How do I gain access to an estate with no will made for it?

[JonnyBoy12]

I am sorry if this has been asked before, but this is a serious question which I need a quick answer to. My uncle is terminally ill, but to my knowledge has made no will. My mother, who is his sister is still alive, and assumes that she will automatically inherit all of his remaining estate. This I know to be quite wrong, and I know that she will have to "fight her corner", and claim this estate legally.

Can anyone here tell me how my mother will claim this estate without a will? Would she have to prove her identity, and how does she go about this tricky situation?

Is this Charles Dickens novel "Bleak House" about this very thing, with more than one person making a claim on an estate?

Thanks once again folks, for your speedy and ever helpful replies.

[factor-fiction]

Does your uncle have any children

[JonnyBoy12]

Sorry, I should have given you all the details. He is never married, has no children, and there are no further children in the picture apart from my uncle, and my mother. There is noone else to make a claim to this small estate, and he does not own any property, just a small amount of cash in the bank.

[ubasses]

http://www.hmcourts-s...rvivedTheDeceased.pdf
If you look at the above it is an easy to follow flow chart of who is entitled to what. If your mum is next of kin she will have to apply for letters of administration, but if there looks to be problems with other family members it may be best to appoint a solicitor

[Graham-W]

If there are brother(s) or sister(s), but no spouse or civil partner, or children or parents then everything is shared to brothers and sisters of the whole blood equally.
The estate will have to go to probate before anything can be touched and your Mum will have to prove her relationship and prove there are no other siblings or offspring of siblings.

[dzug2]

On what you have said your mother is entitledto the whole estate.

If it's small (up to £5k) most banks, etc, will pay out without probate. All you need are the death certificate, probably proof of your own ID, sign their form and you are away.

If they won't play ball or if it's a larger sum you apply to the Probate Office for Letters of Administration. Not difficult - death certificate, ID, and a few forms. They will help you through the process and it's relatively cheap

[dzug2]

To clarify - by 'you', I mean your mother. You can help her, but you can't do it yourself

[woofgang]

To be clear on what has been said, regardless of what the bank will do, every estate has to go through some sort of probate process. Most estates are what is called excepted which means that there is no tax to pay.