Next of kin order of preference?

mmoriarty

A family member has recently deceased leaving no will and significant assets. In the event of no will being left, would a niece of the deceased who had regular contact be given preference over an estranged sibling of several decades? 

Thanks for any help and assistance that can be provided.

Daniel54

Intestate estates are subject to clear legal rules. Google is your 10 second friend

The quick answer to your question is that the law does not distinguish between the deserving and undeserving

That is why people make wills.

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

p00hsticks

mmoriarty said:

A family member has recently deceased leaving no will and significant assets. In the event of no will being left, would a niece of the deceased who had regular contact be given preference over an estranged sibling of several decades? 

Thanks for any help and assistance that can be provided.

Are you referring to preference in terms of administering the estate or in inheritance ?

As Daniel54 has said, there are strict intestacy rules that must be followed and, assuming that

a) we are in England or Wales

b) the niece is not the child of the estranged sibling and

c) there are no living direct descendants, living parents or other siblings, nieces and nephews  of the deceased

then the estate should be divided equally between the sibling and niece.

However, the sibling has priority over the niece in terms of applying for letters of administration to deal with the estate

https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/who-can-apply

elsien

In terms of your thread title, next of kin has no legal meaning either before or after death. 

Martin_the_Unjust

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

gozaimasu

How does it work if a Scottish person dies in England? English rules apply? Or does that depend on whether or not the person lives in England?

RAS

Where are the assets?

Keep_pedalling

gozaimasu said:

How does it work if a Scottish person dies in England? English rules apply? Or does that depend on whether or not the person lives in England?

Their estate will be handled under English law. Place of residence, not place of birth is what matters.

If I was the niece I would not get involved, she inherits nothing and the deceased was one of those many irresponsible people who could not be arsed to make a will.

Malthusian

Keep_pedalling said:

If I was the niece I would not get involved, she inherits nothing and the deceased was one of those many irresponsible people who could not be arsed to make a will.

If p00hsticks' assumptions are correct, this is not. Siblings inherit equally, the niece inherits in place of the deceased sibling, so the sibling and niece get equal shares.

The niece inherits nothing if they are the child of the estranged sibling (in which case their parent is ahead in the queue and they will have to hope to receive the funds in their turn when their parent dies).

We can't yet rule out from the little the OP has posted whether there are living direct descendants or another circumstance that would cut one or both of them out.

TBagpuss

mmoriarty said:

A family member has recently deceased leaving no will and significant assets. In the event of no will being left, would a niece of the deceased who had regular contact be given preference over an estranged sibling of several decades? 

Thanks for any help and assistance that can be provided.

The intestacy rules are based on your blood relationship to the deceased, not to how close you were in terms of visits etc.

So, assuming that they were unmarried / widowed, their estate would be shared equally between their children, if any (nd if any child had died before they didn't, that child's share would go to their children)

If there are no children, then the estate would be divided equally between their deceased siblings, so estranged sibling could get a share, and niece's parent would get a share. If niece's parent is dead, then their share would be divided between their children, so if niece is an only child, she would get the whole of her parent's share (i.e.  the same amount as the estranged sibling) if she has siblings, they would get equal shares so would each individually get less that the estranged sibling.
If niece went beyond just having contact, and had been financially dependent on her aunt/uncle, she might be entitled to make a claim under the inheritance acct, but it doesn't sound as though that is the case.

If the deceased had children of their own, then neither the niece or the deceased's sibling gets anything, and if niece's parent is alive then niece gets nothing.

Flugelhorn

@mmoriarty - what has happened? who is adminstering the estate?