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

clivenick

Flugelhorn said:

 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 

Thank you, So what if he doesn't want to tell me anything, I have been in touch with a solicitor who is finding out whether or not he can take on the case and get paid from the sale. Who does sort out the probate and how do I find out. I am computer literate and can do online searches which I am in the middle of i just go round in circles at the moment.

clivenick

ames1010 said:

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. 

Thanks, he wont care about the law one bit, this is probably the reason he never told me, I have been in touch with a solicitor and he will be calling me back Monday to see if he can take on the case and get paid from the sale, I said carry on the money isnt a problem it is the priceable of the matter. I don't see why he should get half when he is no better than me. Fingers cossed

TBagpuss

Before you go too far you might want to check on the land registry who owns the house - if your brother was living with your dad for a while, and caring for him, is it possible that dad may have added him to the deeds, in which case the house may (depending how they own it) pass dorectly to him annd won't form part of your dad's estate. 

If there is a will, then probate may not yet have been granted - you can I think set up a rolling search so you are notified if anyone does apply, and if there is no will you could apply for letters of administration yourself. Short term however you may want to write to him to say you are very sad that you were not told of your dad's death, and to say, explicitly, that if he dies intestate you wish to apply jointly with your brother to administer the estate, and if not, you would wish to see a copy of the will as you believe that you are a beneficiary. Keep a copy of the letter, and proof of posting, and talk to your solicitor about the next steps. 

I think you can enter a caveat to stop probate or letters of administration being granted to someone other that yourself, while you look into your claim - again, the solicitor should be able to advise you. (without probate or LofA, your brother will find it very hard to try to sell the house, and if he doesn't apply, you can, or can propose that the two of you do so jointly so you can both see all the paperwork etc. )

Flugelhorn

clivenick said:

Flugelhorn said:

 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 

Thank you, So what if he doesn't want to tell me anything, I have been in touch with a solicitor who is finding out whether or not he can take on the case and get paid from the sale. Who does sort out the probate and how do I find out. I am computer literate and can do online searches which I am in the middle of i just go round in circles at the moment.

I think seeing a solicitor is a good idea - at the very least he could write to brother to get info about what is going on. 
Re "sorting it out":
Probate is applied for when someone leaves a will - in this case the executor of the will applies for the probate grant and swears and oath to administer the estate
Letters of administration are applied for if there is no will, there is a specific order or people who can apply for LOA  - if no spouse, then child comes next - they have to state on the forms any other relatives in the family

TBH - he may not be applying for anything and you may have a bit of a struggle on your hands, he may stay living in the house and do nothing about reregistering it or selling it - just change the names on the utilities and that is it - that is where you need the legal advice

one thing it may be worth doing is check who actually owns the property now - you can download the title from the Land Registry for £3 - it is possible that it was put in your brother's name jointly in which case he now owns  or maybe there was a huge equity release mortgage, (which will need paying off etc ) - https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

clivenick

TBagpuss said:

Before you go too far you might want to check on the land registry who owns the house - if your brother was living with your dad for a while, and caring for him, is it possible that dad may have added him to the deeds, in which case the house may (depending how they own it) pass dorectly to him annd won't form part of your dad's estate. 

If there is a will, then probate may not yet have been granted - you can I think set up a rolling search so you are notified if anyone does apply, and if there is no will you could apply for letters of administration yourself. Short term however you may want to write to him to say you are very sad that you were not told of your dad's death, and to say, explicitly, that if he dies intestate you wish to apply jointly with your brother to administer the estate, and if not, you would wish to see a copy of the will as you believe that you are a beneficiary. Keep a copy of the letter, and proof of posting, and talk to your solicitor about the next steps. 

I think you can enter a caveat to stop probate or letters of administration being granted to someone other that yourself, while you look into your claim - again, the solicitor should be able to advise you. (without probate or LofA, your brother will find it very hard to try to sell the house, and if he doesn't apply, you can, or can propose that the two of you do so jointly so you can both see all the paperwork etc. )

Wow! thank you for that reply. Yes I will try and do something on those lines. I have in fact been in touch with a solicitor and awaiting their reply Monday as to whether or not they can help and take their percentage out of the sale. Fantastic reply again

clivenick

clivenick said:

TBagpuss said:

Before you go too far you might want to check on the land registry who owns the house - if your brother was living with your dad for a while, and caring for him, is it possible that dad may have added him to the deeds, in which case the house may (depending how they own it) pass dorectly to him annd won't form part of your dad's estate. 

If there is a will, then probate may not yet have been granted - you can I think set up a rolling search so you are notified if anyone does apply, and if there is no will you could apply for letters of administration yourself. Short term however you may want to write to him to say you are very sad that you were not told of your dad's death, and to say, explicitly, that if he dies intestate you wish to apply jointly with your brother to administer the estate, and if not, you would wish to see a copy of the will as you believe that you are a beneficiary. Keep a copy of the letter, and proof of posting, and talk to your solicitor about the next steps. 

I think you can enter a caveat to stop probate or letters of administration being granted to someone other that yourself, while you look into your claim - again, the solicitor should be able to advise you. (without probate or LofA, your brother will find it very hard to try to sell the house, and if he doesn't apply, you can, or can propose that the two of you do so jointly so you can both see all the paperwork etc. )

Wow! thank you for that reply. Yes I will try and do something on those lines. I have in fact been in touch with a solicitor and awaiting their reply Monday as to whether or not they can help and take their percentage out of the sale. Fantastic reply again

Hello again. I have just downloaded the title deeds and they state my Father and his dead Wife own the property and I have been on the Gov website to stop the Probate and inform me when and if its applied for. The internet is so good nowadays for information. Thank you again my friend, any other information you can provide will be greatfully received

Flugelhorn

That is good - so at least there has been no change to the land registry, also good that you will be informed if probate / LOA is applied for. 

clivenick

Flugelhorn said:

clivenick said:

Flugelhorn said:

 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 

Thank you, So what if he doesn't want to tell me anything, I have been in touch with a solicitor who is finding out whether or not he can take on the case and get paid from the sale. Who does sort out the probate and how do I find out. I am computer literate and can do online searches which I am in the middle of i just go round in circles at the moment.

I think seeing a solicitor is a good idea - at the very least he could write to brother to get info about what is going on. 
Re "sorting it out":
Probate is applied for when someone leaves a will - in this case the executor of the will applies for the probate grant and swears and oath to administer the estate
Letters of administration are applied for if there is no will, there is a specific order or people who can apply for LOA  - if no spouse, then child comes next - they have to state on the forms any other relatives in the family

TBH - he may not be applying for anything and you may have a bit of a struggle on your hands, he may stay living in the house and do nothing about reregistering it or selling it - just change the names on the utilities and that is it - that is where you need the legal advice

one thing it may be worth doing is check who actually owns the property now - you can download the title from the Land Registry for £3 - it is possible that it was put in your brother's name jointly in which case he now owns  or maybe there was a huge equity release mortgage, (which will need paying off etc ) - https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Hello. I have just paid the land registry and he doesn't own the property only Father and his decease wife and also I been on the Gov website to notify me of any probate etc. Thank you for your help

AnotherJoe

clivenick said:

Flugelhorn said:

clivenick said:

Flugelhorn said:

 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 

Thank you, So what if he doesn't want to tell me anything, I have been in touch with a solicitor who is finding out whether or not he can take on the case and get paid from the sale. Who does sort out the probate and how do I find out. I am computer literate and can do online searches which I am in the middle of i just go round in circles at the moment.

I think seeing a solicitor is a good idea - at the very least he could write to brother to get info about what is going on. 
Re "sorting it out":
Probate is applied for when someone leaves a will - in this case the executor of the will applies for the probate grant and swears and oath to administer the estate
Letters of administration are applied for if there is no will, there is a specific order or people who can apply for LOA  - if no spouse, then child comes next - they have to state on the forms any other relatives in the family

TBH - he may not be applying for anything and you may have a bit of a struggle on your hands, he may stay living in the house and do nothing about reregistering it or selling it - just change the names on the utilities and that is it - that is where you need the legal advice

one thing it may be worth doing is check who actually owns the property now - you can download the title from the Land Registry for £3 - it is possible that it was put in your brother's name jointly in which case he now owns  or maybe there was a huge equity release mortgage, (which will need paying off etc ) - https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Hello. I have just paid the land registry and he doesn't own the property only Father and his decease wife and also I been on the Gov website to notify me of any probate etc. Thank you for your help

You can also sign up on the LR (its free) to get an email alert if there are any proposed changes to the title, so that will give you warning of some possibly underhand dealings as well.

carefullycautious

The lockdown has probably done you a favour in that it has delayed probate and there has been a backlog for some time. Were you in touch with your father?
Also make sure you check if your father had any money in bank accounts. We were told that some banks were giving out substantial amounts in cash to beneficiaries due to the delays in probate being granted and this was in 2018.