Inheritance where the is no will

[Trevor51]

A little complicated. I did post here 6 years ago following the death of my mother. I and one of bothers was excluded from the will leaving two bothers and my sister to inherit. We did look at a deed of amendment but one brother dug his heels in and refused to cooperate. My father died 15 years ago and it was assumed that he did not leave a will. Now I am not a party to what has been going on and I am now confused as to whether my father did or do not leave a will. I get one story from my brother and a different story from my sister. But my sister has been talking with a solicitor friend and she is under the impression that if our father did not leave the family home goes 50% to our mother and the remaining half equally to the siblings. Is that correct, it does not seem right to me. My sister is trying to suggest that it was incorrect for our mother to leave a will disinheriting two siblings as the assets were not solely hers to bequeath. Is that correct?

[Mal161]

Have you obtained the details of Probate if it was applied for? An application for a copy of the Will and Probate can be obtained online and if there was no Will, the Probate report will say he died intestate. However, if you brought this up six years ago, you have probably had all this information already and the solicitor would have told you about this. If someone dies intestate than the rules ob inheritance are clearly set out and you can Google the question for the answer.

[PallasAthena]

You can search here for a copy of probate (and the Will if there was one)

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/

If you do search online for the intestacy rules bear in mind that the rules changed in (I think) 2014 so you need to search for the rules that were in force when your father died 15 years ago. The relevant rules are those in force on the date he died.

As far as the family home is concerned it could also be relevant whether your parents jointly owned it and if so did they own it as Joint Tenants or Tenants in Common.

https://www.gov.uk/joint-property-ownership

[Trevor51]

As far as I am aware probate was never applied for when out father died. Not sure why nobody checked at the time about a will or probate. The family excommunicated me at the time. No Idea what was going on. They are now in the process of going for probate following the death of our mother 6 years ago. One brother who is inheriting is effectively a sitting tenant. He had been living there since he was thrown out of his family home as a condition of bale for beating his wife up. He gets to live in the house for as long as he chooses. I suggested that my other bother and my sister tread carefully. I assume once their names go on the deeds they are liable each for one third costs for maintenance etc. They may well never inherit in their life times but never the less be picking up costs..