Deserters estate question

ryan7

My grandfather was a deserter. He left my grandmother and their two children in the mid 50's never to be seen again.
I have managed to track him down this past year. He died in 1989 (republic or ireland), leaving behind a widow despite never divorcing my grandmother.
His wife died 6 years ago leaving a property behind. I believe this was left to her nieces/nephews as they had no children.
My Question is, should my grandfather's children  have been the rightful beneficiaries and if not, able to challenge it?

Thrugelmir

ryan7 said:

My Question is, should my grandfather's children  have been the rightful beneficiaries and if not, able to challenge it?

On what basis were they the rightful beneficiaries of the estate? People can bequeath their estate to whoever they wish. 

Malthusian

I know very little about Irish law, but if he made a Will naming his "new wife", I suspect she would still have inherited his estate and the bigamous nature of their marriage would be irrelevant.

And even if it should not have passed to her, it was over 30 years ago. The chances of his grandfather's children getting their hands on the nieces' / nephews' money are almost certainly nil. Time to move on.

TBagpuss

IF he left a will , then no, his children would not have been entitled to anything - the will would have been valid to leave his estate to his 'wife' even if she was not legally his wife.

If he left no will, then under intestacy, your grandmother would have inherited or if she died before him,  the children would have inherited but  his widow would have been able to make a claim , under the inheritance act  (a person who entered into a void marriage in good faith believing it to be valid, is classed a 'spouse' for the purpose of being able to claim)

And of course if the house was in the joint names of himself and he second 'wife' then it may well have passed to her by survivorship regardless of the status of their marriage

This is under English law, can't speak as to the law in the republic of Ireland.

But either way, it's ancient history now. It's also possible that there was a divorce which  you are not aware of. 

Malthusian

But either way, it's ancient history now. It's also possible that there was a divorce which  you are not aware of. 

I was thinking this as well. If he petitioned the Irish courts for a divorce in the 60s and claimed he had no idea where his wife could be contacted, it's very possible that it would have been granted. If he did the record of that divorce would be practically impossible to find today.

Based on the limited information available, it does seem more likely that the grandfather simply pretended it never happened, rather than go to the expense and bother of getting the Irish courts to release him from a legal arrangement that had no impact on him.

The fact that the OP can't actually know for certain that the marriage was bigamous emphasises why there is no prospect of getting money off the nieces and nephews.

theoretica

Any claim would have been in 1989, not on the more recent death.  I imagine Ireland will have a time limit on claims against an estate and it will be long past.

ryan7

Thanks for the feedback.
It was definitely a bigamist marriage.
As someone mentioned, my take on it was that his will and testament would have been passed to his bigamist wife and she would have left her assets to whoever if she wanted to.
There are other layers to my questioning. I really have no interest in challenging any will but was curious nonetheless.
If there are any lawyers reading this then I'd appreciate their two cents worth.

lincroft1710

Your grandfather died, his "believed bigamous wife" presumably inherited his estate. Upon her death, her nieces/nephews presumably inherited her estate. The "property" may have been owned by the "BBW" (inheritance from a blood relative or owned before meeting grandfather). But after 32 years..........



I don't know if this forum is read by any lawyers from the ROI who specialise in inheritance.