Who will inherit in this circumstance? Advice please

[WhoWillInherit]

This is the scenario:

Father had a child with his first wife.
First wife died when child was under 16.
Father remarried, relationship with child broke down and now-grown up child was entirely estranged from father and stepmother.
Father and stepmother remain childless.
Decades later, Father died having had no further contact with son. No will was found so the stepmother / second wife eventually inherited everything.
Stepmother died ten years later; again, there was no will.

Would the estranged stepson have a claim on the late stepmother's estate even though he was not blood-related to her? Or would it go to more distant blood relatives on her own side of the family? (These would be cousins or their children, as stepmother had no siblings)

Grateful for any help here. Thanks,

Stepmother's nok.

it would go to the stepmother's next of kin (if no children then parents, if no parents then siblings etc). As the estate was entirely hers at the time of her death the stepson would not be entitled to anything

step son has no claim. will work its way through the blood relatives of step mother.

All this assumes that deceased first wife did not make specific provision for son in her will (eg money or assets in trust). You didn't mention first wife's will so assume left all to father when she died.

Stepmothers family. Unless the fathers estate was worth more than £270k in which case the son should have inherited part of his fathers estate at the time under intestacy rules.

No will was found so the stepmother / second wife eventually inherited everything.

Who decided that? If the father died without a will, his wife should have got all his personal property, the first £270k of the estate, and the rest should have been shared with his son.

Stepmothers family inherits.

If the son was to inherit, it should have been when the father died as there was no will at the time, altohugh that depends on the country. In England it would all go to stepmother I believe, in Scotland the son would have inherited a third.. The son has no claim on what is now the stepmothers estate.

If the son was to inherit it would have been when the father died. Whether he would have had any entitlement depends on when the father died and the size of the father's estate. As Ifailed says, the rules currently are that the second wife gets the first £270k and half of anything over that with the rest going to the son. If the estate was not administered correctly the son has a claim against the executor.

As the second wife had no siblings or descendants, the estate goes to her parents or, if they are dead, her grandparents. If they are also dead it goes to her aunts and uncles or, if there are none, half aunts and half uncles. If there are no aunts or uncles, the estate goes to the government. More distant relatives are not entitled to inherit under the current intestacy rules.

As Ifailed says, the rules currently are that the second wife gets the first £270k and half of anything over that with the rest going to the son. If the estate was not administered correctly the son has a claim against the executor

I'm beginning to wonder if the husband's estate was ever administered. To my knowledge the son is not even aware that his father has died, and I actually doubt that the reclusive, aged and mentally unwell stepmother would have bothered to deal with any legal paperwork, she would have just carried on doing what she did. Would any government agency have come after her if she didn't do anything to wind up the estate?

Wow. What a mess for someone to sort out (thankfully it's not me).

If the house was owned by the father and his second wife as joint tenants, it passed to her automatically without forming part of his estate. Similarly, any joint bank accounts passed to her automatically. So, it is quite possible he did not have any significant estate.

If the house was owned differently, she (or someone else) would have needed to get letters of administration so that she could administer the estate. You can search the probate registry to find out what happened. If there is nothing there, it is likely that the property passed to the second wife automatically, without forming part of his estate.

No government agency would come after her if she did not administer the estate but, unless they were joint tenants, she would not be able to sell the property.

Unless the son was entitled to something and decides to take legal action, there will not be anything for anyone to sort out other than passing her estate to the Crown.