FIL died intestate
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The children cannot own a share in the house until they are 18. It has to be held in trust. Note che has no legal right to occupy the house.0
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Yorkshireman99 wrote: »Nevertheless someone needs to get a grip on the situation. Applying for letters of administration is a priority but the wife is likely to be the one who has to do it. .
Not so much "has to", but assuming she does apply, her application as widow will trump anyone else's application.0 -
Yorkshireman99 wrote: »The children cannot own a share in the house until they are 18. It has to be held in trust. Note che has no legal right to occupy the house.
Given she is their mother and the most likely holder of letters of administration, it's hard to see how the trustee doesn't end up being her.0 -
The FIL's wife had an affair and subsequently moved out of the home, left the kids with the FIL. She's moved back in since the funeral and has decided she wants the house for her, her new partner, and her two boys. Nothing for my partner and her sisters. She has enough money to buy them out if she needs to, and the idea of the boys becoming part owners (if that is possible) is something we'd like to have happen - to protect their inheritance.
The first in line to administer is the wife.
By default she becomes one of the trustees for any minors that inherit(but needs to find a second trustee).
This is a separate legal entity from her role as the surviving parent for the minors.
There is a big risk of conflict of interest and potential for self dealing in the role as administrator by keeping the property.
If you believe there may be attempts to hide assets that should be included for distribution then you need to consider how you will deal with that .
The issues for the minors trustees is what to do with their inheritance and the house may be acceptable but does have issues when it need to be liquidated.
There may be little you can do other than try to influence.0 -
Just in case....
it may be you already realise this is not relevant(feel free to ignore)
are you sure that the FIL was the only one with a legal & beneficial interest in the house.
if the sisters mother was a divorce/clean break or the house was a later purchase then probably was the FIL house
but if the first wife died and the share of the house was left in trust(life interest) for the the 3 sisters then that could complicate and be an additional incentive to get them to sign away.
on paper the FIL would be the legal owner although there should be a restriction on the land registry but that would be very easy to work around.0 -
getmore4less wrote: »Just in case....
it may be you already realise this is not relevant(feel free to ignore)
are you sure that the FIL was the only one with a legal & beneficial interest in the house.
if the sisters mother was a divorce/clean break or the house was a later purchase then probably was the FIL house
but if the first wife died and the share of the house was left in trust(life interest) for the the 3 sisters then that could complicate and be an additional incentive to get them to sign away.
on paper the FIL would be the legal owner although there should be a restriction on the land registry but that would be very easy to work around.
The FIL was the only owner of the property, nobody else is listed. The widow is in a financial position to 'buy out' the others from their shares of the estate, she is just choosing to want her cake and to eat it.0 -
The FIL was the only owner of the property, nobody else is listed. She is in a financial position to 'buy out' the others from their shares of the estate, she is just choosing to want her cake and to eat it.
MY point was that the land registry entry does not say who really owns a house.
The entry just lists the legal owners, who act as trustees for the beneficial owners which in many cases is the same people but not always.0 -
getmore4less wrote: »MY point was that the land registry entry does not say who really owns a house.
The entry just lists the legal owners, who act as trustees for the beneficial owners which in many cases is the same people but not always.
I appreciate your point, but he was 100% the only owner of the property.0 -
If the 2 sons were living with their father, is there an obligation to ensure that they are provided for in their inheritance ie some rule about dependents having an entitlement to a reasonable share of the estate.
I feel very sorry for the boys, such a young age to lose what was their resident parent.I'm a Forum Ambassador on The Coronavirus Boards as well as the housing, mortgages and student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0 -
Quite possibly. The problem seems to be a considerable conflict of interest.0
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