Division of assets under intestacy

[probateshitshow]

There are 3 children of a parent who died intestate. Two are adults and one is a minor.
There is no real value to the estate and it is only chattels to divide up. I understand that these need to be divided equally. Is this correct? The two adults granted probate will divide things up but one is very reluctant to allow anyone to have anything she deems sentimental but that’s pretty much everything as she was closet to their mother.
Items could be sold to collectors and the proceeds distributed equally but one administrator will not allow this to happen.
It’s all rather tricky and the minor beneficiary is likely to not get their share. They all have different dad’s and had very different relationships with their mother with no relationship at all with the youngest for reasons I won’t go into here.

What is the law on this please?

Paperwork not power work! The ex husband will be making sure his Dd gets the lions share and are already has the house to live in. Ex husband went through everything in the house before the funeral to find relevant paperwork. I'm
not sure how much right he had to do that even though the house has passed fully to him but the contents belong to the three kids.

It sounds difficult for you, he can go through the paperwork, it's his house, he may claim that the contents were jointly bought or that he bought them if he has receipts.,where is the other executor/administrator in all this, and hope the solicitor can help you.

if the deceased was working at the time of death your child (being a minor) may have some entitlement to part of a death in service payment shared with the other children. additionally some pension pots will pay out a discretionary payment when there is a minor child, if you know where she has worked over the years you could spend an afternoon ringing round with her details and explaining the situation that she has died leaving a minor child, you would be able to get a copy of the death cert if you need it from the registry office and it doesnt form part of the estate so can go directly to an account in the childs name. I am presuming that she was not old enough to already be retired if she had a 9 year old so the pension pots will just be sitting there, as she had no spouse at time of death there will be no spouse payout and most pensions wont pay out to an adult child unless there are certain circumstances so you might find that the older children havent been bothered to tell you as they wont get anything. Doesnt help with the personal belongings side of things but its much better that the money goes to the child especially if it would otherwise go nowhere, then at least they will have something from their mother to help them through uni or towards a wedding/house deposit.

Why is she living in the mother’s house? It belongs to all three children.

Not if it was joint tenants and it's still in her exs name? Doesn't it go to him fully?

Oh, There’s a living ex. Sorry.

I think a solicitors letter reminding them of their duties as executors, especially as there is a minor involved, is the way to go. After that I’d probably just leave it, it will be more hassle than it’s worth.

In a similar circumstance a letter from a solicitor reminding the administrators that they could be held personally responsible if the beneficiaries did not receive what they should changed attitudes dramatically.

If the estate is worth very little and the daughter living there was closest to their mother and your child had no relationship with her mother, I really wouldn't be disputing that the daughter living there should have the chattels. It was her home and all her familiar things, it seems a bit churlish to demand a third of them even if the letter of the law says your child is entitled to them. House contents usually have very little or no monetary value anyway. I would ask for an item of jewellery as a keepsake, a ring or a necklace or some other object that your child likes and leave it at that.