Who is entitled to property and money after one parent dies?

[isthisreal]

A man and woman live together but never marry. They have one child. Years later the mother is dying from cancer and she makes a video detailing that she is leaving the house and everything else to her daughter. There is no other will made. The woman dies when the daughter is 15 but not before showing the daughter the video. The man leaves the house but carries on paying what little is left on the mortgage. Six months later he marries someone else. The daughters stays in the property for 2 years. Then the daughter joins the army and is stationed elsewhere in the country. The man then sells the house for £120,000 without her knowledge and keeps all the money minus whatever was left to pay on the mortgage, about £2,000. There are other monies involved such as savings, pensions, insurance policies, even PPI, which the man kept all for himself. The daughter left the army when she found out about the sale of the house and confronted her dad who wants nothing to do with her. The man had his own business and didnt even need the money from the woman and he conveniently cant find the video of the woman stating she leaves everything to her daughter. While he is living in luxury with his new family and holidaying abroad twice a year, the daughter is struggling to live day by day with little money, doing without food and electric at times, and he point blank refuses to help her in any way.

Thats the back story. Question is, as there was no official will, who was entitled to the property and any other monies? If the daughter was entitled to any of it, how can she get it back from her dad?

[Amethyst]

As a video will is not legally recognised ( only written, signed and properly witnessed ) it seems the woman died intestate and as she wasn't married or in a civil partnership with her daughters father, her daughter should inherit. HOWEVER.. The property would depend on ownership. If the property was held as joint tenants then it would pass to the surviving owner ( so the dad ) but if held as tenants in common then the woman's share would pass to her daughter under intestacy rules. It is normal for couples purchasing a home to have it registered as joint tenants. You may be able to check this with the Land Registry. The rest, savings, pension, bank account etc all will depend whether they were held jointly - pensions and insurances often state where the money goes to in event of death.

Another avenue to look at is reasonable financial provision. The video ( or statements of truth as to the content of the video if it is lost/destroyed ) could serve as evidence as to the Mum's intentions. You would need formal legal advice to look into that.

Peridot or des8 may be able to add more ( or correct me )

[isthisreal]

Thank you for the reply. From what I can see about reasonable financial provision, you only have six weeks to apply for it. The mother died about 11 years ago which means the daughter is out of time to go down that route unless there are exceptions. She was 15 at the time, just lost her mother, in no fit state to look after herself let alone know her rights or what she was entitled to. Its only now as I am talking to her to find out how she ended up living the way she is that the whole story came out. Her mother made provisions so the daughter would have a house and some money, but the dad took it all at a time when the daughter was still coming to terms with the loss of her mother. The dad abandoned her with nothing and she has had to live like that ever since. It is really heartbreaking to listen to her story

[isthisreal]

While im waiting for the land registry to get back to me, what would happen if it turns out the property went to the daughter after her mother died and then the dad sold it without the daughter's knowledge or consent? Would that be theft? im guessing fraud would be involved somewhere because the dad would have to convince someone that he owned the property for him to sell it.

[des8]

Unlikely that ownership of the house was passed to the daughter as in UK minors (ie under 18 year olds) cannot own property

[isthisreal]

Unlikely that ownership of the house was passed to the daughter as in UK minors (ie under 18 year olds) cannot own property

Would it not have been put in trust or left in care of executors for when she was old enough to own it? Would she not be entitled to some of the money from the sale of the property?

It surely cant be right that the mother wanted the house and money to go to her daughter and the dad simply ignored her wishes and kept it all for himself!

[des8]

As previously pointed out, if there was no will the mothers estate passes according to the law on intestacy.

It hasn't yet been ascertained who owned the house.
Was it owned together. or solely by the male?
If the mother had only a beneficial interest that interest may not have passed to her daughter.
If together as tenants in common or joint tenants?

It may not be morally correct, and one may have wanted a different outcome, but if one desires a certain outcome it is advisable to leave a will.

[Peridot]

Hi Isthisreal,

As Amethyst stated previously the video would not be a valid will. So in the absence of a valid Will then the Intestacy Rules should be followed, which would mean that her daughter together with any other children if there were any, would have been the people to inherit. However, they would only inherit those assets owned by the mother.

As Des8 pointed out the ownership of the property and any bank accounts, savings etc are particularly relevant. If the property and any accounts were held in joint names as joint tenants then the property or asset would automatically pass to the co-owner in this instance the partner at the time.

As far as any insurance policies are concerned these may have been nominated, so in the event of the death any monies due to be paid out would usually go to the named person although this is at the discretion of the insurers trustees, the same would go for pensions and the like.

It may be that the mother did not 'own' anything other than personal items, that could have actually passed to her children if, as mentioned above, everything was jointly owned as joint tenants (in which case the asset automatically passes to the survivor ie the partner in this instance).

In addition if the property was held as tenants in common (where co-owners own a specific share of a property or asset which can be left to someone other than their co-owner either by Will or under the Intestacy rules), then a Grant of Letters of Administration (basically the same as a Grant of Probate, but where there is no Will) would have to be obtained to enable the mother's share of the property to be transferred to the person entitled under the intestacy (her children/daughter).

If a Grant wasn't obtained then it would suggest that the property transferred to the co-owner (the partner) by survivorship so irrelevant of what morally should have happened the daughter would not have a claim on the property.

It may be sensible to search whether a Grant was issued by the Probate Registry. You can obtain results here for a small fee: https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate This will also give an idea of the value of her estate when she died and name the person who was the Administrator of the estate.

It is some considerable time since the mother died. I appreciate that at 15 the daughter was in no position to pursue this, however it was only 3 years later she was 18 and able to take action and obtain advice herself if she wished. If the search for Probate comes up with any information maybe then the daughter can seek some independent advice on the options if any, open to her if she believes that an inheritance was due to her under the Intestacy Rules that she has never received.

However, if the only assets were held jointly and passed to the mother's partner, there may be nothing in the estate that would pass under the Intestacy Rules to the daughter. Morally it may be reprehensible but there would be nothing that could be done.

[isthisreal]

Hi and thank you for the replies. I have checked probate registry and nothing is showing in the mother's name. The land registry did a quick search and found that neither the mother or dads name showed as owner of the property from 80s or 90s onwards. The daughter is certain the mother was paying a mortgage to her bank so is it likely the bank would be shown as owners until the mortgage was paid off? I can get a copy of deeds history for a fee and may do that if it will help. It came out in an argument the other week that the dad had to go to court to keep the house after the mother died; would it be worthwhile trying to find which court and under what conditions he was allowed to keep the house? How would we find out the nominated person of any bank accounts or other policies?

[des8]

If you intend doing a search on Land Registry, make sure you use the correct site (https://www.gov.uk/search-property-i...-land-registry) and not one of the look a like sites that charge for nothing you can't do yourself !

The daughter was only young at the time, and might have misunderstood the situation. In any case the bank would not have been shown as owner, but only as having a charge over the property.

The next step is to ascertain who owned the house
.