An estranged, distant relative has died, and me and my siblings are next of kin. No contact with relative for many years, funeral already taken place without our knowledge. There appears to be no will, he owned a flat (mortgaged), and there are a lot of debt collection letters. It’s almost certain that the debt will eat up all of the money (if there is any) in the property. Records are a huge mess, so we’ve realistically no idea of what was owed and to whom (he was a hoarder but hadn’t kept many useful documents...)
As I understand it, we are under no legal obligation to do anything... is that right?! Can we just hand the flat keys over to the bank and walk away? I am very wary of getting involved due to the high likelihood that the estate will be insolvent. I’m not interested in getting any money if there indeed is any money in the estate.
But if we don’t get involved, how will everything be sorted out? In terms of debts being paid, etc etc? How does this work, as presumably people dying insolvent and intestate is not an uncommon scenario? Thank you.