Inheritance advice needed
Discussion
A friend of mine's father has recently died suddenly and there is a question over who inherits what.
There was a solicitor's letter with a draft will leaving everything to her but the will was never signed and witnessed.
The only other relatives are two cousins in their late seventies who have not had contact with the father since childhood.
The complicated part is that my friends mother and father divorced shortly after she was born and the mother remarried. The new husband then legally adopted his step daughter so she could take his surname (he was a widower with a young child already).
The probate office have told my friend that she cannot act as executor because she is adopted out of the family and one of the cousins has taken the role.
As it stands, my friend is missing out on a substantial inheritance and both cousins (who don't need the money) will inherit, against the wishes of the deceased.
Does anyone have any idea whether this is worth contesting. Her solicitor is saying not.
There was a solicitor's letter with a draft will leaving everything to her but the will was never signed and witnessed.
The only other relatives are two cousins in their late seventies who have not had contact with the father since childhood.
The complicated part is that my friends mother and father divorced shortly after she was born and the mother remarried. The new husband then legally adopted his step daughter so she could take his surname (he was a widower with a young child already).
The probate office have told my friend that she cannot act as executor because she is adopted out of the family and one of the cousins has taken the role.
As it stands, my friend is missing out on a substantial inheritance and both cousins (who don't need the money) will inherit, against the wishes of the deceased.
Does anyone have any idea whether this is worth contesting. Her solicitor is saying not.
Executor and beneficiary are two different things.
Sounds like there is no will, so the UK Gov website here https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-w... may help.
Sounds like there is no will, so the UK Gov website here https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-w... may help.
I don't know about these things but surely a question to be answered is whether your friend had an active and agreeable relationship with her real father over the course of her life post-divorce? I would think that an unsigned will held by a solicitor is, at the very least, a statement of intent on the part of the deceased.
Yes, but apparently not from a legal stance.
Imagine if you gave a child up for adoption and they were brought up by another family, with no further contact. Would they have a claim on your estate in the event of your death?
Although my friend had contact, her solicitor believes that because she was adopted out, and there was effectively no will, she has no claim.
Imagine if you gave a child up for adoption and they were brought up by another family, with no further contact. Would they have a claim on your estate in the event of your death?
Although my friend had contact, her solicitor believes that because she was adopted out, and there was effectively no will, she has no claim.
See Section 39 of the Adoption Act 1976 - http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1976/36/sectio...However the OP hasn't made it 100% clear who the deceased is. The girl's birth father or her adoptive one.
That distinction will be crucial as to whether she gets anything under the intestacy rules.
Qcarchoo said:
The deceased is her birth father.
Unfortunately the lack of a signed will means the intestacy rules apply and Section 39 precludes her from any claim on his estate.Qcarchoo said:
It may or may not be relevant but her adoptive father died several years earlier.
Not as far as the question you asked is concerned. Any inheritance from her adoptive father would depend on the terms of any will that he made.If he also died intestate, the governing rules still apply and she would rank on an equal footing with any other natural children of his.
See here - http://www.inheritancedisputes.co.uk/news-articles...
Your friend has to hope that the elderly cousins do the decent thing and take into account the unsigned will, even though it has no legal standing, and give her at least a portion of the inheritance. But I think they have little choice but to follow the intestacy rules initially, and then make a subsequent gift to your friend.
If she's been adopted by another man, then the deceased isn't her legal father, she isn't his legal daughter, and she is in fact completely unrelated to him in law.
It matters not that her adopted father died years ago.
For her to inherit, she would have to be named as the beneficiary in a valid will. OP, you and I have as much claim on the money as she does.
It matters not that her adopted father died years ago.
For her to inherit, she would have to be named as the beneficiary in a valid will. OP, you and I have as much claim on the money as she does.
Qcarchoo said:
Tiggsy said:
Indeed - you mention "wishes of the deceased" but they were clearly not too important to him!
To be fair, I think he was probably like many people, myself included.It's one of those things you'll get round to eventually. I don't think he anticipated dying so suddenly.
Tiggsy said:
My point still stands - You can do a will in 10 mins for £10 on line. The second you are old enough or have enough to think "someone would be better off after I am dead if I did have a will" (be that financially or administratively) then not doing one that day means you really are not too fussed. Which is cool - no one needs to be fussed! But when you aren't it's a bit dramatic to talk about a deceased's wishes as though they were important to them.
He may well have assumed that everything would go to his biological daughter anyway, so didn't feel there was any sense of urgency.My wife takes an interest in family matters type of stuff and she was shocked that being adopted breaks the connection to biological parents.
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