Intestate father's spouse has died before end of probate

Legacy_user

Hi forum.

My friend lost her father last year. Her father didn't leave a will, and was remarried. The stepmother gave her a single personal effect belonging to her father and said that no other bequest was hers - the estate was to be left wholly to the stepmother as his spouse. Under German law the children have a 'right' to a quarter (not sure how that translates in terms of what automatically goes where) but my friend was not to receive anything - am unsure of why she didn't get the 1/4

Probate is not complete. The father's estate is still in the father's name.

Last week, the stepmother died. No-one has informed my friend of this, no-one has been in touch with her, she found out off facebook of all ways. No solicitor has yet been in touch.

Tragic as this situation is, my concern is for my friend. In British law, what would happen to the father's estate here? The stepmother has 2 adult children not related to the father or my friend.

As the estate is still in the father's name, does the inheritance default to my friend? Or does the estate now count as the stepmother's and go to her own children?

If the estate is the stepmother's now, then that begs further questions.

I know that German law is probably different, but I would like to know what might be likely.

Thanks

getmore4less

You have failed to give the important details like who died where what residence, domicile or where the assets are etc.

It is unlikely anyone knows German laws if they are relevant.

System

erk.

Both the father and stepmother died in Spain, but I don't know the rest of the required info.

I did want to know only in relation to British law though.

If it were all within the UK, and an intestate father's spouse died before the end of probate, is the father's estate then considered the stepmother's estate and left to her non related children, or is it left to his children from previous marriages?

Savvy_Sue

^^ this, it's possible that if there were assets in both Germany and the UK that both sets of intestacy laws would apply, so where were the assets?

Tuesday_Tenor

MagicCarpet wrote: »

If it were all within the UK, and an intestate father's spouse died before the end of probate, is the father's estate then considered the stepmother's estate ....

To respond to the 'simple' scenario.
In England and Wales, where the intestate person left a spouse, then
(from HMRC website):

If the estate is less than £250,000, the deceased's surviving spouse or civil partner will receive the whole of the estate.

If the estate is more than £250,000, then

• The surviving spouse or civil partner receives the chattels, a statutory legacy of £250,000 and a life interest in half of the residue.
• The children receive the other half of the residue in equal shares. If any of the deceased’s children have died leaving issue, then the issue will receive their parents' share per stirpes.

BUT
1) Possibly different in Scotland and N.I.
2) I think there may be complications if the surviving spouse dies within 30 days of the first death. Can't find info as it is an ususual situation. You'd have to consult a lawyer.

BUT (big but) I'm not sure how relevant any of this info is as the situation you describe sounds very complex, involving at least 3 countries.

madbadrob

So the deaths occurred in spain. Do they hold property or monies in England? If not then Spanish law is what you need to be looking at and german for anything held in Germany. Am sorry but this is an English site and as such we can only find the same info as yourself regarding overseas administration. You really need to be giving a lot more information than you have

Rob

madbadrob

In relation to the law in England and Wales. The fact that the step mother died after 28 days of the father then all that was his subject to a few situations belongs to the step mum and your friend loses out unless she was written in to any will. The exceptions to this are if the estate was over 250k then the daughter would have got half of all the value over 250k with the other half on her step mums death,

However this is immaterial if there were no assets in England or Wales

Rob

System

Thanks for taking the time to answer hypothetical questions, even if you feel it's not relevant, its allowed to me suggest relevant questions she should be asking and to get her own legal advice, as she was prepared to write the whole thing off and receive nothing. She's probably entitled to more than a watch and she has her own children to provide for.

troubleinparadise

MagicCarpet wrote: »

Thanks for taking the time to answer hypothetical questions, even if you feel it's not relevant, its allowed to me suggest relevant questions she should be asking and to get her own legal advice, as she was prepared to write the whole thing off and receive nothing. She's probably entitled to more than a watch and she has her own children to provide for.

She probably needs to move pretty quickly to get her advice.

Unfortunately this will have to be paid for - does she think the estate and therefore her possible inheritance is worth the effort?

Whilst she may be due some money, legal bills especially when dealing with foreign law and estates given their differing rules, taxes and laws will probably need specialist legal advice, and can take a long time to be sorted.

The expense and stress may not be worth the personal costs at the end of the day.

BobQ

OP,

If you Google Intestecy Laws in Spain you do get a few websites explaining it in English. For example,http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Europe/Spain/Inheritance

If I read this correctly it seems:

Property (House) of Spanish Residents is inherited in accordance with Spanish law but other assets in accordance with law of their nationality.

Spouse gets an equal share with other legal beneficiaries (includes children). Spouse gets use of 1/3 of house (for life )

Law varies by region.


However http://spanish-inheritance.co.uk/spanish-inheritance-law.html

suggests that an English National dying in Spain is actually covered by English intestacy laws.

But sounds like a lawyer is needed who understands this!