Am I entitled to anything?

Brothertse2008

My father died about 10yr ago.  His wife (not my mum) re-married 12 month later.  The house the owned was almost bought outright.

Now, he always said he wanted the house to goto his kids.  Obviously she has re-married so I know she gets to decide.

However, I have just checked the land registry and found out that my dads name is still on the title deeds.

Is there anything I can do ?

SiliconChip

Did he leave a Will and if so what did it say?

Keep_pedalling

Did he make a will? If you want to leave something to someone that is really the only way to make sure it happens.

If no will, or he failed to make a new one after getting married then everything passes by the laws of intestacy and the bulk, if not all his estate would have past to his wife.  

Brothertse2008

no will as far as i know.  She has remarried but surey she forfeits any rights now. The title deeds has my dads name on stil and hers

DullGreyGuy

Brothertse2008 said:

no will as far as i know.  She has remarried but surey she forfeits any rights now. The title deeds has my dads name on stil and hers

No, remarriage doesnt forfeit anything. Rules of intestate and most wills are a single point in time thing. Once something passes to a person it's up to them what they do with it. 

If a will does exist it can leave more complex instructions like saying the property goes into a trust, the spouse gets use of the house until certain events happen (their death, remarriage etc) and then the property passes to kids or a charity or whatever. 

You say there was no will and so it'd become his spouses to do with as they please for all time and then subject to their own will upon their passing. You dont say when probate was granted to know how long it's been since, some are slow at updating the land registry and the land registry itself often has delays. 

Brothertse2008

Its my understanding that definitly no will.  He died 10yr ago this Nov

Sea_Shell

Brothertse2008 said:

My father died about 10yr ago.  His wife (not my mum) re-married 12 month later.  The house the owned was almost bought outright.

Now, he always said he wanted the house to goto his kids.  Obviously she has re-married so I know she gets to decide.

However, I have just checked the land registry and found out that my dads name is still on the title deeds.

Is there anything I can do ?

Sadly, the only way to ensure this happened was for him to have made a will stating as such.

Unfortunately (for you), his wife inherited everything and so she can leave it to whoever she wants, and if she doesn't make a will, this will be her new husband, by default.

Nothing you can do in hindsight, unless she agrees to make a will with you as a beneficiary (in part).   Were you close?   Was she "like a mum" to you?

Would she be open to a discussion about this at all?  Did she know of your Dad's verbal wishes?  Her new husband may have other ideas and might dissuade her from considering you.

Only you know your family dynamics.

elsien

Brothertse2008 said:

no will as far as i know.  She has remarried but surey she forfeits any rights now. The title deeds has my dads name on stil and hers

It depends how the house was owned. If they owned it as joint tenants, then your dad’s half of the house would automatically go to her on death and no will would have been needed.
In which case it may be that she just hasn’t got round to changing the information on the land registry.

Saying he wanted the house to go to his children is meaningless if he didn’t take any steps to actually make sure that happened. 

I suspect there is very little you can do. You weren’t financially dependent on him and if he died intestate his wife would take priority unless his assets were over the threshold. 

The fact that she has remarried is irrelevant in law although it may be what is partly underlying your question. 

swingaloo

After 10 years the wife is highly unlikely to want a discussion about the house now.

badmemory

Not updating the land registry is irrelevant.  My mother inherited outright due to the way the house was owned.  13 years after his death it was discovered it was the one thing no-one had thought to sort.  All the solicitors needed was a copy of his death certificate.

Keep_pedalling

Might be worth checking the probate records to see if anyone applied for letters of administration. If no one did no transfer or sale of the property can happen.

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/help