An inheritance one

[hopeishere]

Person A dies. They were married to B who died a long time ago. A and B had two children. B had two more from a previous marriage.

A leaves a house but no will. The house was B's originally and A moved into it.

Is it automatically divided between all children? Also one of B's kids is deceased but has two living kids. None of the children now speak to each other.

If there was no will then they died 'intestate' and rules if intestacy therefore follow when it comes to the estate. The next of kin as per the rules of intestacy will become estate administrator. In real terms ; Spouse first, who will inherit the estate if it is under £250k (if a spouse exists) - if over 250k they will receive that amount and then the remainder divided equally between any living children of the decased, if they had children. After this it would be the deceased persons parents if they are living, whole blood siblings, half siblings, grandparents, whole blood relative aunts and uncles etc.

Regarding the particulars of the estate such as property, if this was jointly owned or any monies held in a joint account it is not likely to form part of the estate if there is no last will and testament as these usually default to an existing spouse. Private and workplace pensions, life insurance, also (depending on how they are set up) are not due as part of the 'estate' if these have been left to a named person or party.

The only other claim to an intestate estate could come from any parties who were cared for by the deceased in the periods leading up to their death and could therefore be classed as dependent and raise a claim to be kept in that same financial benefit. Usually this would be dealt with with a solicitor via mediation if it arose.

Don't think you're right there @dontgobaconmyheart re intestacy rules.

I'm not a lawyer but have copied & pasted from the Gov.uk website, so the below should be accurate.

The husband, wife or civil partner keeps all the assets (including property), up to £270,000, and all the personal possessions, whatever their value.
The remainder of the estate will be shared as follows:

the husband, wife or civil partner gets an absolute interest in half of the remainder
the other half is then divided equally between the surviving children
If a son or daughter has died before the deceased died, their children will inherit in their place.

Obviously, the outcome to this particular query all hinges on what happened re a will when B died... 🙂