Possible inheritance - help please

[Mintchocchip10]

I was wondering if anyone knows much about property inheritance before spending money with a solicitor.

My aunty (not biological) lived in a flat with my biological uncle. They were separated but not divorced. It was legally hers on her death in the 80s. My uncle continued to live in the flat until his death nearly 10 years ago. I don’t believe her estate went through probate.
At the time of his death we assumed the flat would go to her family (who all live in Africa) so I handed over the details to the council to manage as it just seemed a minefield and I had very small children and a wedding coming up.

Recently my cousin (from another uncle), my sister and I received a letter from one of these heir hunter companies asking for our permission to take on the case.

My cousin has been looking into it all but we are at a sticking point where we just don’t know how to formally get the estate transferred (and if it is legitimately ours). We probably need a solicitors input but I just wondered if anyone had any thoughts before going down that route.

Did your Aunt leave a will. If not then your uncle probably inherited it and then if he died without a will too then yes it will probably come to you.

To formally get the estate transferred you need to apply for probate or letters of administration from the court (form PA1P for a will, PA1A for no will) and send it to the Probate Service. If your aunt and uncle were still married and joint tenants of the property at the time of your aunt’s death it will have automatically passed to him. If he was intestate and you are his closest living relatives by order, your application will be valid.

You all three need to be prepared for this to be a burden as much as a windfall. If it’s a flat, presumably nobody’s been paying the ground rent or management fees for a decade since your uncle died, which will all need to be paid from any house sale (and some freeholders won’t transfer a lease prior to payment of any debt.)

As far as we know @BaronessEllarawrosaurus she didn’t have a will. Thank you @ComtesseDeSpair , that’s very helpful and a good starting place.

What’s happened to the flat in the last 10 years?

Why not let the heir hunters deal with it.

@bestbefore - nothing has happened, it has just sat there. We’ve only found this out recently.
@tripleginandtonic - the estate won’t be worth much and the companies fees are very high so don’t think there would be much left. My cousin has a bit of time so has kindly said she would look into it but we still may end up going down that route if we need to.

Yes - who lives there now? Who pays the bills, council tax, service charges, etc?

Also, what exactly do you mean: “I handed over the details to the council to manage”?

One way or another you will need competent legal advice. This is not a DIY project. But I wouldn’t get involved with inheritance chasers.

I don't think heir hunters would do anyone the legal work that would need to be done?

You need to ascertain if there was a Will. And if not as PPs said if the estate was small it would all.pass to your uncle. Again if no will it would go to you. Has the flat been checked? Also a Land Registry search should be done to see if it is still in your aunt's name (as you said she owned 100%). If so that would mean nothing was done to pass the title to your uncle.(although he would be owner under intestacy or if his wife left it to him in her Will)

How much is the flat worth? Under an intestacy her children may have an interest if over a certain amount.

Depending on the outcome of those issues, you need a solicitor to confirm that your uncle had title to the property (so prove his entitlement from your aunt). And then get probate (if there's enough.value in the estate) if he had a Will. Or letters of administration if he didn't as next of kin.

The Heir hunters will do all the work but they’ll want a percentage of the estate. I think it’s around 15%. They are hard pressure sellers and will make it sound like you need them, but you don’t. Their bargaining chip is normally that they “can’t tell you about the potential estate unless you let them represent you” (agree to give them a cut!) but in this case you know what it is already.

Thank you. Land Registry is in Aunty’s name. She didn’t have any children. It’s probably worth £150k-£200k. My cousin went to the flat on the weekend and it will need a lot of cleaning and updating.

If neither your aunt nor your uncle left a will, your uncle’s NOK will inherit. This would be

1. his parents (presumably also dead)
2. his siblings
3. if siblings also dead, their children (eg you and your first cousins)

Make sure you have a really good look for a will hidden somewhere. It would be no good if you found one leaving everything to her kids after you've spent money on lawyers. Looking at the value of the estate, under an intestacy your uncle gets everything. Then you just need to go to a solicitor to get the title confirmed.

I would assume then that after she died, he didn’t change the deeds to his name, but if they were still married then it was legally his. You’ll need to go online and get copies of their birth, marriage and death certificates along with his siblings and yourselves to prove your claim. You need to show how the estate has moved across and down the line to inherit. If any of your parents are alive they would be the ones to claim and if not, then your generation would claim your deceased parents portion.

as you know who it is and if it’s a straightforward one you can do the estate without using the heirhunters. However as there is the whole Africa thing it sounds like there might be complications so have a word with your cousins and decide whether you could take it on yourself (you can always employ your own solicitor later which could be cheaper as they’ll take a standard fee rather than a percentage) . Check out the probate and administration section of the hmrc website and go from there.

as a pp said if ain’t was married here and there was no will it goes to her DH first then his next of kin.

That is absolutely not the case with the well known firms. We all disclose at the outset, I can't speak for one man bands or dodgy start ups.

If your aunt did not leave a will then her next of kin applies for probate letters of admin. I do not really understand what you mean by handing over the flat to council. Assuming the flat is empty and was owned by your aunt then who has been paying council tax?

If you and your relatives own it then it can be sold at auction without cleaning up.
Not the best idea but no point in putting for example a new kitchen in if it's going to be sold.