Father died without leaving a will - what do I do?

Matilda68

I've just had a long chat with mum. She's helped me compose a letter to my uncle. She did suggest I try to explain why I had nothing to do with my father, but honestly I don't think he needs to hear those things. The man has just lost his brother, after all, and apparently they were close. As far as he's been told, I just cut my father out of my life for no reason, so I can understand why he feels that this is unfair. I feel really bad even asking for anything, but it has to be done. So I'm asking for all relevent paperwork and the house keys, so I can go up there and sort it out. My friends said they'd come with me, one of them has dealt with this sort of thing before so she'll know things I would never even think of.

Can anyone think of anything else I should ask for, before I post the letter?

missbiggles1

Do you claim any means tested benefits?

Matilda68

Yes, I'm on DLA and ESA.

Yorkshireman99

Matilda68 wrote: »

Yes, I'm on DLA and ESA.

You may lose the ESA once you have the proceeds of the estate.

Matilda68

I realise that, but I'm studying for a degree at the moment and am hoping to be working again eventually. If there is a significant amount of money in the estate and I decide to pursue it, I don't mind about the ESA. It was only ever supposed to be temporary.

Yorkshireman99

Matilda68 wrote: »

I realise that, but I'm studying for a degree at the moment and am hoping to be working again eventually. If there is a significant amount of money in the estate and I decide to pursue it, I don't mind about the ESA. It was only ever supposed to be temporary.

It sounds as if the estate should be significant and make a big difference to your future.

Matilda68

I'm afraid to get excited about it yet, but it is looking that way. My uncle has seen all the paperwork and I don't think he would sound so upset if there was nothing. My DLA ends in May and I have to apply for PIP, and hardly anyone gets that for mental health. I was getting really scared about how I'd get through my last year of uni without getting sick again from the stress, so this is happening at exactly the right time.

Tuesday_Tenor

Ask uncle

- has the funeral happened; who paid for it? The cost would normally come out of the estate. Possibly uncle arranged for the bank to pay the funeral directors directly. If uncle has paid for it himself, he should eventually be reimbursed, assuming the costs were reasonable and the estate is solvent.

- if he has contacted the house insurers, and if so, what the outcome has been. They might have ended the insurance completely, or continued it with a different policy for an empty property. For the latter there may be some restrictions: property needs to be checked at regular intervals; heating needs to be left on OR everything turned off and systems drained. You MUST get the property insured; nothing else is as urgent as this.

- who registered the death, and whether the 'tell us once' system was used to notify DWP, HMRC, local council etc. of the death.

- if any spare copies of the death certificate were ordered. You will usually need several copies of the death certificate, but if you haven't got them, you will be able to purchase more; it just happens to be a bit cheaper if ordered at time of registration. Or if uncle has done most of the notifying, possibly you won't need more copies.

Reassure uncle that all reasonable costs that he has incurred will eventually be reimbursed from the estate, assuming it is solvent.

Matilda68

There was no funeral. He wanted to leave his body to science. I have one photocopy of the death certificate, my uncle said there were no originals left. He died 4 weeks before I received this letter and I don't think anyone realised that the estate would pass to me, so it looks like he may have already done the notifying. Hopefully he spoke to the insurance, I would imagine he understood the importance of getting that done straight away. I had thought about his costs so far, I will reassure him about that. I'll put all the above in my letter.

Thank you for all the advice so far, I'm starting to feel much more confident that I can deal with this.

leespot

Matilda68 wrote: »

There was no funeral. He wanted to leave his body to science. I have one photocopy of the death certificate, my uncle said there were no originals left. He died 4 weeks before I received this letter and I don't think anyone realised that the estate would pass to me, so it looks like he may have already done the notifying. Hopefully he spoke to the insurance, I would imagine he understood the importance of getting that done straight away. I had thought about his costs so far, I will reassure him about that. I'll put all the above in my letter.

Thank you for all the advice so far, I'm starting to feel much more confident that I can deal with this.

Have you had any confirmation that his body was accepted by a medical school or similar? They don't have to accept bodies they deem unsuitable (sometimes depending on the cause of death / condition of remains), in which case funeral arrangements would need to be made by the estate. I'm guessing that after 4 weeks it would be fairly obvious if his body was accepted or not.