Please help - partner died no will

[TheAgileDuck]

Hi All, I would really appreciate your help. My partner of 12 years died over Christmas. He was very ill and I was his carer (unofficially he didn’t claim carers allowance etc) We have lived together for 8 years in his fully paid for house. He has two children who he has not seen for 10 + years and other relatives still alive but again not spoken to in a very long time years and years.

he has died with no will. His family are asking me to leave the house I have called my home for 8 years as we were not married and I wasn’t paying any rent/maintenance officially. He always verbally promised me that I could stay in the house if he passed away until I died or if I choose to leave 30% of the value of house and rest to his children. However it turns out there is no will so none of the above is official.

do I have any right to stay in the house? Please note I am not on bills. I also have no other savings, so if I was kicked out I would effectively be made homeless. I haven’t worked in 8 years as his health was extremely poor and I looked after him and he had enough money to cover all bills.

I am not after any money from his bank accounts, his expensive jewellery and watches just a small bit of what was promised to me for so long. I have no money saved so getting a solicitor I think will be last resort but guessing it might have to be done.

I am totally devastated by his loss but also now by this situation which has come as such a shock after thinking I had some safety for my future.

please help if anyone has any advice

many thanks

No, from the law in England. Yet to hear if any other jurisdiction applies. He didn't need to make a will for his children to inherit under intestacy rules. He clearly knew that as he told OP during the 8 YEARS that there was a will. Yet, she hasn't yet managed to find that in the home they shared over that time, where presumably, she would know where key documents were filed. It is totally clear he has shafted her. She needs to know this so that she can research the crumbs of help that have been suggested by other PPs. All of which lead to her needing to engage in a legal process. It's better that she is informed as best she can be before going down a legal route, without guaranteed success.

he got unpaid carer and partner who sacrificed career for him,on a promise
Now’s not the time for woulda or shoulda…but
Get proper legal advice

FFS this is all sheer conjecture on your part.

How will that help OP? Her late partner's children haven't applied for LoA yet (assuming he genuinely didn't leave a Will) and could only apply for Grant of Probate if he did leave a Will. Are you suggesting that OP can't find a Will, but his estranged children of 10 years have got one?

It seems clear that the partner wanted to leave his estate to his (estranged) children.

Sadly - and we obviously have no idea if this is the case and I sincerely hope it isn't - him telling his partner he wants to leave his estate to her means very little in some situations. He may well have just said it and had no intention of writing a will and changing his pensions, insurances, etc in her favour.

Dd is a solicitor specialising in in this area of law and it really isn't that rare for people to say one thing but implement something very different. He has even had clients come in and make mirror wills together and then one partner to come in a few days later and change their will and leave the other nothing/much less,

I obviously hope that this wasn't the case for the OP.

But it's important to not that it isn't clear at all. After all, a will can take very little time to make and doesn't even need to cost much. You don't need to leave the house either,

It really is a horrible thing to do. He must have known he needed to put his wishes in place otherwise his children get his estate

As I keep saying, he's only just died and offices have only just opened. Give any Will the chance to be found before the poor OP's partner is damned for not looking after the OP.

Wills should not be kept at ones home in case of fire.so highly likely if there is a Will its stored with the solicitor or other storage facility.

He knew his inaction in this situation would lead to the kids inheriting, he didn’t need to write a will for them to inherit.

Agreed. I have known clients who deliberately didn't leave wills.

No, I’ve very reasonably and logically deduced this from the facts Op has given.

What part of what I said do you think is unlikely or untrue?

Better still what are your suggestions?

Do you think he didn’t know the absence of a will meant the house would go to his kids? Lol

Do you believe he had good intentions when he deliberately deceiving Op by telling her a will was in place ?

Do you think he wasn’t aware he hadn't made will despite him stating so in an email to a friend that he …hadn’t written a will?

Anyway I’ve said my piece , thankfully the law is very much on the side of the kids and I’m confident they’ll get it but of course Op should still legal advice.

No, I’m not suggesting anything. I was stating a fact that only proved wills can be searched.

Firstly, sorry for your loss.

Definitely do not leave the house, this is what we would advise as a LA homeless dept.
I would speak to the LA about your predicament and at least get on the waiting list.
See a solicitor, there’s some good advice on the thread.

Exactly! People, particularly old and unwell people with assets and savings, know exactly what they’re doing by not leaving a will.

I studied law at uni and although I’m not a lawyer myself many of my friends are and I know how common this is and the chaos it causes.

I'm very sorry to hear of your predicament.

Why not play his children at their own game and tell them you believe that their father made a will, in which you were a beneficiary (not a lie, given that your late partner implied that he would provide for you). Keep it very vague and don't let them pin you down on details. Just tell them you are in the process of sorting things out. Not only will this buy you some time while you get legal advice, but it might also draw some information out of them as to how they are so confident that no will was made.

It has taken me nearly six weeks, since my father died, to obtain his original will from his solicitor for probate - and I knew exactly where it was.

Yes, under the Rules of Intestacy.

To be fair, 8 years in the span of a lifetime/working life is not "many years". The OP had a whole working lifetime to provide for herself, and chose not to do so anymore when she moved in with her partner. His children may feel that 8 years does not constitute a full on dependency, so the OP will need a lot of good advice.

I don’t have any suggestions because it’s pointless to speculate. Then only recourse is an application under the 1975 Act.

however, as the op has recently lost her partner I don’t think it is appropriate in any way to suggest she has been fooled or been naive or that her partner acted deliberately to exclude her. The OP is grieving and needs support and practical advice, not criticism

Nowhere have I said that being a “common law spouse” confers rights to a pension. I have simply used the term to describe a person who cohabits with another person and is in a long term relationship. People in such relationships MAY qualify for spouse’s pensions under the rules of pension schemes depending on how those rules are framed. And I do think many people understand the term “common law spouse” to describe unmarried cohabiting couples in a long term relationship. Of course, the safest option is to get married but if you are not, you may still qualify for a spouse pension under the rules of the scheme (based on your relationship with the member). Anyway, I’ll leave it there as OP was asking about rights to remain in property so getting sidetracked on pension might not be helpful.

I am so sorry for your loss OP and the situation you are in. Others have good advice.

I am also really pissed off that your partner didn’t see the importance of sorting out his affairs in the 10 years you were his carer, it’s a shitty move.

Ah, right, so you were agreeing with my previous comment. Sorry. 😊

No worries. 😀

I am sorry for your loss, Op.

I hope that this thread is helpful.

Get a list of solicitors for about 10 miles round you. Call everyone saying your partner made a will and you thinkit was with them? I know this happened with my mum - I knew she had a will but I got the solicitors wrong and had to call round. I found it - it was about half a mile away from the one I thought (and the opposite end of the alphabet!). You have nothing to lose by making a few phone calls, just in case? I don’t want to get your hopes up but maybe?

Bollocks.

You have absolutely no idea if this is true or not.

I haven't yet made a will, I have a life limiting condition and could drop dead any minute. My partner gave up work to look after me, he gets carers allowance and I financially support him, but if I die, he is at the mercy of my family (however they know about him know my intent that he remains here and the house is his etc etc, and there are only two of them, neither of whom have any desire to screw him over).

This thread is giving me the kick up the arse I need to sort it out, I haven't because its one more stressful thing to do and it does mean thinking about my own end, which I naturally do not want to do, it is depressing and upsetting to think about.

In no way however, does it mean that I have always wanted my Dad and my Sister to inherit my house and stuff!

@TheAgileDuck Stay put. Do not let his family push you around. Get legal advice, it is still possible he made a will and even if he hasn't it is likely there is something that can be done here. Please do not rush into anything.

I'd refuse to leave
The will have to take legal action to get you out
Then maybe you can cut a deal

They didn't want you out when you were caring for him did they

Exactly this. The people speculating about OP's late partner's motivations have no emotional intelligence or compassion - they don't know OP, let alone her late partner so how they think they can question his character (or OP's) beggars belief. Just shameful - and totally unhelpful to OP in her current predicament.