Father died with no will, mother died but cut me out

Underachiever9

My father died in 2014 without a will. There was no discussion, my mother kept the house, assets etc.

My mother then died 2 years ago and had made a will shortly before and cut me out.

Watching Martin's programme last night, it seemed to hint that the lack of will of my father should have meant I inherited something?

House was worth over £500k

RAS

You need to know whether the house was a joint tenancy or tenants in common. £7 to the Land Registry (gov.uk not rip-off) will tell you.

If it is a joint tenancy then when dad died, mum became the sole tenant, so dad had nothing to leave except personal bank accounts, savings etc.

If it was tenants in common, dad owned half and the value of the house was much lower than now.

I think the intestacy allowance of £250k came in 2009, for widow's with children. So dad would need to have left quite a lot in personal bank accounts, savings, stocks etc for the value of his estate to exceed that.

Doesn't mean it's not worth checking but there's a bit to go through to work out the value of his estate in 2014.

bobster2

Just to explain the "allowance" that @RAS mentions…

In 2014 for a married couple - if one spouse died without a will then under intestacy rules the fist £250,000 of their estate should have gone to their spouse. Then the remaining estate should have been split 50% for the spouse and 50% for any children.

So if the value of everything your father owned was < £250,000 then it would have been appropriate for it all to go to your mother (assuming they were married).

However, also as @RAS mentions - if they owned the house as joint tenants then this would not even have been included in this value. It would have gone automatically to your mother.

Keep_pedalling

If your parents lived in Scotland the rules are somewhat different in that you cannot totally disinherit a child, so you would have a claim on movable assets (anything other than land, buildings and household items) for both your father’s and mother’s estates.

bootzey

Sorry can't help. Just wanted to say sorry for your loss and what you are now going through.

Do you have siblings?

Would they have been in a position to exert influence over your Mum?

LPA's in place in her final years?

Any proof that you Dad wanted you to at least have some.

Like I say, not much help. I'm in a similar type of situation.

Good luck

Silvertabby

Who did inherit? If siblings, any chance they will pass on a share to you?

elsien

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81896427#Comment_81896427

Being cut out doesn’t mean anyone has exerted influence or anything untoward has happened. I will not be in my father’s will due to family dynamics. It will probably all go to a sibling’s children. Sibling has not influenced the parent in any way - very simply, their money their choice.

And to be quite honest, if dad wanted to leave the OP some money then the way of doing that is to make a will. Any vague proof of wishes has no legal meaning in that context.

bootzey

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81896558#Comment_81896558

Well, it seems that your family have discussed things. I'm guessing that you and your siblings are doing ok in life and your siblings children will need and make sensible of whatever is bequeathed to them.

I on the other hand come from a family of judgemental, arrogant, self-righteous, gaslighting narcissists who influenced my uncle to cut me off. My brother's got £10K each and my 4 cousin's got £327K to share. Oxford University got the £10K I would've got. Then the whole family lied to me for 8 years until my Dad apologised about his brother on his death bed and my Mum confirmed it. Even then she was devastated that I finally knew.

The fact that someone leaves someone out of a will, regardless of the amounts involved is devastating. It means that someone is regarded as so low and so unworthy by their family that they are an insignificant nothing, a waste of space. It's suicide inducing.

Now my brothers are trying to do the same to my Mum and are so incredibly annoyed that I have been bequeathed a 3rd of my Dad's beneficial interest they have spent the last 5 years actively trying to find a way of overturning my Dad's Will. I've cut that side of my family and brothers out of my life and will never have anything to do with them ever again. If one of them had been left out instead of me I'd have given him £3300K and insisted the other do it as well.

You can choose your friends but not your relatives.

elsien

Nope. Hasn’t been discussed with the parent leaving the money although it has with the siblings. Two of us don’t communicate with the parent leaving the money. Siblings earn more than me. Their children earn more than me and mine. Who has what already is not the basis of the decision.

I no longer want anything to do with the parent while they’re alive so why should I expect money after they’ve gone?

silvercar

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81898431#Comment_81898431

No longer implies that you were connected in the past. To consider a will based solely on what someone did in their final few years, makes no sense in that context.

Anyone who has had to deal with narcassistic parents is bound to have some baggage from it, even when they are gone. Grieve for the parent you should have had, not the one you did.