Intestate Advice England

[marko2002]

Hello everyone, wondering if anyone can offer advice on this matter.

My fathers cousin recently passed away intestate and we received word of his death. On further investigation I found the administrator named on the probate from the court and contacted them. He informed me there were two cousins on his side (him and his brother). They were blood nephews of my fathers Aunty who married my fathers blood Uncle, it was their son who died. There are no children or any other surviving relatives.

The administrator has since told me he believes the estate is shared 50/50 between the two sides of the family, therefore my father (being the only surviving blood relative of his Uncle) gets 50% of the estate, and the administrator shares 50% of the estate between himself and his brother (they are the only surviving blood relatives of their Aunt).

This does seem a little generous and I always thought an estate was shared equally, but I'm a tad concerned that if the estate gets shared incorrectly my father could be pursued at a later date, or if he passes away before that happens then I could be pursued as I would then subsequently inherit whatever my father receives.

Appreciate any advice
Marko

[atticus]

First of all, you should put together a complete family tree, identifying all spouses, relatives and descendants (including adopted descendants) of this person.

Then work through this: https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

[marko2002]

First of all, you should put together a complete family tree, identifying all spouses, relatives and descendants (including adopted descendants) of this person.

Then work through this: https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

Thanks for that, I have already done this but I gather that the only surviving relatives are my father (cousin to the deceased on the deceased fathers side) and the two other cousins (cousin to the deceased on the deceased mothers side). After that, obviously there is myself as the son of my father and I believe the other two cousins have children also, but the inheritance stops at my father and the other cousins as they survived the deceased.

Anything I've read or concluded leads me to believe the estate is shared equally amongst all beneficiaries and makes no preference or distinction to which side of the family the beneficiaries come from. I think they are of the opinion that because my fathers tree has his mother (my grandmother) as sharing the same maiden name as her brother, then his son (my fathers cousin), the share is somehow 50/50 between to two different surnames, but that's not my understanding of how sharing an estate works, particualrly intestate estates.

[Pezza54]

Under the rules of intestacy full blood relatives take preference over half blood
If the deceased has no surviving spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents or siblings, then their estate passes to aunts and uncles in equal shares. If an aunt or uncle has already died then their children (cousins of the deceased) will receive their share in equal shares
It does appear, following the rules, the administrator is correct.

[marko2002]

Under the rules of intestacy full blood relatives take preference over half blood
If the deceased has no surviving spouse, children, grandchildren, parents, grandparents or siblings, then their estate passes to aunts and uncles in equal shares. If an aunt or uncle has already died then their children (cousins of the deceased) will receive their share in equal shares
It does appear, following the rules, the administrator is correct.

Thanks for the reply, this is a surprise to me even though the cousin did state this could be the case. I will await further details from the cousin and come back and update the outcome for clarity in case anyone else is experiencing the same situation.

Thanks again
Marko

[marko2002]

Can I resurrect this thread to ask another question. I was looking up on how to deal with a solicitor in cases like this as they are simply ignoring me and I'm not sure if it's because it's my father who is the beneficiary but the initial contact with the solicitor went perfectly well and they acknowledged my position as acting on behalf of my father but since then I've tried twice to ask for an update and received nothing in response but the thing that is confusing me is when I put details into ChatGPT it came back and said that my father is likely the sole beneficiary because he is the only living blood relative sharing the same grandparents as his cousin. So we have my dad, then his mother. Her brother was the father to my dads cousin. Obviously, he was married to the mother of my fathers cousin, but she had a sister who them produced a few kids of her own and it is those "cousins" who stand to inherit also I'm led to believe. The only information I've had from the person named on the probate is that the lawyer has apparently now found more potential beneficiaries but I know for certain that there are no more blood relatives alive, my dad is the last known blood relative then me obviously.
Can anyone possibly clarify this because I'm feeling the solicitor is purposely stringing this out because I even confirmed to him on my initial contact that there are no other living relatives on our side of the family which is presumably where the inheritance of intestate would stop.
As always thanks in advance

[atticus]

Has your father given written authority for the solicitor to deal with you on his behalf?

[marko2002]

Has your father given written authority for the solicitor to deal with you on his behalf?

Sorry for the delay getting back to you, I thought I'd have received an email on replies but seems not. He hasn't, no, but the lawyer sent me the beneficiary forms for my father to complete which I did on his behalf and he signed them so the solicitor had no issues in me being party to this but apparently not on anything else it seems, it wouldn't be an issue if he just told me this but to ignore a request for an update on behalf of my father just seems unprofessional which is making me wonder about the solicitor himself especially after reading my father may actually be the only beneficiary and the solicitor should know this also if this actually is the case so to drag matters out looking for "other" beneficiaries that we all know don't exist makes me a tad nervous on the motives.

[atticus]

Obtain that authority.

[marko2002]

Obtain that authority.

In other words, POA then?. I had been thinking of this but up until now there really has been no real need but I'll start looking into this now, thanks

[atticus]

No. Just a simple letter authorising the solicitors to communicate with you about the case on your father's behalf, as described in post #7.

[marko2002]

No. Just a simple letter authorising the solicitors to communicate with you about the case on your father's behalf, as described in post #7.

Ah right, well that would be much quicker then, thanks for that

[PallasAthena]

In other words, POA then?.

marko2002 is this a Lasting Power of Attorney [LPA] over your father's Financial and Property Affairs? Does your father still have mental capacity to manage his own financial affairs? If he does you cannot invoke the LPA to manage his affairs for him. You can only do this if and when he is assessed as lacking the necessary mental capacity.

If he no longer has the necessary mental capacity to give you the authorisation recommended by atticus that would bring a further complication into this.