Son died without having a chance to make a Will

columbo1963

My son passed away in hospital in March during lockdown.  His death was unexpected as he was responding well to treatment,  His doctors didn't even tell him to get his affairs in order.  The hospital couldn't arrange any legal assistance so that he could make a Will.  He decided instead to record his wishes using a voice recorder on an android phone.  He wanted his property and finances to be divided equally between his partner and fiance of 14 years and myself.  I'm a pensioner and his fiance is not in employment so professional legal advice is not an option.  According to the probate law his estate must be divided equally between the parents where the deceased has no children.  My husband left us when my son was 8 and we haven't seen or heard from him in over 30 years!  I don't know where he is and I don't know anyone who knows him.  Will the probate service try to locate my husband or do I have to do find him?   It wasn't a happy marriage and the thought of speaking to him frightens me.  Will probate be held up until I locate him?  What if I can't find him?  Also, I feel morally obligated to carry out my son's wishes.  What can I do?  He loved his fiance very much, he just never envisaged having so little time to organise his affairs and that there would be a coronoavirus pandemic at the same time. 

pphillips

No,  the probate won't be held up. Unless you are going to hire a solicitor, you will have to contact your ex husband. If you can't find him you may need to hire a professional or take out insurance. No one has to keep their inheritance, they can give it away or use a deed of variation to alter the intestacy rules.

Keep_pedalling

You are going to have to trace him if you are going to administer his estate. The first thing I would do is a search the death records to see if he is still alive.

This is going to be really painful for his partner who is not entitled to inherit anything unless you do a deed of variation.

ames1010

Keep_pedalling said:

You are going to have to trace him if you are going to administer his estate. The first thing I would do is a search the death records to see if he is still alive.

This is going to be really painful for his partner who is not entitled to inherit anything unless you do a deed of variation.

Yes good idea, search death records first.
Not sure if the above could be an option after exhausting all other options? Would be best to utilise the free 30 mins legal advice if the death search doesn’t come up with results for your ex husband. 

Flugelhorn

agree re death records - I can give you some help as to where to look if you aren't sure.

MobileSaver

columbo1963 said:

Will probate be held up until I locate him?  What if I can't find him?  Also, I feel morally obligated to carry out my son's wishes.  What can I do? 

Probate will not be held up, you can distribute half the estate to whoever and simply put the other half in an account for your ex until you find him.

The most you can do now is make your best efforts to track down the ex and if you feel morally obligated split your half of the estate with your son's fiancée. You do not have to personally speak to the ex, once you have tracked him down a solicitor can send a letter asking him what he wants to do with his half of the estate without any direct contact being needed by you.

Dox

Keep_pedalling said:

This is going to be really painful for his partner who is not entitled to inherit anything unless you do a deed of variation.

Not necessarily.

The partner wasn't working, so by definition must have been wholly or partly financially dependent on OP's son, and they'd been together for 14 years. OP, there's a good summary of the relevant bit of law at https://amdsolicitors.com/my-partner-died-without-a-will-am-i-entitled-to-their-estate/

xylophone

You might first of all obtain letters of administration so that you have control of the estate.

You would then be able to gain access to his bank account(s)/property and have the right to deal with them.

You would then be able to use some of  his money to pay for expert legal advice (this would be an expense chargeable to the estate) to enable you  to to clarify matters.

getmore4less

Does the partner have knowledge of his finances? 
Was there a mortgage?
Are you sure the partner was not a joint owner of the property?

I would get the full picture of the estate before going looking for his dad.

Dox

xylophone said:

You might first of all obtain letters of administration so that you have control of the estate.

You would then be able to gain access to his bank account(s)/property and have the right to deal with them.

You would then be able to use some of  his money to pay for expert legal advice (this would be an expense chargeable to the estate) to enable you  to to clarify matters.

What would NOT be chargeable to the estate is any claim by the partner under the Inheritance Act 1975.

onwards&upwards

Maybe you could give a large chunk of your half to your son's fiancee?  After all, I'm sure you never expected to inherit from your son, a very very sad situation.  I'm sorry for your loss?