Inheritance- If a father died and later his wife died, both without a will, can the father's estate be passed directly to their children or does it have to first go to the mother's estate?

[CatNights]

Just that really.
If the father had some shares and the mother had a property, do the shares automatically become part of the mother's estate when the father died.
Or does the fact that they're now both dead mean the shares can be passed directly to the children.
The problem is that there is a dispute about the house so we would like to be able to proceed with the transfer of the shares first, but if they have to go to our mothers estate then they both have to be dealt with together.

Obviously, I will get proper legal advice, but I'm out of the country at the moment so just wanted to get people's thoughts.

There’s a rule at common law, even if they died from the same accident, if x amount of time (I think the precedent was 72hours), it’s viewed as two distinct events so it would go to the second person’s estate.

Assuming you're in England, if a person dies intestate, the first £270k goes to the living spouse. The remainder is then split to the living spouse and half to any surviving children.

England & Wales - The wife gets all the assets, up to £270k and then half of the remainder. The other half is split between any living children and the children of any deceased children.

Scotland - The wife gets the house up to a value of £473k, household goods up to £29k, up to £50k cash, and a third of the remainder. The other two-thirds is split between living children and the children of any deceased children.

In your situation, your father's shares should be cashed in then dispensed as above. So, if your father's total estate isn't worth more than £270k (if we're talking England & Wales) then it all goes to his wife and becomes part of her estate.

Love Mumsnet!

It depends where they both died and his close together the deaths were

My parents died two months apart; my father’s Will passed everything to my mother then her Will was executed to her beneficiaries. Two separate events and procedures.
Nearly two years later things still haven’t been finalised 😡, it can be interminably slow.