Heirarchy of Heirs

[Unregistered]

My Mothers first Cousin has died intestate. His closest relatives are his first Cousins, 3 of which are alive and 2 have died but have children Who would inherit his estate and how would it be divided?

[Amethyst]

Re: Heirarchy of Heirs

The inheritance would be shared between the 5 cousins, the deceased cousins shares being shared between their children.

Sooooooo..

Cousin 1 1/5
Cousin 2 1/5
Cousin 3 1/5
Cousin 4 1/5 ( deceased so shared equally between any issue eg: if 3 children it'd be 1/15th of the estate each )
Cousin 5 1/5 ( deceased so shared equally between any issue )

I was trying to work out the actual fraction of the original for you, but my Math ability is dire, and we don't know how many children each deceased cousin has.

But your Mum would be entitled to 1/5 of the estate.

Tagging [MENTION=85500]Peridot[/MENTION] just to confirm my understanding is correct ( if not my Math )

[Peridot]

Re: Heirarchy of Heirs

Yep, my maths is pretty shocking too. An example may help:-
£1000 is left as a residuary legacy and is to be divided equally between 5 people. Each of the people, the residuary beneficiaries, would receive £200. If any of the residuary beneficiaries has died before the testator, or Will writer, and they have children of their own, their children would receive the legacy between them. The other beneficiaries still receive their original share, so here £200. However, the person who would have received £200 but had died leaving children, has their share divided equally between their children. So in this example, if the person who died had 4 children, then their £200 would be divided equally, so each receives £50.