Inheritance one

[SapphireSwan]

So a situation ongoing in our family at the moment. My mother in law has died and we cannot find a Will. We applied to the national Will search 6 weeks ago but have heard nothing. She had a house owned outright solely in her name. All bills were in MIL name only.

For the past 30 years she lived with a partner in the house she owned but other than council tax as a named individual there is no official record of them, deeds or such are all in MIL name only. MIL has 3 children from marriage which ended in divorce 20 years ago and 1 child with the live in partner who has now moved out as an adult.

As far as we can see with a death interstate if no Will turns up the property and estate will be inherited by the 4 children. The partner would have to apply to a court to request for provision. They have a very low part time salary and not sure they even bring in enough money to cover basic overheads of the house.

So my question- has anyone dealt with a situation like this and if so what happened?

Where one child has a vested interest in their surving parent who is living in the house and the other three don't, what is a likely outcome of this situation? Any advice for whilst it plays out? I guess everyone needs to get legal advice, but it is only 2 weeks since the funeral and think all parties are being very polite and not wanting to mention the possible scenarios or actions.

Thanks in advance

The National Will Search isn't infallible. If it is possible that the deceased made a will a simple email or phone call to local legal firms may turn up a will. (I've got results from a ring round where a search has drawn a blank re clients in the past.)

If this is an intestacy situation no-one can tell you what will happen as that depends entirely on the people involved and the facts of the couple's financial arrangements during their time together (eg whether the survivor can demonstrate that acquired a beneficial interest in the property by, for example, paying any mortgage or maintenance costs re the property.)

The options are endless and unfortunately - even if there are very good relationships between all involved, the potential intestacy places all in an uncomfortable position.

Thank you. We have called all local solicitors and looked at bank statements to see if one has been used, but so far nothing!

If no will can be found, the rules of intestacy apply. As you have correctly identified (assuming you are in England or Wales), that means the estate is distributed between the four children. However, the partner clearly has a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act as they were living as if they were a married couple for more than two years.

The best way forwards, if they can all agree, would be for the children to agree a Deed of Variation. This can be used to, in effect, create a will. They could, for example, give your MIL's partner a life interest in the house, allowing him to continue living there until he died, with it then being split between the four children.