Dealing with an intestacy

lincroft1710

Exactly how much is the estate worth?

Rgee

Hi all,

Thanks for your advice so far.

The funeral has already been paid for with her funds - so that's not an issue.  In terms of other debts, there is not much.  There will be utility bills to finalise and I have had to pay for the will search and entry into The Gazette to see if there are any other creditors.

Regarding the beneficiaries, I have taken into account that children will only inherit if their blood relative parent is deceased.   The difficulty will be/is getting contact details for the living, younger beneficiaries. 

One of my cousins (who is also a first cousin once removed) has been assisting me but they are very concerned about having legal issues should one of the other beneficiaries call 'foul' - and for this reason they have even cautioned the landlord about being in the house due to the presence of the £100 worth of household contents!!
I'm less concerned but don't want to risk overstepping any mark before I have been granted probate.

The landlord is happy to keep the rental going  - which saves the expense of having all the house contents removed and placed into a storage facility pending the grant of probate.

@RAS - yes,the uncle is a full blood uncle (and actually younger than the deceased - such is the size of the more distant family!!)  

I have secured the photos and documents.  

Rgee

lincroft1710 said:

Exactly how much is the estate worth?

It's about £70k.

Bostonerimus1

Rgee said:

@Keep_pedalling There look to be around 33 of us beneficiaries (most of whom she didn't know) - pending confirmation that they're all still alive - otherwise it could be more...  Her chattels consist of about £700 of jewellery and £100 for house contents.  The concern is that one of the beneficiaries might object to things being done informally.

You mentioned an uncle as her closest next of kin. The biggest single beneficiaries will be living aunts and uncles and the children of dead aunts and uncles will get smaller shares. Have you considered just getting a solicitor to do this for you. It will cost some money, but take a lot of worry and pressure from you. Selling everything and dealing with the estate will take many months and a solicitor knows what to do and how to do it.

Sea_Shell

Rgee said:

lincroft1710 said:

Exactly how much is the estate worth?

It's about £70k.

£70k between 33 beneficiaries.

 Just over £2100 each.

RAS

Sea_Shell said:

Rgee said:

lincroft1710 said:

Exactly how much is the estate worth?

It's about £70k.

£70k between 33 beneficiaries.

 Just over £2100 each.

No, the surviving sibling/uncle gets a full share of the estate. The shares of any other siblings are divided depending on how many children they had. So could be a full share or a 1/12th share. For example.

Sea_Shell

RAS said:

Sea_Shell said:

Rgee said:

lincroft1710 said:

Exactly how much is the estate worth?

It's about £70k.

£70k between 33 beneficiaries.

 Just over £2100 each.

No, the surviving sibling/uncle gets a full share of the estate. The shares of any other siblings are divided depending on how many children they had. So could be a full share or a 1/12th share. For example.

I should have said "on average" 😉

silvercar

Think about how much you individually are going to get, and whether it is worth the hassle.

Rgee

silvercar said:

Think about how much you individually are going to get, and whether it is worth the hassle.

Hi @Silvercar, it's not about the money.  I was very close to the deceased. 

A few months before she passed, told me what she wanted to do with her estate.  At the time I thought it was crass to ask to ask her to confirm that she had put it in her will...  On reflection I think she thought I could just deal with things as she wished - not realising that it would leave me dealing with the rules of intestacy...
Anyway things are the way they are.

I will be asking a solicitor about whether I can dispose of her household effects without yet having probate.
From my experience with solicitiors when my parents passed, I can see them turning a small estate into a debt that will need to be settled - so I am going to do the best I can for all the beneficiaries.