Intestancy Rules - How do we proceed?

[Tinks22]

Hi,

My father-in-law has recently passed away without leaving a will. He was TIC with my mother-in-law. His next of kin (parents) do not want to deal with his estate and they are more than willing to hand the responsibility to my husband and his brother and are happy for any assets to go to my mother-in-law including his half of the house. My mother-in-law and he never married and he wasn't the father to my husband or his brother.

A few questions..

1) What do we need to ask a solicitor for to get the responsibility for the estate changed to my husband and his brother?
2) What does the process usually involve and how quickly can this be done?
3) Can the share of the house be gifted by my father in laws parents to my husband and his brother instead?
4) Can my husband and brother start informing banks, pensions, etc of his passing without anything formal being in place?

I'm sure I will have a million more questions but if anyone can give any advice on the above it would be much appreciated.

Thank you

[PallasAthena]

I assume you are in England and TIC means Tenants in Common.

It seems from your post that you are intending to use a solicitor to deal with this. In which case they will be best placed to answer the questions that you have. It can be complicated if someone dies Intestate. The law specifies who can adminster the deceased person's Estate and who is entitled to inherit the Estate under the Intestacy rules.

If you search online "what happens if someone dies without a will in England" there are plenty of legal websites that give a good summary of what the law says, eg Citizens Advice

Who can inherit if there is no will – the rules of intestacy - Citizens Advice

To administer the Estate you need to apply for 'Letters of Administration". You can do that yourself or pay a solicitor to do it for you. Without Letters of Adminstration you will not be able to manage his Estate, obtain control of his bank accounts and assets, or change ownership of your F-i-L's half of the house.

Be aware that under the Intestacy rules your M-i-L won't automatically inherit anything because she wasn't married to your F-i-L. However her share of their house should still belong to her if she owns it as a TIC.

I don't understand what you mean by "Can the share of the house be gifted by my father in laws parents to my husband and his brother instead?". Why do your father in law's parents now own your late F-i-L's share of the house? And why would it be gifted to your husband and his brother? I thought the plan was to gift it to your M-i-L so that she owned the whole house?

[Tinks22]

So as he didn’t have a will the rules of intestacy state that his parents are in charge of his estate and will inherit his assets. We fully understand this.

Hos parents have said that they don’t want to deal with his estate nor inherit but they do want my mother in law to have whatever he has plus his share of the house.

I was asking if anyone could advise what the process is to transfer the responsibility of administering the estate and for the inheritance to go to MIL or her sons.

Or even better still, someone who has been through similar that can share their story

[PallasAthena]

Has anyone applied for Letters of Administration? If not nobody can manage the Estate yet.

[des8]

I should think the best way forward for all concerned is for the parents of your late father in law to sign a deed of variation so that the whole estate passes to your mother in law.
As she will then be the sole beneficiary she may apply for letters of administration.

Tagging dslippy for confirmation (or otherwise!)