parents are mortgage free, married 61 years, dad died last week, house is in his name

snickpan

Will mum be ok?

EDIT:  sorry, a bit vague - will she be ok for somewhere to live, not will she be ok if she rings an estate agent 

maman

Sorry for your loss. 

Did your dad leave a will? 🤔 

Keep_pedalling

She will certainly not be loosing her home. If there was no will then the rules of intestacy apply. This would the first £322k goes to your mother and she also gets 50%  of the rest. The remaining estate is split between his children.

If the house is worth more than £322k the children can complete a deed of variation give her full ownership of the matrimonial home.

Because he owned it solely you are going to need probate (confirmation in  if they live in Scotland).

This thread would be better in the deaths, funerals and probate board and I have asked for it to be moved there.

p00hsticks

Sorry for your loss also

As in mamans post, do you know if he left a will and if so what it said ?
If he didn't how much do you think his estate is worth (roughly) ?

snickpan

I don't think values come into it just yet, it's more about whether she can keep the home if it's not in her name.  I'm getting more confident she's secure, just wondering what the first step is - the will doesn't mention the home specifically, should I contact land registry first/

Flugelhorn

snickpan said:

I don't think values come into it just yet, it's more about whether she can keep the home if it's not in her name.  I'm getting more confident she's secure, just wondering what the first step is - the will doesn't mention the home specifically, should I contact land registry first/

TBH no-one needs to do anything at present - just sort out everything else and you can look at this later. If Dad didn't leave a will then certainly rules of intestacy are followed and advice would depend on the value of his  estate

ETA I see he left a will - the executor is the one who has to get probate to administer the estate - if the exec is mum you can certainly help her with all the paperwork etc - it is not difficult and you probably don't need a solicitor

p00hsticks

snickpan said:

I don't think values come into it just yet, it's more about whether she can keep the home if it's not in her name.  I'm getting more confident she's secure, just wondering what the first step is - the will doesn't mention the home specifically, should I contact land registry first/

I asked because the value would come into it if your father had not left a will, as the intestacy rules (at least in England) would then decide how the estate is split between spouse and children depending on how much it was worth. 

But your post above now implies that he did leave a will, so assuming that he left everything to your mother there will be no problem with the ownership of the house. 

I don't believe you would be able to actually transfer the property into her name until whoever is named as executor has obtained probate, which will be some way down the road. 

Keep_pedalling

snickpan said:

I don't think values come into it just yet, it's more about whether she can keep the home if it's not in her name.  I'm getting more confident she's secure, just wondering what the first step is - the will doesn't mention the home specifically, should I contact land registry first/

Has he left the bulk of his estate to your mother?

No point in contacting the LR at this stage, you will need probate before the LR can be changed.