Tryin to sell late mother's property!!!

andip1967

Hi, I hope someone can shed a little light on my ever darkening tunnel of problems?

My mother passeed away in 1999 and foolishly I didn't get probate at that time. I now have probate and am in the process of selling the house now. The sale has now been going on for 15 months!!! Their was a charge on the property and I couldn't find the deeds. Having found the deeds and got the charge removed I now have the problem that my father may have claim to proceeds to the property. He and my mother were divorced in 1977. My mother unfortunatley didn't make a will. He left us in 1975 and didn't contribute to any mortgage or child support. How can he have a claim? How do I go about not sharing the proceeds? My convenyancer has tried her best to resolve!

bouicca21

Did they have a financial settlement? Was your father in any way financially dependent/linked to your mother?

andip1967

Sorry but I'm not sure, the reason for the divorce if it helps in any way was due to and abusive relatioship towards my mum and me, my brother and sister.

Penelope_Penguin

andip1967 wrote: »

Hi, I hope someone can shed a little light on my ever darkening tunnel of problems?

My mother passeed away in 1999 and foolishly I didn't get probate at that time. I now have probate and am in the process of selling the house now. The sale has now been going on for 15 months!!! Their was a charge on the property and I couldn't find the deeds. Having found the deeds and got the charge removed I now have the problem that my father may have claim to proceeds to the property. He and my mother were divorced in 1977. My mother unfortunatley didn't make a will. He left us in 1975 and didn't contribute to any mortgage or child support. How can he have a claim? How do I go about not sharing the proceeds? My convenyancer has tried her best to resolve!

According to Citizens Advice, divorced spouses cannot inherit under intestacy rules.

Married partners and civil partners

Married partners or civil partners inherit under the rules of intestacy only if they are actually married or in a civil partnership at the time of death. So if you are divorced or if your civil partnership has been legally ended, you can’t inherit under the rules of intestacy.

Do you know who owned the house - your mother alone, or jointly with your father? Land Registry might be able to help there.

bouicca21

You need to get proper legal advice but as indicated above intestacy rules apply. check the ownership of the house in case he has an established interest. Assuming not, then he'd have to make a claim on the estate through the courts and unless in some way financially dependent on your mother then I think he'd have difficulty.

Alter_ego

Is your father actually trying to claim something?

andip1967

At this moment in time he doesn't know anything about the sale. My convenyancer say he's entitled to some according to the deeds!

tidds

andip1967 wrote: »

At this moment in time he doesn't know anything about the sale. My convenyancer say he's entitled to some according to the deeds!

My advice to you then is..... to get advice from solicitor, not an internet forum. If your conveyancer is suggesting he has entitlement then perhaps he is named on the deeds? But we can only speculate and you need concrete information.

Good luck, hopefully you get it sorted soon.

Penelope_Penguin

andip1967 wrote: »

My convenyancer say he's entitled to some according to the deeds!

Ah, that's your answer. Was it a property bought jointly by both your parents, with both names on the deeds. If so, it's likely your father is entitled, in law, to some of the proceeds of the property sale.

As others have said, you need legal advice for your specific case. I'd suggest you have a meeting with a solicitor, and take as much of their time as you need to fully understand what your father may be entitled to.

googler

You don't need a conveyancer, you need a solicitor experienced in probate, inheritance and associated legalities.

andip1967

Thanks for all your answers.

I think their maybe a transferred paper were it's been signed by 4 parties including my late mother, father, a solicitor and a witness!

Will this have any bearing?