What happens to the assets in a will if the main beneficiary dies before the will is administered ?

[Disinherited1]

Hope someone with legal experience might be able to help. Warning - Situation is complicated!

Basically My Mother passed away 5 years ago and Father who is the main beneficiary and executor has refused to administer her will. He lives in the marital home, although he isnt the legal owner of course as the house was Mums and in her name only.
We are on bad terms and he's already stated he intends to disinherit me!
Refuses to discuss why Mums will hasn't been administered, or discuss anything basically. His Solicitor won't disclose or discuss anything either.

I have very limited means, so hiring a legal representative is not realistic.

My question as is it looks unlikely Mums will ever be administered before Father passes away ( he's now 88 ) what happens to the assets in Mums will then - ie the house and some limited savings? Will they be distributed under Intestacy or will Mums assets somehow be transferred into Dads estate?

I have 1 other sibling my brother, who Dad intends to give everything.

Is it possible Dad can disinherit me from a share in the house in his will - even if he has never legally inherited the family home from Mum?!

Apologies for the length and any repetitions.
Any advice is very much appreciated, Thank you for reading

If a beneficiary dies >28 days after the other person, what they received in that will is treated as part of their estate and passed down through their own will.

But separately, you say your father in the main beneficiary - is their inheritance due to you from your mother than he is refusing to sort?

Not a lawyer.

firstly, sometimes situations occur where two people die in quick succession - eg car accident that kills both people but not at the same time. Legally the will of the first person is deemed to have happened and then the will of the second person is deemed to have happened.

so if your mum has died, and the house was in her name only and the will said for it to go to your dad then that’s what’s happened.

if they have joint assets (eg money in a joint account) then it will have automatically gone to your dad anyway.

how do you know that the will has not been “administered”?
probate should have been applied for if the house was only in your mum’s name but if it was on joint names it may not have been needed
https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate

Does your Dad reside in England?

Your mother's estate must be dealt with in accordance with her will. Do you know what her will said? If she left everything to your father, it now belongs to him and will be dealt with in accordance with his will when he dies regardless of whether he has completed the formalities to transfer the house into his name.

Without seeing your late mums will its difficult to say what he inherited, if mum left you anything.

I think you can search and check if probate has been done? Your father might have got the solicitor to apply for it but kept you in the dark.

There may not have been probate, late mums will could be online

Thank you. The original family solicitor in response to a letter from me enquiring was I a beneficiary in Mums will stated she left 'everything' to Dad.

After that I left it, thinking that's a wrap. However Dad then changed Solicitors ( Idk why ) and this combined with the non admistration of the estate made me question just what was going on.

I know Mum wanted me to have something and was very surprised she left everything to Dad, knowing we were estranged & on very bad terms - and he'd possibly cut me out of his will.

I perhaps should also have said there was a big issue over Mums cognitive capacity. She had Dementia. I did manage to find some confidential correspondence on Dads desk between the original solicitor asking Mums GP for an affidavit of testamentary capacity for the Probatd Office, which I think he declined to do.
This could be why her will could not be probated perhaps?
I also know Dad had 2 people in the house just before Mum went to a care home witness a document. I suspect this may have been a 'DIY' will, but I've no direct evidence.
I've always wondered if this will was to include other assets, that might have gone to me.

It may not be relevant to the discussion at hand but Dad is a very controlling person and Mum was I believe subject to a level of coercive control sadly.

Apologies for the lengthy reply, it's all such a mess

Regards, S

If you think mum was coerced into making a new will and didn't have capacity you can report this, if her original will stated dad inherits everything then her writing a new one wouldn't need doing unless it was to leave something to other people.

Fyi House was not in joint names, I checked this. I know Dad initiated the process of applying for probate but something happened to prevent this. As I responded to ShesTheAlbatross there was an issue over Mums cognitive capacity, and I believe there was also a DIY will signed by mum when she was not in full possession of her faculties.
Dementia was listed on her death cert.

Ps, I've checked online - probate grant has not been issued.

I’m not a lawyer but I thought if probate was needed it had to be done (or started) within a certain timeframe. If she was sole owner of a house it is more than likely it would be needed. Go to Gov. uk and look at ‘when someone dies’ it is very helpful.

Thank you.
I believe the DIY will would have been the one the original solicitor was referencing when he stated Mum left 'everything' to Dad.

Solicitor can represent clients with DIY wills they weren't involved in drafting - even though most probably don't recommend/approve of them.

Are you in England? Law is slightly different in Scotland, for example

You do need to seek legal advice for this. If there is a capacity issue relating to mum and if this can be shown she lacked capacity then the newest Will would be null and void. If this was the case then either an older will would be classed as her last Will or she would be deemed to have passed intestate and her estate distributed accordingly.

It might be that Probate was never granted as the court requested further documentation which was never provided by dad. But, some of her asset may have been dealt with without the need for probate, such as bank accounts etc. The property would remain her name until probate was achieved as this is always required.

You may be able to challenge and I would urge you to seek independent legal advice. I know you mentioned that you would struggle due to the costs but please have a look for a no win no fee contentious probate solicitor - there's quite a few firms who do this and it doesn't need to be one that is local to you.

(this is for England only)

If her will left everything to him, it may be that the only thing for which probate would have been needed was to transfer the house into his name. If he is still living there with no plans to sell, delaying the transfer isn't causing any problems.

If your mother lacked testamentary capacity, her estate should be dealt with under the terms of her previous will if there was one or, if not, under the intestacy rules. If the rules of intestacy apply, your father gets all your mother's personal possessions, the first £250k or £270k of the estate (depending on exactly when she died) and half the rest. The remainder would be shared between you and your brother.

You will need to see a solicitor who deals with contentious probate if you want to take this further. Be aware that pursuing this could be expensive, so you need to be sure that it will be worth it.

There is no time limit for applying for probate. There is a time limit for submitting IHT forms but, unless OP's mother left more than £3M, there would have been no need to make an IHT return as she left everything to her husband.

Thank you. My understanding is the probate office do request an affidavit of testamentary capacity from the solicitor signed by the deceaseds GP/Doctor in all cases where Dementia is listed on the death certificate, as it was with Mum.
I don't believe this was forthcoming based on a letter I discovered from the GP. Perhaps this is the reason the probate is stalled.

My main concern is what happens to the house in Mums name when Dad dies? Will it go to intestate given Mums will was never probated, or will ownership pass to him somehow?

I do perhaps need to reach out to a legal professional as you say. Still really appreciate the advice offered here, thanks again 👍

Thanks everyone for the advice offered so far, much appreciated.

@Disinherited1 generally if a person inherited an asset, but it remained in the deceased name as long as that person outlives the deceased by 28days it will still be classed as part of estate of the second person to pass and therefore will be dealt with under the second persons Will (if there is one, if not then I restart rules kick in on the second persons death).
In that above case, probate would need to be sought for the first person who passed at that point anyway, as they would need a paper trail of ownership on the house.
Again, I would reiterate that you need to seek a no win no fee contentious probate solicitor who will be able to give you specific advise to your circumstance. Don't rule it out because you can't afford it, there are a lot of options and most firms at least provide a free 30mins advice.
Sorry you are dealing with this, I appreciate it can't be nice but get the information you need so you can make an informed decision x