Claim on estate for late father

[Roofio890]

My estranged dad recently passed away leaving behind his Mam, Sister, myself and my half brother.

Me and half brother are estranged from the family as my father never bothered with us both from a young age. I did see him before he passed away but the family never contacted us about the funeral arrangements, we found out in the local newspaper that he’d passed and when the funeral etc was. We were not mentioned in anyway in the obituary. I did however attend his funeral.

With being removed from that side of the family I’m not sure about the finances or estate handling but I believe that they would attempt to keep me and my brother away from the estate with all of their might.

Where do I stand legally with finding out if I’m entitled to any claim on his estate? I did contact a local law firm who have quoted me £100-£300 per hour and require £900 up front to even take on the case.

[sederunt]

You need to identify father's domicile. England and Wales, Northern Ireland ot Scotland. The rules are different.

[Roofio890]

Thank you, it would be England in this case.

[Pezza54]

You could lodge a caveat with the Probate Registry and wait for the estate executor/administrator to make contact.
Probate/letters of administration may not be required if your late father owned assets jointly and/or had very little savings

A caveat can be lodged online and costs about £3