FIL passed away with no will. Any advice please?

[basketweaver2012]

My FIL recently passed away leaving no will. He separated (never married) from MIL over 10 years ago but still lived in the family home alone and MIL paid/contributed to the mortgage until it finished some years ago.

FIL always told DH and his sister that the house would go to them but nothing was ever formally written down.
We realise that the house won't entirely go to them however my question is, does the entire house now belong to MIL as her name is obviously on the deeds or will half the house value when it's sold belong to DH and DSIL.
MIL has offered to give both some money when the house does sell however she is assuming the whole house is now hers but as they were not married we were wondering if that would be the case or not?
DH is the NOK

We're they joint tenants or tenants in common? If joint tenants then your Fils ownership ceases to exist when he did and she owns the whole house via survivorship. If tenants in common then she owns half (unless otherwise specified) and half hours to FIL's estate which will split between children.

Rules of intestacy will apply.

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/who-can-inherit-if-there-is-no-will-the-rules-of-intestacy/

You will need legal advice.

So much depends on how the house was owned. If FIL and MIL owned it as joint tenants then their respective shares automatically go to the survivor so MIL would inherit.

If they owned as tenants in common then FILs share would be dealt with under intestacy law and go to the next of kin.

I would call the Law Society and ask for details of estate lawyers in your area and get proper advice.

She hasn't lived in the house for 10 years and it was rented out before FIL moved back in so I'm not sure really

Nothing was ever legally put in place regarding the house as far as I'm aware with either of them

When it was bought, it would have been put in someone's name solely, or as joint tenants, or as tenants in common. You need to know which.

Search for the property on the land registry to see if it is registered and order a copy of the title document, which will tell you whether joint tenants (MIL gets all) or tenants in common (1/2 will go to dh & sil)

I would call the land registary and ask them...
You also need a death cert to access his bank account... you don't need a solicitor for the forms... Just get the cert from the doctor and registrar it all.

MIL has the deeds will this information be on the deeds themselves?

Yes it will have a history of the house ownership.

Even if the house remains registered as joint tenants, it is possible to argue that it has been severed by conduct, as was successfully done here

www.familylawweek.co.uk/site.aspx?i=ed189685

However, if the survivor continued paying the mortgage as here, that may be very hard to achieve.

@Familylawsolicitor thank you that's really helpful