesting.

Can he appoint himself administrator when he is likely to be the sole beneficiary?

Thanks for your help - friend is too distraught to know what to do.

Regards

McKneff

There is not much she can do to be honest. Mother really should have made a will.
I can only agree with all the others above.

Sweetrevenge

At least its a clear case - I somehow think it could develop into a really nasty fight if there was any doubt.

Thanks for your replies

antrobus

Sweetrevenge wrote: »

....Can he appoint himself administrator when he is likely to be the sole beneficiary?..

Yes.

There is an order of priority for the appointment of an adminstrator in the case of intestacy; No1 would be the husband, wife, or civil partner.

https://www.probatewizard.co.uk/guides/intestacy-who-are-the-personal-representatives.html

Sweetrevenge wrote: »

....Is there a case for fighting this?

Wouldn't have thought so.

If there is no will, the intestacy rules prevail. The spouse gets everything up to £250,000. How much is in the estate? Bearing in mind that it's quite possible, that if the husband's "name stayed on the mortgage deeds", that they may have held the property as joint tenants, and thus he will obtain title to the house without it passing through the estate.

securityguy

Sweetrevenge wrote: »

So separation of any length of time has no bearing? that's very interesting.

No, it has no bearing.

Can he appoint himself administrator when he is likely to be the sole beneficiary?

Yes, indeed, he is in pole position to do so. Whether or not he's a beneficiary has nothing to do with it.

Thanks for your help - friend is too distraught to know what to do.

Sadly, unless there are exceptional circumstances you haven't described, there's nothing they can do. The mother should have made a will. She didn't, so it all goes to her husband. That's pretty much the end of the conversation, unless the widower is feeling generous.

madbadrob

Everything as already been said on this subject. To clarify though. If a person dies intestate then the first person in line to administrate and benefit is the spouse. As they didnt divorce then unfortunately there is not a lot you can do to change this. He would get the first 250k of the estate. Over this amount half would go directly to the children and anoher half placed in trust which the widower would be entitled to the interest from. On his death this would then pass to the children.

Now that all said there is a very costly possibility to have him removed. The chances of success are very low and I would not recommend it because if you lost you would not only end up with your legal bill but his also.

As others have said if the house was held as joint tenants and not Tenants in common then he gets the house anyway and therefore the whole estate. Your friend will just have to hope the father is a gent and he says ok kids this is your mother and we were not together so you can have the money etc. I doubt that will happen from the OP's post.

Rob

securityguy

madbadrob wrote: »

Now that all said there is a very costly possibility to have him removed.

But surely, even if he were removed as administrator, that would not affect his position as effectively the sole beneficiary? Instead of him winding up the estate and taking the proceeds, someone else could wind up the estate and give him the proceeds. It doesn't make any practical difference to the outcome, does it?

Sweetrevenge

I can't thank you all enough - I think the pain of accepting the inevitable will be easier in the short term than after a long fight which only achieves the same result.

A salutory lesson for us all - families aren't always happy ones and, even for those that are, a Will is an essential step towards keeping it that way.

You guys are awesome :beer: