Quandary re Father

[50andfedup]

Hi all,
I found this forum through Mumsnet. Basically, my Mother died about 30 years ago, my father subsequently remarried and then disowned myself and my brother. He then sold three houses, two of them belonging to our family. Are myself and my brother legally entitled to any inheritance in the event of his death? I have no idea if my father is dead or alive, but I have a daughter now and am thinking of her future. I last spoke to my father 14 years ago.

Thank you in advance for any help and advice.

[Amethyst]

Tagging Peridot for you to look in tomorrow ....

When you say "two of them belonging to your family", can you explain a little more how those properties were owned pls.

Did your mother have a will and were her wishes carried out ? Anything left to her children that your father retained a life interest in ?

How long ago were the properties sold ?

You could look up the probate records for your father to see if he has passed and his estate dealt with. ( could check your mothers too if you don't know what the situation was ). https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

It doesn't sound like you are/were dependent on your father financially - but this is likely to be the area you'd be looking at https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/63

[Peridot]

Hi 50andfedup,

So hard when families become estranged from each other.

As Amethyst has indicated it would be necessary to know the details of who owned the properties and the content of your mother's Will if she had one. If she didn't have a Will, then the intestacy rules should have been followed. It would very much depend on the value of the estate as to whether you and your brother would have had any entitlement to any of your mother's estate. Around 1989 the rules were different to today. The first £75,000 went to the spouse and all the personal chattels (belongings) The spouse would then receive a half interest in the rest of the estate (the residue) and any children would receive the other half interest in the residue to be held on trust until they reached 18. There have been changes to the Intestacy Rules since then so what date your mum died and the value of any assets she owned will be relevant if she did not have a Will.

If she had a Will that left all her assets to your dad there may be little you can do. It would be sensible to check whether a Grant of Probate was issued and whether that has a Will attached. Use the link Amethyst posted above. Hopefully we can then give you some more guidance once we have a fuller picture.

[Amethyst]

Thanks Peridot xxxx