Family Business - is this part of the estate when parent dies?

[knakered]

My father in law recently died without a will, he was in buisness with my brother in law - business including business property worth £3MILLION. Does my husband (the other son) have any rights to his deceased fathers business assets? Does anyone contact you to let you know of your rights - or do you have to be practive

If he died without a will then everything will have to go through probate someone else will be along who can explain that.

This is very sensitive...do we have to bring this up and start getting solicitors involved, or will someone contact us ??...he died 18months ago

Have been involved with something similar this year. But am not expert may stand to be corrected!

I think probate (i.e. the valuation of the deceased's estate) has to be served within 18 months (else it all goes to government ). If you are not on speaking terms with BIL, you might ask probate solicitor what was settled. If there is a business involved it could be murderously complicated and take 18 months at least, end of year accounts etc.

If no will, I think a proportion of estate goes to spouse and a proportion equally between children. It depends how business is set up (partership, ltd company etc) as to how much is part of deceased person's estate. And even if there is a lot of property, business might have debts and not be worth much on paper.

If someone hasn't been in touch, they probably won't, can MIL/BIL not shed any light or is it too sensitive for that?

not sure if that helps

Sorry, I can't answer your question, but I know that if someone dies without a will and they have a business it can be quite complicated. My dh's dad died very suddenly when dh was 18 and dh and his mum ended up having to run dh's dad's business between them for a period of (I think) a couple of years till it was all sorted out and they could sell it. I hope you get it sorted out.

Really - just need to know if someone will contact us -- or do we need to makr the first move?...dont want to rock the boat with the ILs...bur equally dont want BIL to just "acquire" FILs half of business...

If there is no will and nobody has contacted you yet it seems unlikely that they are going to do so.

I would find a solicitor as your DH could be entitled to something but this is an extremely complicated area of the law and not something you will be able to sort out alone.

Also just thoughht that if tax had to be paid on FILs 50% part of business asset then the business would probably go under - as most of the asset is in the premises...who appoints the "probate" solicitors ..is it the stae or the family...what is their remit?..who are they working for??

I believe... the family appoints the probate solicitor, as they must value the estate (and serve an offical notice to the court of probate) before anything can be distributed. They also appoint administrators (usually family members like executors of a will) who will manage the estate and make sure it goes where it should. this can easily take a year or more to sort out.

Do not know about inheritance tax but it does depend on how the business is set up.

Your IL's must know whether probate has been served, who the administrators are and how estate is being distributed. Not an unreasonable question from a son

Thanks granny slippers - this is helpful - maybe this is just taking time - although MIL is also a partner and very confused - not sure that she would understand aword that was being said to her, and BIL dont trust so if they are both administraters bit concerned do the soliciters not just step in and inform people of their claim/rights?...I know that there was a conversation a few months ago about whether the business had ever even been passed on to the FIL legally when the GFIL died 10yrs ago...maybe its all just a can of worms...there was always conflict with FIL siblings about FIL getting all of GFIL business - so as the situation is mirrored in this generation - we are reluctant to get into something, ask questions and risk causing offence -- equally we feel that BIL should nt just automatically inhert £3million business (most of asset is the property) just because we are too polite to ask...really just want some probate solicitor to call us up rather than us having to make the first move...how likely is this to happen?????????////

Hi

It probably is taking time, especially if the ownership of the business is disputed.

I don't think anyone has to call you to let you know "your rights". It's the administrator's duty to contact beneficiaries so they can recieve their payment or whatever, but that could be years away.

trying to say this kindly but I think you know the answer to your question - if you want to know what's going on, and it sounds quite reasonable to ask, you will have to get in touch with your IL's. I'm not sure where politeness comes into it.

knakered I am a probate solicitor and we do have to be instructed it doesnt just happen automatically.

You can do some searches at The Land Registry to see if they have changed the ownership of the property and at the Probate registry to see if something has been done there. Ring me if you want to talk 07721 564340 ( no charge of course )

MP

Knakered hope you get it sorted.