Father died 30th March and was not told about it. I am 1 of 2 sons alive, The rules of intestacy

clivenick

I am looking for help, I found out today 18/06/2020 that my Father died 30/03/2020 and as far as I am aware he left no will, other than he probably left some form of paperwork with the other son's Grandson (both younger than myself) who lived with him up until his death. I wasn't close to them as I was adopted legally and was pushed out at an early age. No sympathies thank you, just how to get on legally regarding the estate. Its the principle of the matter that has upset me. I would appreciate any legal advice on how to go about  the legalities I have on how to go about claiming my inheritance 
Thank you in advance

Flugelhorn

you mention that there are two sons alive - were there any more children and did they have children themselves?
presume father was widowed / divorced?
Were you adopted into this family or out of it?
If no spouse and no will and you were adopted in then the estate is split between all the offspring (including the children of any deceased offspring, they will share their parent's share).
Someone must have registered the death and I presume administering the estate? You need to speak to that person about getting letters of administration to manage the estate.

ames1010

Hi, if there is no will then once someone has applied for letters of administration to handle the estate, then you can do a probate search and it will tell you how much the estate is. You will then have an idea of how much you are due for your inheritance. It will take time to apply for letters of administration as the house will have to be valued, chattels listed and estimated values, as well as bank accounts, insurance amount etc. By law, if there is no will- you have to be contacted by your brother to tell you you are a beneficiary. 

Marcon

ames1010 said:

By law, if there is no will- you have to be contacted by your brother to tell you you are a beneficiary. 

Which law would that be?

ames1010

Marcon said:

ames1010 said:

By law, if there is no will- you have to be contacted by your brother to tell you you are a beneficiary. 

Which law would that be?

My law- it’s a new one 🤣
how about we say the

administrator has a duty to follow the rules of intestacy - is that better 😂

ames1010

Hope this helps- your brother has to follow the rules of intestacy succession when there is no will. 

clivenick

Flugelhorn said:

you mention that there are two sons alive - were there any more children and did they have children themselves?
presume father was widowed / divorced?
Were you adopted into this family or out of it?
If no spouse and no will and you were adopted in then the estate is split between all the offspring (including the children of any deceased offspring, they will share their parent's share).
Someone must have registered the death and I presume administering the estate? You need to speak to that person about getting letters of administration to manage the estate.

Thanks for your reply. I was adopted legally at nine months of age by the deceased who is widowed, my adoptive Mother died when I was 7. My adoptive father remarried and had another child, possibly by another man and we both have children.  The thing is we haven't spoken for a number of years and this is the reason I only found out about his death 18/06/2020 not without trying to rekindle the relationship numerous times. I have looked online and cannot find any Will. I know where and when he died and all about the house he owned. 

clivenick

Marcon said:

ames1010 said:

By law, if there is no will- you have to be contacted by your brother to tell you you are a beneficiary. 

Which law would that be?

Thanks, the problem is he hasn't spoke to me for years (my step brother) and he was told by his mother before she died to fight me for the estate, she only married into it as I was legally adopted and its quite possible he is another mans son. He isn't interested in what the law says. He will just hope I do not know about our Father dying.  He is most likely living in the property now

clivenick

ames1010 said:

Hi, if there is no will then once someone has applied for letters of administration to handle the estate, then you can do a probate search and it will tell you how much the estate is. You will then have an idea of how much you are due for your inheritance. It will take time to apply for letters of administration as the house will have to be valued, chattels listed and estimated values, as well as bank accounts, insurance amount etc. By law, if there is no will- you have to be contacted by your brother to tell you you are a beneficiary. 

Hi, thanks for the reply. I am assuming there's no will as I have looked online and nothing shows up. My step brother hasn't spoke to me for years and his Mother told him to fight me for the inheritance. He will just hope I do nothing as I only found out about my adoptive Father dying yesterday 18/06/2020 he died 30/03/2020 and widowed, so in effect there is just myself and him, and our children left. He will have no intention of contacting me hence why he didn't let me know of our Father's death. I thought he would have some form respect in letting me know and give me the options on what I want. 

ames1010

Unfortunately for your step brother, if you have a claim, it has to be adhered to- your step brother can’t pick and choose what he agrees with just to suit him. I would go and get some free advice with a solicitor for half an hour. State all the facts of what you know and see what your next course of action should be.  Hope it all goes well. 

Flugelhorn

 If there was a will it is unlikely that this will have gone to probate yet - takes a bit of time to get the info together and for the office to issue the grant, then the fact that there is probate  gets published online takes a bit longer - so the answer is that there MAY be a will, you can't be sure.
Depending on how much your father left, it maybe that the banks etc will just pay out to the next of kin on sight of the death cert - they won't check that there is another beneficiary, in fact no-one will chase this up / sort this out for you - you have to do it.
The only option is to contact your step brother to see what the situation is. 

PS - re your children, they do not have a claim on the estate, only you and your brother