Parents have no will- complicated estate, help!

[Baffers100]

My parents are late seventies and have no will. Whenever I bring this up, my Dad becomes ridiculously defensive and nasty and claims everyone is just after his money. In reality, nobody really wants to sort a complicated estate out when they leave us, and make decisions for them.

They're very much average in terms of income and wealth etc. There's not a country estate and millions to quibble over. The complication is the kids.

My dad was once married and had two children. They're now in their fourties (mid/late). They stopped having a relationship with my dad at 18 (their choice). He paid child support for them and saw them regularly before the age of 18. To this date, my dad has no relationship with his daughter. His son pops on the scene on occasion to ask for money. "You are my dad afterall" type commentary,

My mum was also once married before meeting my dad. She too has a son and daughter who she also shared custody with with her ex husband- same arrangement as dad and ex-wife. Mums two kids are very much on the scene and we are all close and spend christmas, birthday, family bbqs etc together.

Mum and Dad were frisky buggers, eventually left their partners, met eachother and had me. I am the only biological child of both my mum and dad.

My mum doesn't want my dads kids getting anything in the event of their death. My dad hasn't expressed any wishes either way and would proably be happy leaving it all to dogs trust!

Legally, if something happens to them both and there is no will, what's the starting point?
Do all five of us "have a claim"
Do my dads kids have as much "entitlement" as the rest of us?
Do I have "more claim" because they're both my parents?

Please do not take this as money grabbing because it's not about that at all. I hope they will agree to get a will drawn up and save us all having to sort this post life, but I'd like to get an appreciation of legally where we all stand.

Thanks.

Your mum should make a will herself. If Dad doesn't want to that's on him.

Or a proper solicitor.

It's not about if they have more than the £320k in assets, it's about if HE has more than that in his sole name.
Anything joint goes to your mum outside of the estate, including the house if joint tenants.
If he doesn't have anything above the threshold (check pensions?) his 3 children will get nothing upon his death (including you).

Then when your mum dies it will all be split between her children (2+you). Nothing to dad's children.

The vice versa is true if your mum dies first - that's the biggest risk here - then HER kids are disinherited and your Dads 3 children split what's left at the end.

Surely the Mum could make her own will allowing DH lifetime tenancy of her half the house but ownership passing to her DC.

Assuming she was to go before him. The last thing either of them want is everything to land in his name and being spilt between his 3 children including 2 he never sees.

Assuming she was to go before him. The last thing either of them want is everything to land in his name and being spilt between his 3 children including 2 he never sees.

I think this what he wants.

If he's older than his wife and in worse health then I suspect that what he actually wants is to "accidentally" disinherit his unpleasant-sounding children without having to do anything as brutal and deliberate as writing a will excluding them.

I've got some sympathy tbh, but for the sake of his wife's elder children they really ought to get it sorted out just in case.

You will be next of kin though. Her siblings will have no right to come in to her house or do anything

Not quite. It's the first £320k goes to surging spouse plus half of the remainder (as it's deemed to be half theirs anyway) and then the other half is split between dc

There’s two sides to every story. No one says things like the grandson did for no absolutely no reason. No one goes no contact for no reason.

I compelity understand why you want him to write a will and sort this out.

However, the will doesn't mean anything if the circumstances change.

What is the plan for when they are older? Do they have savings? If they need care, would they qualify, or would they need to sell the house?
I would start discussing that first.

If anything happens to your dad, everything goes to your mum. So the will won't matter as your mum would need to have a new one.

If something happens with your mum and dad without a will, all children will have the right to claim inheritance.

Try reading the whole thread. Your last sentence is not correct.

The post clearly states that the siblings are the poster's siblings, not her mother's, and if her mother dies intestate they will be next of kin for inheritance purposes just as much as she is.

Sorry?
They both have biological children plus one shared one. Just because the dad isn't in contact with his children from the previous marriage, it doesn't mean legally they don't exist. And believe me, when it comes to money, they will all line up to get a piece.

I am not saying they 100% will get something, but they have a right to have a case for it and make op's life extremely stressful (hence the post).

If the father dies, everything will go to the wife. If the mother dies, everything will go to the husband. Unless there is a will - even then, it is not as straightforward as people might think.

The parent who will end up with the money, their biological children will have the right to claim it.
But if both parents pass away without a will, all biological children will have a right to claim inharitence. Regardless if they are on speaking terms or not.

Incorrect
It depends on who dies first