Who has to start probate?

Nutcracker

Parents died in summer leaving no will.
Sister has always lived in parents house but will not start probate and is very secretive about everything.
She is very controlling and awkward.
She seems to think the house and all its contents now belong to her including my fathers car which she is now driving round in.
Unable to ask her anything as don't want to fall out with her and make things even worse.
What rights do I have and what happens if nobody applys for probate?
Is she allowed to drive my fathers car?

BobQ

Without a will there are strict laws of intestacy that decide who inherits.

Any close relative can apply for a Grant of Representation (ie authority to administer the estate). Without a will, the Grant is called Letters of Administration. You can apply, your sister can apply (and may have done so without telling you).

This explains the process

https://www.gov.uk/browse/births-deaths-marriages/death

g6jns_2

Nutcracker wrote: »

Parents died in summer leaving no will.
Sister has always lived in parents house but will not start probate and is very secretive about everything.
She is very controlling and awkward.
She seems to think the house and all its contents now belong to her including my fathers car which she is now driving round in.
Unable to ask her anything as don't want to fall out with her and make things even worse.
What rights do I have and what happens if nobody applys for probate?
Is she allowed to drive my fathers car?

A close relative can apply for letters of administration. Once granted they have to distribute the estate according to the rules of intestacy. Your sister has no authority to use the car and may well not be insured. I suggest you apply for LOA immediately. She will not inherit all the house as half will be yours. You need to tell her in writing that she needs to act accordingly. The sooner you get a grip on the situation the better. Sadly it seems you will I inevitably have bad feeling but don't let her get away with it.

BobQ

When your first parent died what happened to their estate, was the house in one name or both?

How much was the estate of the first parent that died? If the estate was in England and Wales and worth more than £250K, then the surviving parent inherits the first £250K and has a life interest in half the rest with the children getting an equal share of the other half.

Was the estate of first parent dealt with through letters of administration?

When the surviving parent died the estate should be shared equally among the children.

Did they sign over any share in the house to your sister before they died?

Is it possible they had a Will and probate was granted to your sister.

You can check this on line.
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

Unless your sister has obtained a Grant of Probate (if a will did exist she never mentioned) or Letters of Administration (no will) what she is doing is potentially illegal.

She can drive the car if she owns it or is the registered keeper of it. But if she registered it after his death and without any authority this could be a problem unless she can prove ownership. Unless it is valuable I would not worry about this until you have established if she has a Grant or until you have applied for one and she disputes it. If you apply you need to identify her as an interest party on the form as she should have done for you.

Obviously if there are Wills and she is the executor she has the right to administer the estate but it has to be in accordance with the wills or the intestacy laws.

Marktheshark

One of those situations that will almost inevitably result in the "family split".
They unfortunately are part of life and you now have to be ready to accept that there is going to be rift created and act in your own best interest.
Start with a simple search as posted above and then consider filing for probate.
Administer the estate, evict her, sell the house and give her what she is due.
On the end of a long stick if necessary.
The rift, is unavoidable unfortunately, it is just one of those life situations that arrives.

Ames

Blimey, I thought I was reading my first thread on this board. My sister too started with putting the car in her name and chucking stuff from in the house.

Be careful - I too kept the mindset of 'it's not worth losing family over', but I lost them anyway, after a lot of stress and hassle. You'd be amazed how nasty family can be when money's involved - I just hope you don't find out the way I did, through experience.

Nutcracker

Thanks for posts all very helpful.
My parents died within 10 days of each other father first while mother in hospital.

BobQ

Nutcracker wrote: »

Thanks for posts all very helpful.
My parents died within 10 days of each other father first while mother in hospital.

That must have been very distressing for you. It does not matter how big the gap was. Your father's estate would have been dealt with in accordance to the intestacy roles . The first £250K to your mother with a life interest in half of the rest.

Was the house owned jointly or as tenants in common? Or solely by your father? If the latter, you and your sister may have inherited something at that point. You would then have inherited your mother's share. Each death involves separate transactions that may require separate letters of administration.

Tuesday_Tenor

BobQ wrote: »

It does not matter how big the gap was. Your father's estate would have been dealt with in accordance to the intestacy roles . The first £250K to your mother with a life interest in half of the rest.

OP, this may not be quite accurate.
I am not sure of facts
BUT
there is something in law about needing to survive the testator by 30 days in order to inherit.
It was relevant for the deaths of my aunt and uncle who died on the same day.
I can't remember if it was the default position, or only applied if written into a will. I think probably the former.

So your dad's estate, when processed according to intestacy laws, may not have been due to pass to you Mum anyway (as she didn't survive him by 30 days) but be shared by the children.

But Mum MAY have owned half the house herself as a 'tenant in common'. If so, that share is nothing to do with Dad's estate. It is part of Mum's estate.

As Bob Q says, if the property was owned as 'tenants in common' (typically 50% each) there will definitely be 2 separate estates, to be administered separately. So it is important to understand the original ownership of the property.

And you need to check out the 30-day survivorship issue with a solicitor or the CAB.

Sorry so many things to think about. Hope this helps you ask the right questions.

Tuesday_Tenor

Assuming the property is registered with the Land Registry,

on their website, for a small fee (£4?), you can check the current ownership of the house.

Two reasons:
1) You need to check that it is not already owned by sister. In case parents gifted it to her previously.

2) Assuming parents owned it, whether they owned as 'joint tenants' or 'tenants in common'. (Or even whether it was perhaps only owned by one of them).

getmore4less

Simultaneous death(Commorientes)/survivorship clauses are common in wills where there are provisions for a period often 28/30 days where alternative distributions happen people die together(or within the period) where the default rules(oldest died first) in law may not be appropriate.

The default survivorship clause for intestate is 28 days.

The assumption becomes that both pre deceased each other and there estates get processed as if there was no spouse.