Inheritance

[OldBeyondMyYears]

Strange one here:

My dad passed away 12 years ago and everything was left to mum (I say everything...there was literally just a small house worth around 110k at that time, no other assets or money). The house was in joint names and obviously now belonged to my mum.

My mum died last year, and the house was sold and split between me and my 4 siblings. We got around 25k each after everything was sorted.

Fast forward to now: we have just discovered that we have two half siblings (my dad's unknown children).

I want to contact them but my sisters are saying no, as they would have a claim on their inheritance.

This wouldn't bother me at all to be fair but I can understand from their viewpoint that they are worried.

My question is: Would they actually have a claim though? The money was technically my mum's, as she inherited the house obviously after dad passed.

I have tried googling but can't find a definite answer to this.

If anyone has experienced anything similar I'd appreciate it. Thanks.

Where do you live? It will have an impact on the answer.

Or rather, where did your parents live?

Joint assets pass to the survivor. No-one else has a claim against them. (England & Wales)

Where did your parents live?
Did your Dad have a will?
Did they own the house as tenants in common or joint tenants?

Assuming they lived in England or Wales then:
If a will, and left everything to her, the children have no claim (assuming they were non-dependent adults at time of death).
If no will, and house owned as joint tenants, children have no claim on the house, and as the estate was small, intestacy rules would have given everything else to his wife.
If no will, and house owned as tenants in common, still likely to go to his wife due to the size of the estate.

In any case, time limits for claiming against the estate are quite tight, and they would be well past those.

Surely if he wasn't on their birth certificate they have no claim?

Wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole. They were probably funded at your family’s expense for years anyway.

I don't have the answer @OldBeyondMyYears but am commenting as I potentially could have a similar situation, so following with interest.

Think in Scotland they can claim a ninth of your dad’s estate. There is a set period of time for them to do it.

Did they know who your dad was? Presumably if they were interested in money they would have been in contact before now?

In Scotland they might have a claim but not in England or Wales.

Thanks all…I’ve no idea if they even know who my dad is. This could potentially be a shock if/when they find out.

It was a shock to us! 😮 A potentially whole ‘new family’ that we had no idea about 😲

This is helpful, thank you. So as my mum survived my dad, then everything was hers? If so, then my mum's estate has nothing to do with my dad's 'extra' children and my mum's Will stands (leaving it to me and my 4 siblings).

For those asking, we are all in England.

Thanks.

That is my knowledge OP.
You will inherit from your Mum eventually.
Nothing to do with your Dad anymore.

Joint assets means a specific way of legally owning them. Eg, cash in a joint bank account, house owned as joint tenants.

Cash in a sole account, or a house owned as tenants in common would pass according to the will, or intestacy provisions if there was no will.

Anyone could challenge Will.

But given what you have described they would only be successful had they been financially dependent on your Dad when he died.

Which given they probably had no idea who he was sounds very unlikely.

Joint assets pass to the survivor. A will does not change that.