If there is no Will, do you still need Probate

sammyjo1979

Hi, 
My FIL passed in 2007 and my MIL always stated he never had a Will. My husband and his mother have never had a good relationship and just kept telling my husband that his father never had a will and didn't have anything to leave him.  Now, my MIL and FIL were very comfortable and we are sure that my FIL was on the mortgage/deeds of the house.  We also know he had a pension etc.   If this was the case when he passed would it have had to have gone through probate? 
In June this year, we were contacted by a pension company stating that there was a pension that was unclaimed (they had been notified by DWP as my FIL would have be pensionable age this year).  This is when we actually found out that my FIL did have a Will as my MIL was refusing to give it to the company.  Fast forward to now, sadly my MIL passed in December and my husbands sister has advised my husband that their mother has written him and our two young children out of the Will.  His sister has also confirmed that their father did have a will and this is now with the solicitor.  The solicitor whom his sister will not give us the details of.  We are just confused as to why my FIL's estate didn't go to probate... any advise would be very much appreciated  

Brynsam

sammyjo1979 said:

Hi, 
My FIL passed in 2007 and my MIL always stated he never had a Will. My husband and his mother have never had a good relationship and just kept telling my husband that his father never had a will and didn't have anything to leave him.  Now, my MIL and FIL were very comfortable and we are sure that my FIL was on the mortgage/deeds of the house.  We also know he had a pension etc.   If this was the case when he passed would it have had to have gone through probate? 
In June this year, we were contacted by a pension company stating that there was a pension that was unclaimed (they had been notified by DWP as my FIL would have be pensionable age this year).  This is when we actually found out that my FIL did have a Will as my MIL was refusing to give it to the company.  Fast forward to now, sadly my MIL passed in December and my husbands sister has advised my husband that their mother has written him and our two young children out of the Will.  His sister has also confirmed that their father did have a will and this is now with the solicitor.  The solicitor whom his sister will not give us the details of.  We are just confused as to why my FIL's estate didn't go to probate... any advise would be very much appreciated  

There is no time limit for getting probate on an estate, and some estates (particularly insolvent ones) will never go to probate.

If your FIL was on the deeds of the house, it could well be that the house was jointly owned with his wife and thus passed to her automatically when he died. If bank/savings accounts were in joint names, those too would have automatically become hers. Pensions normally fall outside the estate (with some exceptions). So your MIL could have been telling the truth and there is no reason why she would have bothered with probate; many widows in her position wouldn't.

I'm not clear how the pension company knew there was a will simply on the basis that your MIL refused to give it to them. If the conversation was along the lines of 'Is there a will and may we have a copy?' the answer 'no' could have meant anything - but it looks as if your FIL did have a will, which may or may not go to probate now. If it does, it will appear here after probate has been granted and you can then download a copy of the will for £1.50 : https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate. Same thing applies to your MIL's will.

Keep_pedalling

If someone leaves their estate to a spouse probate will only be required if there are assets that cannot be released without it and it will not be required for the family home.

Flugelhorn

There is often nothing for children to inherit on the death of the first parent as usually all jointly owned, will only be different if the couple have taken specific action eg tenants in common for the property etc. Lots of people don't apply for probate when dealing with the estate of the first to die - only when the survivor dies. 
Only option as mentioned above is to get a copy of the will when it has gone to probate to check whether DH has indeed been excluded