Estranged father died - do my siblings and I have any claim?

[Himsy]

Sorry for blunt title, it is what it is.

My parents divorced when my two siblings and I were young (7,9,11). My father left my mother to it, didn't pay child support for as long as he could get away with, saw us children once or twice a year til the youngest was 16, then we didn't see him. I present this info to explain that our estrangement is no fault of us children (obviously we are all now adults).
My father's second wife (since divorced from him) got in touch with me a few years ago urging me to give him a chance to meet my children. I don't know why, but I did oblige. Then she divorced him. Later that year (2019) he told me he'd taken her off his will and was naming me (though not my siblings) as benefactor. I'd have split with them. Soon after, he and I had a disagreement, and he cut contact.

Xmas 2020 he died.

His sister informed me that her son was now executor. I have no relationship with any of them as they weren't involved with us as children.

So, it's been six weeks since he died, I guess I assume I'm out of the will?

My mother says as estranged children we can contest his will. Is this so?

We aren't talking a huge amount - maybe £50k each, so big enough to really help us out.

My cousins are both comfortable, as are their parents. (I don't know if they've been named as beneficiaries, but I don't know who else he'd leave anything to).
My siblings and I are not well off. I'm also going through a divorce and struggling now as a single mother.

Is it worth contesting?

If so, what do I do?

You can do a probate search and I think until it has been granted there is a way of being notified of the probate online. It doesn’t cost very much for a probate search. Generally you have 6 months after probate to lodge a inheritance act claim against estate assuming you would want to do that but it can be expensive legally also it may not be worthwile depending if there was anything in the estate after all debts settled. Probably less offensive to first approach likely executors to ask if they have found a will etc then go from there.

Slightly off subject but I found probate to be very quick. My DF died 2 months ago and probate was granted less than 4 weeks after he died. He didn’t leave a will.

I know someone whose relative died well before Christmas and they still don't have a death certificate -they got an interim one so they could have a funeral. It's always a long process and it has been really delayed by Corona. The will, if in custody, can't be released without a full certificate so it may be noone even knows what is in there yet.

My sibling was estranged from my DF and had been been for a few decades but inherited 50% of the estate as there was no will.

The executor is duty bound to find all married and blood relations and disperse the estate amongst them according to a legal formula.

Out of interest, what would this duty extend to? My children's father was not in touch with his dad although he did send his granddaughter a christening bangle (there was no christening but he was religious). When he died, his son was not told. Discovered later that there was no will so he would have been an automatic beneficiary but his half-sister who he has never met made no attempt to contact him...applied for probate and inherited 250k.

MyFavouriteIsWhoeverlsQuietest
That sounds illegal.

The quickest way to find out would be to ask your cousin the executor- but I understand you might not want to.

Otherwise, you have to wait for probate to be granted and then the will should show up as a public document here: www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

It will be too soon for that yet, as PPs say, more like 5 months plus.

@MyFavouriteIsWhoeverlsQuietest

The executor is duty bound to find all married and blood relations and disperse the estate amongst them according to a legal formula.

Out of interest, what would this duty extend to? My children's father was not in touch with his dad although he did send his granddaughter a christening bangle (there was no christening but he was religious). When he died, his son was not told. Discovered later that there was no will so he would have been an automatic beneficiary but his half-sister who he has never met made no attempt to contact him...applied for probate and inherited 250k.

That's against the law. All (biological or legally adopted) children of an unmarried person who has died without a Will are beneficiaries.

You’re probably best off speaking to the person you think is executor, ask them to see a copy of the will, be really nice to them, because they don’t have to show you it until after probate is granted, when you can order a copy yourself. If it’s only £50k they may not need to apply for probate (the bank may give them the cash without probate, it depends on the bank) so you may never get to see the will.

If there’s no will then you, as his child, would be entitled to his estate (as long as he’s not remarried) and if there is a will and you weren’t financially dependant on him then you’ve got no chance so I wouldn’t bother pursuing it, especially if it would only be £50k split three ways.

@MyFavouriteIsWhoeverlsQuietest I would suggest a chat with a solicitor. If the half sister knew she had a half brother she had no business accepting the whole legacy without proof of his death.

Op if there is a will you can't contest it. The presence of an executor suggests there is. Just ask them if he acknowledged you in the will. You at his child, its a reasonable question.

OP, I would suggest you start by trying to find out if there is actually a Will. If there is, and if he has left you out, you won't get far unless you can establish that the Will itself isn't valid (e.g. because your father lacked the mental capacity to sign it) or that you relied on him financially during his lifetime.

If there isn't a Will you will be a beneficiary and administrator under the intestacy rules.

People are usually crap at updating wills, unless he was angry enough to do it straight away it does sound unlikely he made a new one disinheriting you (assuming he actually made the one leaving it to you in the first place)

What will are they using? I mean what happens if the executor says "here is the will, dated 2001" when you know he claimed to have updated the will in 2018?

I don't know for sure she knew. He left her mother for my MIL but they did not get divorced until years later so my former DP was born out of wedlock. Had his father's name on the birth certificate though. Would she have known of him? If sorting out his flat, she'd have found photos and cards, possibly an address. As they were not in touch and nor did his son provide care/visit, she probably felt he had no rights to any inheritance (although he was not at fault for estrangement, his father was an alcoholic so MIL fled. There were visits until 8 years old then that stopped). He did not lawyer up when he did find out, as he felt that it would be hypocritical to claim half his inheritance when estranged despite the law/birth right. I said at the time it would be for his own children but we agreed to disagree as not my business at the end of the day. I just wanted to know what she would have done to have probate granted - an advert in a newspaper or just a declaration she was an only child? I have her details but have never poked that particular wasps' nest. She would be an 'aunt' to my kids but is many years older and I daresay her own childhood without their Dad would have been a story in its own right.

I inherited money 2 years after the death of my friend, it can take time.

If you can find out the solicitors dealing with the will and they can give you an impartial view

Ask for a copy of the will.
If you are in it, that is one route.
If you are not, that is another route
If there isn't one then its the third route
but the key is to see the will first

@ItsIgginningtolooklikelockdown

What will are they using? I mean what happens if the executor says "here is the will, dated 2001" when you know he claimed to have updated the will in 2018?

There is a national register of wills so the solicitor can check there to see if there is a more recently dated one.

In the situation you mention, a solicitor would take a dim view of that, especially if the person producing the will is the sole beneficiary and someone else tells the solicitor that there should be a more recent one. They would look into that quite thoroughly.

I really had to jump through some hoops to prove that I was the sole surviving relative of a member of my family who died intestate. To start with, the solicitor was really sceptical.

We are NC with MIL (who definitely has a will) and as such doubt DH will be mentioned.

No plans to contest should this prove to be the case. He is not her dependent and that would be the only grounds to do it on.

Slightly different issue of estrangement, but when my mother made her will she was advised that, if she wanted to ensure that the son and daughter who estranged from her did not contest the will, she needed to specifically exclude them. So her will says that no money is to go to them. The implication was that if she did not say that, they could contest for some of the money.

There is a national register of wills so the solicitor can check there to see if there is a more recently dated one.
Do you have a link to that

The register is optional and not much used. Worth checking but just because it doesn't have one listed then it doesn't mean none exist.

Thanks for all the responses.

I'm pretty sure he'd have a Will. He uses to, as he told me he'd named me as executor and beneficiary. Then he cut contact at the end of 2019.
My aunt told me a few weeks ago they'd found song his things a document listing her son as executor. Nothing was said about the Will. I know she knew from 2018 that my father had named me as solo beneficiary in his Will.
So it makes me think he has indeed amended his Will to exclude me.

He may have done but I think you will have to ask straight out (or get a solicitor to ask) I don't think you can assume the sister will open up about it. It is reasonable to ask for info about your own father's will - you could have been left a bequest even if not the sole beneficiary.

Makes me sad reading some replies here that parents cut their own kids out. Unless they know those children are going to waste it on drugs, I think it's the ultimate kick in the teeth from beyond the grave.
I did nothing to him to warrant being cut out, neither did my siblings. And he cut them out when he named me as sole beneficiary in 2018 (u didn't query this with him, I would of course have shared it with my two siblings.)

It's £50k-ish each, btw, to a previous poster who thought it was £50k divided by three. Which is still a little something, not to be sniffed at. Certainly not in my current circumstances.