Died without a will - implications

[knakered]

My father in law died without a will last year. He had a house (£300K), and a business (owned premises worth at least £2million)...the business he had 25% share, wife had other 25% share and my husbands brother 50% share....we thought we might be entitled to some of his 25% share as he didnt leave a will...but as in many families nothing has been said and it is all a bit delicate...shoudl we investigate?..how would we do this?

Your FIL died Intestate.

Administration of estates acts provisions.

First, where there is a surviving spouse he or she takes everything unless the Intestate left certain relatives.

(a) If the Intestate also left issue (that is children, grandchildren and remoter lineal decedents) the spouse and issue share the estate provided the issue satisfy the requirements of the statutory trusts.

(b) If the Intestate left no surviving issue, but left a surviving parent or parents, the parent(s) and the spouse share the estate. The parent(s) take(s) the property absolutely or in equal shares. If no parent survives but the Intestate left a living brother or sister of the whole blood (or other issue) they share the assets with the spouse, provided that they satisfy the requirements of the statutory trusts.

This bit is better, see last para.

When someone dies without leaving a Will, what happens to their property is controlled by laws known as the Intestacy Rules.

A brief summary of these is that, when there is no Will, property goes to the nearest relative or relatives. The order of priority is a wife or husband, then children, then parents, then brothers and sisters and so on.

But there can be complications.

A spouse only gets the first £200,000 unconditionally when there are no children and only the first £125,000 when there are children.

thanks alycat..what should we do now..? I thought that a lawyer would seek us out when the probate was being sorted out...is it up to us to initiate?..where and with who do we start?

Was the house in joint names or sole, which will make a difference to the final value of the estate.

A business is a bit different, as it is not just the value of the premisis that is taken into consideration.

I am not qualified to give info, both my parents died intestate - foolish people!- and my FIL died having made a complete balls up of avoiding IHT.

Find out who is doing the Probate, as your DH may have a legal claim on the estate. You can instruct a solicitor to do it for you, bearing in mind they charge an arm and a leg. Most will give you a fixed fee interview and can give you an idea of your rights.

Good luck with avoiding family strife - wills or no this time always causes bad feeling imho.

If there's children - the spouse gets first £125k then anything left over is divided in 2 and spouse gets a life interest (eg receives income from any investments) in one half of the residue and children get other half. Once the spouse dies the children get the other half of residue.

sorry - as well as that if house is owned as joint tenants with his wife as opposed to tenants in common or owned it outright then the house passes by survivorship to his wife and doesnt form part of his estate (except for IHT purposes - iyswim)

bloody hell - what I meant was "as opposed to tenants in common or as opposed to owning it outright" sorry - not feeling too well & brain is like custard at the moment!