Advice MIL died without leaving a will 6 March at 6:53PM in Deaths, funerals & probate 104 replies 12.3K views

paul2louise

Sorry but I know this will have been asked 100s of times but can I ask anyway. 
My MIL died 3 years ago just before the covid outbreak but she never made a will. She left 2 children my husband and his sister. We have a 12 year old boy. His sister has 4 grown up children. The estate is worth over 200k not sure of the exact amount. His sister has been sorting the estate for 3 years and i understand that things have got delayed with covid. 
At no point had she mentioned what she wanted as an outcome. She has now suggested that her, my OH and the 5 grandchildren be treated almost equally. She says that their mum wanted the grandchildren to get an equal amount each. My OH says he never discussed money like that with his mum and she never expressed any specific wishes.
I presumed without a Will that the estate would get split 50/50 to the son and daughter and then its up to them to decide how they share their half with their children.
I ask this because he doesnt want to say something and it get awkward. Do we need legal advice. Thank you. 

Keep_pedalling

You are correct the grand children inherit nothing under intestacy rules it is a 50/50 split between the two siblings.

Your husband can choose to give up some of his share if he wishes otherwise he should get his full share.

allconnected

Any arrangement to alter the distribution under the intestacy ruled must be entered into within two years of the death.

so its too late for your husbands sister to achieve what she wants to do this way. She must distribute the assets 50:50 and it’s up to your husband if he wishes to give any of his inheritance away as a gift.

and even with Covid, three years is ridiculous. He really should consider pushing for this to be settled.

Allconnected.

tacpot12

Your husband needn't be sensitive about this. It is quite alright to ask what it happening, but he should also ask whether his sister needs any help with the administration.

He should let her know if he wants to redirect his share, as they will need a Deed of Variation. If she wants to receive her share directly, he should pay for the Deed. If she wants to redirect her share, then they should split the cost.

paul2louise

Keep_pedalling said:

You are correct the grand children inherit nothing under intestacy rules it is a 50/50 split between the two siblings.

Your husband can choose to give up some of his share if he wishes otherwise he should get his full share.

thank you x

elsien

tacpot12 said:

Your husband needn't be sensitive about this. It is quite alright to ask what it happening, but he should also ask whether his sister needs any help with the administration.

He should let her know if he wants to redirect his share, as they will need a Deed of Variation. If she wants to receive her share directly, he should pay for the Deed. If she wants to redirect her share, then they should split the cost.

Too late, as allconnected has already said. 

RAS

Far too late to do a DOV. 

If she'd got probate quickly and discussed it two years ago, she might have had a chance.

Has she actually got probate yet?

paul2louise

RAS said:

Far too late to do a DOV. 

If she'd got probate quickly and discussed it two years ago, she might have had a chance.

Has she actually got probate yet?

no idea what she has been doing, its all been messed around. My OH wants to retire and we wanted to get our bathroom sorted but we have been waiting for it to get sorted. I dont pester my OH as its his family but i could see he was quite upset when she suggested that she wanted to give most of the money he is entitled to, to her grown up kids. 

elsien

Nothing to stop her from gifting her share between the children if that’s what she wants to do. 

paul2louise

this is what she sent to my OH
"i think mum would be happy if all the grandchildren were treated equally and so are you and me. If we just did a 50/50 split then your son would benefit so much more than any of the others and mum would turn in her grave if that happened. "

It really upset him. i really appreciate all your help xxx

Norman_Castle

paul2louise said:

this is what she sent to my OH
"i think mum would be happy if all the grandchildren were treated equally and so are you and me. If we just did a 50/50 split then your son would benefit so much more than any of the others and mum would turn in her grave if that happened. "

She may "turn in her grave" if it was split any way other than by law. It may have been why she failed to leave a will as wanted it split equally between her two children and expected that to happen.

Its a difficult situation for your husband, why has she been the only one dealing with the estate? He needs to state his case, the two year rule above will help him. His sister is being unfair by putting him in this situation.