Mr

[JustinD]

Hello. I'm hoping someone can help me out a little here. My nan passed away in 2013. She was in a relationship with her partner and on the mortgage documents they were tenants in common. He had 2 children from a previous marriage and my nan had 3 children. My 2 aunties and my dad My nans partner died in 2015 and sadly my dad did to. As they were tenants in common. Both parties were entitled to an even split of the Estate. This is my understanding. My two aunties are ruthless and on the day of my dad's funeral the first words out of my aunties mouth were now that our brother is dead you won't get any of the Estate. My mum replied no I won't but my children will. There are three of us my brother and sister and myself. Roll on 3 years and we find out the house has been sold by checking on a sales website. Our auntie hadn't even notified us of such things. So I contacted my auntie and stated what I believe to be true with the law of intestacy. That my dad would be entitled to a third of there half and as he was no longer with us that his children would be entitled to his share. She flat out stated that only surviving members of the family would get a share. Meaning just my two aunties. After I informed her she needed to get better advice. As I bombarded her with facts to do with the law of intestacy. She then stated I should be happy with what ever she chose to give. She has now agreed to pay some money but the value of the Estate is changing figures all the time. She stated she even gave her kids money and then retracted that statement saying they had nothing. I have asked her for a full breakdown of lump sum given but she is categorically refusing. She said state at one point say there wasn't any money available. I've got the form from the government website where it states she is the administrator and the estimated value and not exceeding value. Is there any options I can take other than the expensive route of court. She has now paid out a sum. But she will not produce evidence of lump received and states that it is none of our business and that we should trust her and that what she has given is accurate.

Sorry its a bit long winded but Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Peridot]

Hi JustinD,

Sorry for the loss of your father and nan. We probably need to go back a few steps. You say your nan and her partner owned their property as tenants in common. Did your nan leave a Will leaving her share of the property to anyone? This will be important, or she left no Will so the estate was dealt with under an intestacy. If that is the case then her children would have inherited their mother's share at that time.

The property should have been dealt with when nan passed away. You then say nan's partner died the same year as your father and there is apparently no Will for nan's partner either is that correct?

It sounds like there may be a bit of untangling to do as to what happened or should have happened in 2013 when nan died and then what happened to the property on her partner's death.

Under the intestacy rules if a child of the deceased dies and has children of their own then the children would receive what would have been their parent's share. My concern is that your nan's estate may not have been dealt with correctly when she died. Can you provide some more information on this. Was there a Will, what did it say? If not was a Grant of Administration obtained when she died and the estate divided appropriately at that time?

Hopefully we can untangle some of the issues with some more information and point you in the right direction.