Next of Kin - no Will?

what2do...

Hi
My ex husband died at the start of May. His closet friend asked him if he made and a will, he said he hadn't. We no longer had contact and he stopped contact with our children too We had 3 children together, all adult now, and a son with his girlfriend who I think would be over 18. They no longer lived together as ex had recently moved into a flat on his own We didn't find out about his death until a week after it happened when his friend was able to contact us. I contacted the hospital where he died but they could only tell me that info would need through the person they had contact with as "next of kin", I assumed this would be girlfriend. His friend let us know when he found out about the funeral which was 2 days before the cremation. We had planned to attend, along with ex's sister who also didn't know he'd died. The (ex) girlfriend made veiled threats/intimidation to ex's friend that we were not to attend. I didn't want any of us to be in such a hostile/violent situation so we stayed away. His son would be next of kin, but so would our 3 children. As it seems no will the whole issue of his estate and it being administered comes up. We will never see the ashes and it's possible she has already cleared any bank accounts and sold possessions, we don't know what to do. Any advice please?

Flugelhorn

there is no such thing as NoK legally - only the fact that he must have given the hospital her details etc. As far as inheritance is concerned - all his children would inherit legally and are the only ones who can apply for letters of administration - each one is equally entitled to do this

Brie

I would suggest that without a will the ex girlfriend is not entitled to anything though obviously she may have access to his accounts, house, credit cards etc the way couples do when they are together.  

You say you are his ex so I assume this means you are no longer married so would any of your children be willing to take on sorting the estate (possibly with your assistance)?  

Think to watch out for is is there were any life assurance or other such policies where he may have assigned someone other than any of his children as beneficiaries.  This may be the ex GF, you, his best mate.

Sorry for your loss, however distant a relationship has become there can still be a lot of emotions to deal with.

RAS

Who registered the death? That person or their representative will find it easiest to administer any estate.

Since you know the date and place of death then it would be easy for one of your children to get a copy.

Do bear in mind that:

any joint accounts GF has with your ex are now that of the sole survivor and not part of probate
it's not impossible that his estate is minimal after the funeral costs are paid, or perhaps insolvent. In which case intermeddling would be unwise.

Marcon

what2do... said:

Hi
My ex husband died at the start of May. His closet friend asked him if he made and a will, he said he hadn't. We no longer had contact and he stopped contact with our children too We had 3 children together, all adult now, and a son with his girlfriend who I think would be over 18. They no longer lived together as ex had recently moved into a flat on his own We didn't find out about his death until a week after it happened when his friend was able to contact us. I contacted the hospital where he died but they could only tell me that info would need through the person they had contact with as "next of kin", I assumed this would be girlfriend. His friend let us know when he found out about the funeral which was 2 days before the cremation. We had planned to attend, along with ex's sister who also didn't know he'd died. The (ex) girlfriend made veiled threats/intimidation to ex's friend that we were not to attend. I didn't want any of us to be in such a hostile/violent situation so we stayed away. His son would be next of kin, but so would our 3 children. As it seems no will the whole issue of his estate and it being administered comes up. We will never see the ashes and it's possible she has already cleared any bank accounts and sold possessions, we don't know what to do. Any advice please?

Yes: stay out of it.

What your ex told his best friend may or may not be true - or he might have got round to making a will immediately prior to his death. You can't know.

If he did indeed die intestate, you are not entitled to apply for letters of administration, and even though your children might be, how (realistically) are they going to actually administer an estate when the girlfriend has given an unfortunate demonstration of how she feels towards you. If the estate turns out to be insolvent, and they've already taken action to administer it (known as 'intermeddling'), they are on the hook to complete the job - which will be even more difficult than trying to administer a solvent estate in the teeth of opposition from the most recent partner.

Let the son your ex had with girlfriend apply for LOA if he's of age - and if he isn't, his mother can apply and act on his behalf (she can't apply in her own right, because unmarried partners can't apply for LOA).