Help My Mum was seperated by still married and died without a will

Lincs1sparky

Hi,

My mum recently passed away without being able to verify her will. She was separated but still married. They both had separate houses, bank accounts etc but never got round to divorcing despite being separated for 15 years. My mum didn't want anything going to her husband or his family. Will everything automatically go her husband? The value of her estate is very small, less than 20k. Her husband has Alzheimer's and would be unable to carry out probate himself, but I feel like I would be doing my mum disservice to do all the work of selling the property etc just for it to go his family against her wishes. Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

p00hsticks

Was it a legal separation or did they just move apart ?

TonyMMM

Was this a formal, legal separation ?

Keep_pedalling

Surely her estate will be far more than £20k if she owned a house?

74jax

Is there a reason in all the years she didn't write a Will? If she had strong wishes then it seems odd that she didn't do anything about it? That isn't to sound harsh, just to see if it was only recently she chose this. It are there emails to solicitors trying to arrange legal separation /divorce etc? 

As he has alzhimers, it won't be as simple as him declaring he doesn't want the money, as he may need it for care and social services may be carrying out financial assessments each year on him already.

You don't have to sort her estate if you don't want to, so don't feel you need to just because her husband doesn't have capacity, especially if it will make you feel as though you are going against her wishes. 

Willis75

Keep_pedalling said:

Surely her estate will be far more than £20k if she owned a house?

Property may be heavily mortgaged plus any outstanding debts to be paid?

Flugelhorn

The first person with the right to administer the estate would be her husband if they were still married - maybe someone is dealing with his affairs / has POA - would they do all the work instead?

Keep_pedalling

Flugelhorn said:

The first person with the right to administer the estate would be her husband if they were still married - maybe someone is dealing with his affairs / has POA - would they do all the work instead?

Having LPA or EPA in place only covers the donors affairs it would not provide authority to handle the estate of a 3rd party, so the most appropriate person in the circumstances is the OP.

Who so many adults fail to make wills is beyond me, especially as it is is the people who need them most (unmarried couples, separated couples, second marriage couples) who are the least likely to make them.

macman

Flugelhorn said:

The first person with the right to administer the estate would be her husband if they were still married - maybe someone is dealing with his affairs / has POA - would they do all the work instead?

There is a valid will, so the executor named in the will is the one in charge. OP needs to clarify who that is; could be husband, OP, solicitor etc.
If the OP is the executor, they can relinquish it if they wish, but that will not alter the situation, which is that the husband will inherit the estate.

p00hsticks

macman said:

Flugelhorn said:

The first person with the right to administer the estate would be her husband if they were still married - maybe someone is dealing with his affairs / has POA - would they do all the work instead?

There is a valid will,

Is there ? The OP says that "My mum recently passed away without being able to verify her will. " I'm not sure exactly what is meant by that, but I don't think from the info w have so far that we can assume that there is a valid will.

elsien

The thread title says mum died without a will. OP needs to clarify. 

But regardless of what OP thinks mum’s wishes would have been, whoever administers the estate must follow the intestacy rules in the absence of a valid will.