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

clivenick

AnotherJoe said:

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.

I have downloaded the Land registry notice of who owns the house but cannot see anywhere to register for any alerts

clivenick

carefullycautious said:

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.

I haven't a clue about any bank accounts or how to go about it(hence why I have asked for some help on here) as I wasn't in touch with my father for some years, and that was not through trying to rekindle our relationship. He was fed lies from his wife as she did not want me from an early age from when my adoptive Mother died when I was 7 years old. He remarried when I was 10. She did not want me around so had me put in care at around 13/14 years old. I was always in touch with my Father but I think that might have been a front. She was always having affairs and he new that but I was the bad one even when I married and had/have my own family. We think she was jealous of me and my happy life so she just fed him lies about me. They had to sell up one home as the street was up to lynching her for how she treated me. I should write a book lol

kensiko

clivenick said:

I have downloaded the Land registry notice of who owns the house but cannot see anywhere to register for any alerts

https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/propertyalert/

lisyloo

Banks give out a certain amount without probate, for example Barclays it’s £50k. I know this for a fact as I recently got almost £50k from Barclays, however your brother would have had to sign something to get the money. I’m not sure how you’d trace money TBH.
if your brother is happy to live in the house he might just do nothing at all.
good luck although I fear your brother might make a normal sale difficult.

clivenick

You definitely got the last bit right him making it hard for me. I am awaiting on a solicitor to contact me as I have no money to fight so they are seeing if they can take on my case and get paid from the sale. I have spoke through messenger telling him I was upset at him not telling me he had died, and to show me the will if there is one, if not I will pursue to claim my half as I am entitled to it regardless, his answer was a thumbs up

clivenick

Does anyone know if I can claim Legal Aid for the purpose of claiming Fathers estate as I am on Benefits and cannot afford a Solicitor.  As mentioned in my previous post my Step Brother and I are the only surviving people to claim and we haven't spoke for years. I have put in an online stop for Probate. I had a reply from my Step Brother and it was a thumbs up but that could mean anything.

ames1010

If you ring up citizens advice and tell them your circumstances - then they can advise about free legal aid. That’s what I did and I’ve had help from the law clinic at a university. 

elsien

This is the general criteria for legal aid:
https://www.gov.uk/legal-aid
I do not know how they assess what serious is - there is probably more specific information out there if you do a full search - however I suspect that as you already have a roof over your head then you will struggle to have legal aid agreed. The best way to find out is to discuss with a legal aid solicitor first.
Before pushing on full steam ahead, you also need to consider how much your share of the house may be worth, how quickly that will be eaten up by legal costs, and the small print of any deal you sign up to as to what you are liable to pay if for any reason you don't win, or your costs are so high that your share doesn't cover it. 
If there is a law centre in your area they may also be able to help. 
Don't under-estimate how costly these challenges can be. 
I would also suggest writing a proper letter to your step brother rather than going through facebook messenger and keep the tone neutral in asking what is going on and asking to be kept informed, rather than accusatory. Don't forget that he has lost his dad as well and people can react to grief in different ways. 

clivenick

Hi I am on the phone as I am answering you, nearly half an hour on hold. They must be really busy. I hope I can get some help from them, they are very good people, I have used them years previously and they done a grand job. Thanks

clivenick

ames1010 said:

If you ring up citizens advice and tell them your circumstances - then they can advise about free legal aid. That’s what I did and I’ve had help from the law clinic at a university. 

Hi I am on the phone as I am answering you, nearly half an hour on hold. They must be really busy. I hope I can get some help from them, they are very good people, I have used them years previously and they done a grand job. Thanks