Probate Question - In the absence of a Will.

Brynsam

RobStaffs said:

My wife recently lost her aunt to Covid 19. She was 95. Her husband and her only child are also deceased. There are nine surviving nieces and nephews but she did not make a will.The oldest niece was granted Power of Attorney around two years ago. In terms of arrangements etc then she has requested everything to go through her. We are slightly concerned on a number of levels. 

1. The house is a leasehold house which basically requires a significant amount of work on it. Probably has not been modernized worked on since her husband died in the early 70's. It is also a leasehold and the lease is due to expire in the within the next 5 years.
2  The niece with Power of Attorney is not well known to us although we have been in communication over the last 2 years when the family started to share visits to the aunt. We suggested that we appoint a solicitor to sort out the estate but she was adamant that we are not do this. Everything must go through her. Since then we have passed the funeral directors etc to her but practical things such as informing the various creditors, utilities and banks we are convinced are not being sorted as she does not "do the internet"
To cut it short we are worried about the outcome is terms of facing costs such as any restoration costs to make the house good under the lease agreement or any other liabilities. 
Could anyone advise on where we stand on this ? 

Why do you need to stand anywhere? The estate is likely to be an absolute pain to administer, so personally I'd be applauding the niece and leaving her to get on with it, and feel grateful for any inheritance I got at the end of it. An uninhabitable house with a 5 year lease, particularly in the current market, may have much less value than the potential beneficiaries hope. Or the value might surprise you all - but if the niece is putting her hand up to sort it, sit back, support if requested and get on with life.

Worst case scenario is that the estate is insolvent once restoration costs have been taken into account - in which case the niece has my full sympathy, because once she's started, she's landed with finishing (and personally liable if things go wrong).

Keep_pedalling

Brynsam said:

RobStaffs said:

My wife recently lost her aunt to Covid 19. She was 95. Her husband and her only child are also deceased. There are nine surviving nieces and nephews but she did not make a will.The oldest niece was granted Power of Attorney around two years ago. In terms of arrangements etc then she has requested everything to go through her. We are slightly concerned on a number of levels. 

1. The house is a leasehold house which basically requires a significant amount of work on it. Probably has not been modernized worked on since her husband died in the early 70's. It is also a leasehold and the lease is due to expire in the within the next 5 years.
2  The niece with Power of Attorney is not well known to us although we have been in communication over the last 2 years when the family started to share visits to the aunt. We suggested that we appoint a solicitor to sort out the estate but she was adamant that we are not do this. Everything must go through her. Since then we have passed the funeral directors etc to her but practical things such as informing the various creditors, utilities and banks we are convinced are not being sorted as she does not "do the internet"
To cut it short we are worried about the outcome is terms of facing costs such as any restoration costs to make the house good under the lease agreement or any other liabilities. 
Could anyone advise on where we stand on this ? 

Why do you need to stand anywhere? The estate is likely to be an absolute pain to administer, so personally I'd be applauding the niece and leaving her to get on with it, and feel grateful for any inheritance I got at the end of it. An uninhabitable house with a 5 year lease, particularly in the current market, may have much less value than the potential beneficiaries hope. Or the value might surprise you all - but if the niece is putting her hand up to sort it, sit back, support if requested and get on with life.

Worst case scenario is that the estate is insolvent once restoration costs have been taken into account - in which case the niece has my full sympathy, because once she's started, she's landed with finishing (and personally liable if things go wrong).

With a property in poor condition and such a short lease the actual value is going to be close to zero, and the most cost effect solution maybe simply to hand it back to the freeholder.