No will and no blood relatives makes things difficult for in laws and friends.

Bostonerimus1

Just a heads up to people that you really should have a simple will in place whatever your circumstances, but this is particularly important if you are an only child and have no surviving blood relatives. In that case without a will it becomes difficult for in-laws or friends to organize the funeral and the estate passes to the Crown.

Keep_pedalling

I think you are somewhat confused here. An expression of wishes does not prevent an interstate estate with no qualifying beneficiaries going to the crown only a will will do that.

Bostonerimus1

Keep_pedalling said:

I think you are somewhat confused here. An expression of wishes does not prevent an interstate estate with no qualifying beneficiaries going to the crown only a will will do that.

I was referring to a will when I used the phrase "expression of wishes", but I'll edit the post to be more clear.

Misha96

It is rare for someone not to have any relatives eligible to inherit under intestacy law. It requires only a cousin in the first degree. That could be the great-grandchild of  a first cousin. You are right, of course. Every adult ought to make a will.

Bostonerimus1

Misha96 said:

It is rare for someone not to have any relatives eligible to inherit under intestacy law. It requires only a cousin in the first degree. That could be the great-grandchild of  a first cousin. You are right, of course. Every adult ought to make a will.

I'm in a situation where my brother married an only child who's parents were also only children. My brother and sister-in-law had no children. My brother died a few years ago and my sister-in-law just passed without a will. I encouraged her to organize a will, but she was quite reclusive and obviously didn't follow my advice. I and her other in-laws want to make sure she gets something more than a public health funeral and that her ashes are buried with her husband's (ie my brother). I've talked to the hospital where she died and I think we will be ok to organize something, but as you point out it's an unusual situation and the system isn't well set up to deal with it as I don't qualify as next of kin. But the larger point is that everyone should have a will and an executor to avoid the many more common difficulties that can arise.

elsien

Maybe some people simply don't care enough to make a will. They'll be dead. They have no family to worry about so if they have no strong feelings about where the money should go then it may not seem worth the money or effort. 
Would organising the funeral not simply request the funeral director to send the invoice directly to the bank?

Bostonerimus1

elsien said:

Maybe some people simply don't care enough to make a will. They'll be dead. They have no family to worry about so if they have no strong feelings about where the money should go then it may not seem worth the money or effort. 
Would organising the funeral not simply request the funeral director to send the invoice directly to the bank?

That's basically what we are doing. We've spoken to the hospital and a funeral director. However, we are not the "next of kin" so I expect some head scratching at some point. We are pretty sure there's no will, but we haven't been able to contact anyone about looking for it in my sister-in-laws home. I suppose someone from the local authority will do that eventually. We have left messages with my sister-in-law's social worker, but no reply yet.

KxMx

I'd be very surprised if the funeral director hasn't come across your situation before. 

Certainly if it looked like there were no estate funds and the funeral cost would fall on the local authority, I'm confident they would be quite happy for an "in law" to take on the cost. 

Bostonerimus1

KxMx said:

I'd be very surprised if the funeral director hasn't come across your situation before. 

Certainly if it looked like there were no estate funds and the funeral cost would fall on the local authority, I'm confident they would be quite happy for an "in law" to take on the cost. 

Yes, we aren't having any issues with the funeral so far. We have a call scheduled with the funeral director first thing next week and will go over payment options. He might send something to the bank or local authority and if not we'll just pay. I managed to talk to someone at the local authority and they use a company to look for any blood relatives and are waiting for the results of that which could be many weeks. I told them who my in-law's social worker was and her in home care people so that should help. I'm pretty sure the estate will be "bona vacantia", but I asked if there's any way to get things that are of sentimental value like photos, they didn't know. 

So we will get the funeral done, scatter the ashes and then wait.

RAS

Are you a  blood relative? Are there any living people descended from the deceased's grandparents?

Bostonerimus1

RAS said:

Are you a  blood relative? Are there any living people descended from the deceased's grandparents?

I'm an "in-law". We have no knowledge of any blood relatives and if they do exist they will be overseas because her parents were WWII refugees, but a genealogical research company has been employed by the Local Authority to look for any.