Should We Administer Relative's Intestate Estate?

woodbine66

My mother's relative died a year ago without our knowledge. We used to have regular contact with the relative, but she sold up and disappeared 7 years ago. We've had no contact with her between disappearing and her death.


Recently, we found an online notice announcing the relative's death and asking for anyone who knew her to contact. The notice was posted by the estate agent who sold her previous home. It appears that the estate agent has paid for our relative's funeral and has taken responsibility for the estate and finding any heirs. They can't trace any will.


I believe that my mother is the only living relation to the deceased, and following the intestacy rules, would be a valid beneficiary. It may be a reasonably substantial estate with property, money and valuables.


How should we proceed? Should we take over the deceased relative's affairs as there is no other family to get involved? Should we leave the agent to deal with the estate, or should we administer the estate ourselves? Is it difficult to administer an intestate estate? How do we confirm that there are no other family members who may also be beneficiaries?


We're a bit dazed at the news at the moment, but it feels odd that a stranger presumably has access to our relative's home and possessions - some of which may be valuable. We know which town the relative's house is in, but not it's exact location. We're a bit unsure how to proceed and would welcome any advice to this odd situation.

Yorkshireman99

woodbine66 wrote: »

My mother's relative died a year ago without our knowledge. We used to have regular contact with the relative, but she sold up and disappeared 7 years ago. We've had no contact with her between disappearing and her death.


Recently, we found an online notice announcing the relative's death and asking for anyone who knew her to contact. The notice was posted by the estate agent who sold her previous home. It appears that the estate agent has paid for our relative's funeral and has taken responsibility for the estate and finding any heirs. They can't trace any will.


I believe that my mother is the only living relation to the deceased, and following the intestacy rules, would be a valid beneficiary. It may be a reasonably substantial estate with property, money and valuables.


How should we proceed? Should we take over the deceased relative's affairs as there is no other family to get involved? Should we leave the agent to deal with the estate, or should we administer the estate ourselves? Is it difficult to administer an intestate estate? How do we confirm that there are no other family members who may also be beneficiaries?


We're a bit dazed at the news at the moment, but it feels odd that a stranger presumably has access to our relative's home and possessions - some of which may be valuable. We know which town the relative's house is in, but not it's exact location. We're a bit unsure how to proceed and would welcome any advice to this odd situation.

The estate agent has, it seems, intermeddled in the estate so can’t now back out. I wou;d suggest discussing it with them. I expect they have already involved a solicitor. See what they say first.

woodbine66

Thanks for your reply, Yorkshireman. Can I ask, if you were in our situation, would you want to get more involved? We don't know whether her house and it's contents are properly secured, or who has access to them. As the closest/only? known relatives and probable beneficiaries, do we have a right to be involved in the process?

konark

I find it strange that an estate agent would arrange and pay for someone's funeral, even a previous client, and be assuming the role of executor in their affairs. I'm sure there's some logical explanation but I would be wondering how and why they got involved.

Tom99

Unless there was another surviving owner whoever sold the property would have needed probate so as a 1st step download the probate grant and see what other information that provides you with.

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

Yorkshireman99

woodbine66 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply, Yorkshireman. Can I ask, if you were in our situation, would you want to get more involved? We don't know whether her house and it's contents are properly secured, or who has access to them. As the closest/only? known relatives and probable beneficiaries, do we have a right to be involved in the process?

As I said you need to find out more from the agent. My inclination would be to let a solicitor deal with it. You may not have any riights to be involved.

nom_de_plume

woodbine66 wrote: »

We don't know whether her house and it's contents are properly secured, or who has access to them.

Tom99 wrote: »

Unless there was another surviving owner whoever sold the property would have needed probate so as a 1st step download the probate grant and see what other information that provides you with.

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

It doesn't sound as though it has got to this stage yet.

konark wrote: »

I find it strange that an estate agent would arrange and pay for someone's funeral, even a previous client, and be assuming the role of executor in their affairs. I'm sure there's some logical explanation but I would be wondering how and why they got involved.

Very strange. I hope the OP updates this thread when the full facts come out.

getmore4less

How far away is the town?

I would tackle this from a couple of angles.

if not too far for day visits to the area go and speak in person to those already involved.
this would be an information gathering exercise and may need more than one visit.
if too far for day maybe a long weekend.

In parallel start building the family tree, at a min you need the blood line to the relative, no need to start collecting docs just the list of relative and their status(living/dead)

depending what the conversations/vist turn up that will dictate the next steps.

check BV list
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unclaimed-estates-list
names get added and removed quite quickly, there may be historic records to see if that relative was ever on the list.

There is a chance the EA has contact/contract with Heir Hunters as EA are probably quite a good source of estates of interest.

woodbine66

Many thanks for your replies. Will answer them in order;


Konark - Completely agree. Surprised that just anyone can assume control of an intestate estate when it seems their only connection to the person/family is as someone who was paid to provide a service and they were in contact with the deceased or became aware of their demise first. By this reasoning, my relative's plumber or milkman could assume control of her affairs if there were no family or even friends aware of the situation. From what I read, it's next of kin that can become administrators. I contacted the estate agent by phone as soon as I saw the online notice. He seemed quite guarded about information, but I suppose that's natural as I could be anyone. He asked me to email more info to him which I did the same day. Not had a reply or acknowledgement so far.


Tom99 - No record on probate register - believe things haven't progressed this far.


Nom de plume - Yes, very strange. Wondering why someone who was once paid to provide her with a service (sale of house) would assume control and pay bills costing thousands.


getmore4less - The town is quite close, less than 10 miles from me. Luckily, the relative who died was a bit of an amateur genealogist. Before we lost contact, she provided us with an extensive family tree going back centuries. Checked the BV list - nothing. Also checked the probate register, nothing on there either. Looks like nothing has really been started on the estate, just general online enquiry looking for relatives/info.

getmore4less

10 miles,

Go visit in person to see where things stand with those involved.

Do an initial asset inventory to assess solvency.
Don't get too excited till you have eliminated main sourses of debts.

Start(not urgent) the sweep for all relatives at or above mother in the pecking order, to establish dead ends.

For a relative you used to have a lot of contact with you seem to be well paced to assess the situation quickly to decide to get involved or not.

woodbine66

Thanks again to all who answered. We're going to press the person who appears to be handling some of our relative's affairs for more info. We may also need to take independent legal advice.


I need to ask a general, procedural question about intestate estates. When an administrator has, or is about to finalise the estate, prior to paying beneficiaries - which official or official body is responsible for ensuring that all entitled beneficiaries have been identified and are getting their share?


I ask this because an intestate estate seems more complicated than if there was a will, with potential for distant, estranged people (maybe abroad) who are valid beneficiaries being left out. What checks are made, and who makes them?


Still no reply from the agent to my initial email, sent almost a week ago. I will update any progress.