Intestacy rules, Wills and Half Siblings

[Mangina]

Curious what happens in this situation. names changed.

Colin, only child with no living parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents has a son, John. Colin’s will leaves his entire estate to John who is 22. No clauses in the will.

John died last year. Colin has no other family, and wishes John’s share to go to John’s half sibling, Laura who is 20 as John would’ve have wanted that; and Colin’s ex wife and Laura have always been amicable with Colin.
Colin is not Laura’s father. Colin insists that he doesn’t need to change his will as the Laura will automatically get her half sibling John’s share under “Intestacy rules”.

Colin doesn’t want to spend the money re-writing his will. There are no clauses in the will on what he would like to happen if John predeceases him. Aside from advising Colin to ensure his wishes are properly recorded in a will, I understood John’s share goes back to Colin’s estate, and eventually to the Crown as there are no living relatives or descendants left in Colin’s family. in this case John’s half sibling, not being a blood relative of Colin’s gets nothing. Is that right?

All live in England.

Not a legal expert, but I believe you can handwrite your own will and get witnesses to sign it

Yes you can, but unfortunately wills can be contested and also can be pretty complex.

The problem with not having a solicitor draw it up is if it's not done well, it's leaving a mess for your loved ones to sort out and you won't be around to say what you wanted.

It really is worth paying a solicitor if at all possible.

Sometimes solicitors do wills for charity, they just ask for a donation. That's one way you can get a will done for low cost. Have a look and see if any of your local ones do that.

That’s correct, if he has no living relatives at all then it will go to the crown, in this situation he would be well advised to write a will, even a handwritten one would be better than nothing because without it no one will be able to deal with his estate and it will sit there waiting for the crown to deal with it, they’ll have to spend money from his estate on researching his family tree to check there are no relatives before the state can take over, and if there is a distant relative that he is unaware of/has forgotten/thinks doesn’t count because he doesn’t speak to them then they will get the lot.

Colin needs to make a new Will. He could get a cheap one from the internet.

"...as there are no living relatives or descendants left in Colin’s family."

This is the important point. You mention that there are no living aunts/uncles.

Did those aunts/uncles have children themselves? Are any of those children (or grandchildren) still alive?

If so then they inherit, otherwise, as you say, it goes to the Crown.
.

Secondly, did Colin ever formally adopt Laura under the Adoption Act 1976 (rather unlikely, but it's a possibility)?

If so then Laura is Colin's daughter for the purposes of the intestacy rules and can inherit.
.

Otherwise it will go to the Crown.
.

If Colin doesn't write a will then Laura still has two possible ways of getting the money.

The first is by making a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 as she is somebody who "was treated by the deceased as a child of the family"

If Laura is still a child when Colin dies then she will have a stronger case but, even as an adult child, it is still possible to make a claim.

There was a case in the High Court a few years ago on just this issue.

Higgins v Morgan & Ors [2021] EWHC 2846 (Ch)

Barrie Higgins was the stepson of Stewart Higgins.

Stewart died intestate in 2017. This meant that everything went to Stewart's nephews and nieces rather than his stepson.

However, prior to his death Stewart had bought a house for his stepdaughter (Barrie's full sister) and Barrie stated that Stewart had promised to leave an equal value in his will to him. He also said that Stewart helped him out over the years when he was short of money.

The court ruled that there are four stages to determining if a stepchild can make a claim:

1 Can they demonstrate a need for maintenance and, if so, to what extent.

2 Can they demonstrate that there is "something more" than just the fact of there being the stepfather / stepson relationship.

3 If the above are satisfied then was a reasonable financial provision made

4 If there wasn't a reasonable financial provision then what should it be

The court ended up awarding Barrie £41k from an estate worth £260k.
.

The other way would be by something called proprietary estoppel. This is where a person has promised something and the other person has relied on that promise but then the original person has gone back on their promise.

This can be seen in family farms or family businesses. For example, if a parent says to a child "Do all the work on this farm and then, when I die, everything will be yours" but turns out to leave the farm to somebody else. In this situation, the child can bring a claim against the estate.
.

But, given the huge hassle of doing all of that, it is much better if Colin just writes a will.
.

"Colin doesn’t want to spend the money re-writing his will."

If the will is as simple as you say then he doesn't need to spend money re-writing it.

Just type up a new will copying everything word for word with the exception that you replace any reference to "my son John" with "my step daughter Laura".

Then get two people to witness his signature and he has a new will for the cost of printing out a couple of pages on his printer.

Laura is not related to (or adopted by) Colin so intestacy rules won't apply between them. If Colin wants Laura to benefit he will need to change his will.

Agree with others. Your understanding is correct. If Colin wants Laura to inherit, he needs to make a will.

Or perhaps he could just do a codicil? That might be cheaper.

Just type up a new will copying everything word for word with the exception that you replace any reference to "my son John" with "my step daughter Laura".

I don't think she's his SD, she's his ex's daughter by a later relationship if I understand the OP correctly. But it works just with her name.

Colin’s getting confused over the intestacy rules.

If Colin had died before John and John then died intestate then Laura would inherit from John, assuming no other relatives (and this is probably where Colin is getting confused).

But as John has already died, then it would only be John’s descendants who could potentially inherit from Colin under the intestacy rules.

It sounds a very simple estate, though, so Colin could always get a DIY will kit if he doesn’t want to pay for a solicitor.

Thanks very much all.

Yes. Laura is from a later relationship and she knows Colin because as John’s father. They have spent time together when Colin took John out for visits, but there is no step or adopted relationship.

Colin is an only child of two only children. His parents have died.

This is all very helpful, thanks. He really does need a will, he is against the crown getting his estate.

I am not a lawyer and would never contradict prh47bridge who is only ever wise.

Perhaps explain to Colin Laura isn’t his relation. A pathway from him to her needs to be created. Otherwise, as it stands, heir hunters would need to get involved (with a cost to the estate) and they would do the genealogy thing going up through his parents to their parents, go across in each direction and then down to distant cousins. All that would happen and, if no answer, to the Crown.

A verbal ”But I love Laura and so did John” isn’t the same as “I hereby bequeath all my worldly possessions to Laura. Laura (or whoever) to be executor. Signed in the presence of Witness 1 and Witness 2 on this date.

And someone always needs to know where to find the will when the day comes.

Given his lack of relatives there will be no one to contest the will etc, so he can just to a simple will from the internet saying he wants his estate to go to Laura. (Name, d.o.b, daughter of his late partner).

And maybe should Laura pre-decease him he would like his estate to go to the charity of his choice.

Good point re charity @BangersAndGnash Always better to have a back up option I think.

John and Laura must share the parent that John stands to inherit from

As Laura is no blood relation to Colin, she will not automatically inherit from Colin's estate

A simple will is Colin's best bet, otherwise distant cousins he's never met could inherit against his wishes

www.makeawillonline.co.uk/resource/rules-of-intestacy/

@Mangina you may find this tool helpful to show why a will is the best course of action.

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

My young adult kids inherited money from a distant relation as teens.

We don’t need nor want their money, so downloaded a basic will form from internet and used our own (solicitor written) wills as the basis for their wills, leaving everything to each other initially, otherwise to cousins.

DH and I are executors, wills were witnessed and signed by a neighbour