what happens to the inheritance

scotty1971

Wonder if anyone can shed any light on how this will work.Friends mother in law partner died leaving all his estate to her(they were not married).Five days later the mother in law died.The mother in laws estate has already been paid out.The partners estate was just getting sorted out to be given to her,but she passed away.He has three kids who he never been in contact for years,will his estate now go to them?I'm not sure if they know he had estate to leave. Or will it be shared out between his kids and the mother in laws kids.He had left his own kids nothing in the will.This is in Scotland.

thanks

DigForVictory

Depends on the Wills in place at the relevant times.

Hoping paperwork running in the right direction for friend.

scotty1971

all i know was in the partners will everything was left to the mother in law,but she died before this could be done

unforeseen

The devil's in the detail

It is not uncommon to have a clause that a bequest only pays out if the recipient outlives the deceased by 28 days.

If no such clause or similar then in all likelihood is it will form part of MiLs estate. The partners will needs to be examined.

Torry_Quine

As this is Scotland the rules are different in that you can't disinherit children so they will be able to inherit and always would have. That aside as she survived him she still inherited and that then becomes part of her estate and is distributed according to her will.

scotty1971

As i said i don't think his children knew he had estate to leave,will they be automatically contacted about the estate?

PasturesNew

He died first and left it all to her.
She died 5 days later - it will still all come to her and there will be a 2nd "doling out of the money" in line with her Will of his money.

However, as has been said, the Will might include a note of "if she survives me by 28 days", which is something they often toss in. If that exists and she died 5 days later then his money doesn't go to her - it goes, instead, to his children, whether they knew him or not (so long as they weren't adopted by somebody).

There is a clear route to who gets it - but you need to know the wording of the Will and whether any/all of his children were adopted by other people. Adoption would sever any inheritance from his estate to the adopted child/ren.

If there were a 28 day clause and if all the children were adopted (say, by new fathers) .... then it'd go to his siblings and their families. If he were an only child it'd then go to uncles/aunts that were of his blood (and their children if they'd died).

scotty1971

PasturesNew wrote: »

He died first and left it all to her.
She died 5 days later - it will still all come to her and there will be a 2nd "doling out of the money" in line with her Will of his money.

However, as has been said, the Will might include a note of "if she survives me by 28 days", which is something they often toss in. If that exists and she died 5 days later then his money doesn't go to her - it goes, instead, to his children, whether they knew him or not (so long as they weren't adopted by somebody).

There is a clear route to who gets it - but you need to know the wording of the Will and whether any/all of his children were adopted by other people. Adoption would sever any inheritance from his estate to the adopted child/ren.

If there were a 28 day clause and if all the children were adopted (say, by new fathers) .... then it'd go to his siblings and their families. If he were an only child it'd then go to uncles/aunts that were of his blood (and their children if they'd died).

Thanks for that,they have no contact details for his children,will this be up to the solicitor to contact them?

jackyann

It is the executor's responsibility - if that is a solicitor then yes. If it is someone else, they can, if they wish, employ a solicitor to do the wok for them.

Keep_pedalling

Under the circumstances, I don't understand how the MILs estate can already been sorted. The fact that she is the sole beneficiary of her partners estate could have IHT implications for her estate, and even if that is not the case, the value of the estate shown on the probate form and the amount given to her residual beneficiaries will have been wrong.

Who ever her executor is need a good kick up the proverbial.

scotty1971

the sons have already received monies through the solicitor 2 days before her funeral from MIL estate,don't know if this happened so fast as they are not married.I don't beleive the value of the estate would incur IHT