What would happen to the money under these circumstances?

[wthdiwr]

Want to start this by saying I will not be inheriting/am not involved in this, I am a friend of one of the (adult) children and I'm trying to get some advice for her..

Friends dad passed away a year ago, all his money when he passed away went to his wife (friends mum) friends mum has just been told she has terminal cancer and has weeks to live, there is no will or poa. friend has three siblings. Friend tried to tell her parents to make a will before its all too late but they were having none of it. friends mum has money in her bank she would like it to go to her children but is still unwilling to write a will or allow poa.

What happens to the money in the bank without a will or poa?

As long as the woman has direct descendants, the money (plus any property, investments etc) will go to them. It is more complicated to administer the estate though, I believe. Strange that she doesn't want to make a will - perhaps she has made one but doesn't want anyone to know about it until after her death?

Just tell them look up 'What to do if parent dies intestate'.

Debts will be paid, then it would be divided equally between her children.

It is not simple, will cost money to sort out and can cause people to behave in a very grabby way. She needs to write a will.

Assuming the mother has no new partner, the intestacy rules mean that the mother's estate will be divided equally between friend and the other three siblings, assuming they are all her biological or adopted children. Step-children can only inherit through intestacy if she adopted them, even if they were her deceased husband's biological children.

Nothing directly to grandchildren (if there are any).

It will go to the children.

Just tell them look up 'What to do if parent dies intestate'.

This will be helpful.

As far as I know it gets split between her children after any debts, bills etc have been paid.

It doesn't really matter that she has no POA. It's not worth the expense and time if she only has weeks left. Once she passes away it becomes void anyway. I would suggest your friend talks to her mother about hospice care though. They can be supported in the home or at a hospice, and will be able to set up a plan for her future care and anything she wants written down. May also be worth stressing to the mother that 'after death admin' is stressful enough for the family without having to add on intestacy issues and costs. If she's worried about the cost of will writing, try speaking with local solicitors. We were supported, via a local cathedral, in a free will writing service provided for terminally ill cancer patients last year, and they did everything for free for us, and at the same level of service as a paying client.

We had similar, mum died with a will, easy straight forward at a time when you don't want to have more things to deal with.

Dad died intestate ( without a will ), a pain that you could do without.
We had to get a value for his estate, a rough idea of what things cost i.e electrical stuff, furniture, it wasn't a large estate but we still had to prove values etc. as he rented there was no property to value.
The larger the estate the longer and more complex it would be.

We also had to take our birth certificates to a legal office, swear an oath that we as far as we knew we're dads only children and as such his legal heirs.

I think everyone should have a will.