Who does the estate go to?

sevenhills

A work friend has said that her husband is to get £1,000 from the estate of a distant relative.

Others are getting much more, the person is said to have died without a will.

From Heir Hunters and the like, I always thought that the closest relative is traced, then they get everything, divided between others if they have the same relation to the dead person.

How is an estate shared between heirs?

DavidT67

Depends on which country of the UK deceased resided in for starters.

Search for 'rules of intestacy' for country concerned.

theoretica

In the UK it gets more complicated if some of the relatives in the same relationship died before the intestate person and their share is further subdivided among their descendents.

 

Keep_pedalling

Hopefully the following example helps.

Joe dies intestate and has 3 siblings who died before him Sibling 1 had one child, who will inherit their parent’s 1/3rd share, sibling 2 had 2 children and they will inherit their parents 1/3rd share between them (so 1/6th each). Sibling 3’s 3 children end up with 1/9th each. 

sevenhills

Keep_pedalling said:

Hopefully the following example helps.

Joe dies intestate and has 3 siblings who died before him Sibling 1 had one child, who will inherit their parent’s 1/3rd share, sibling 2 had 2 children and they will inherit their parents 1/3rd share between them (so 1/6th each). Sibling 3’s 3 children end up with 1/9th each. 

That explains it, thanks.