Who is next of kin

[Teleph0ne]

My mother died some time ago and my father has since remarried, following the recent death of a grandparent an insurance policy has been found naming my mother as the beneficiary. Although there is no dispute between our father and us, my mothers sister is stating that my father is no longer the next of kin as he has remarried. Who would be the next of kin, my sister and I or my father?

[dothawkes31]

the insurance company would probably need a copy of your mothers will and death certificate and likely they will judge her children to be the next to inherit, especially if the grandparent's will named her and her children should she pre-decease her parent

[suzie1]

you and your sister would be, i think, it may be worth asking a solicitor to be sure. definatly not ur mums sister though, shes probably envious that your mum is made beneficiary and will probably try to take claim, so tread carefully and get legal advice, its free for the first half hour and just get straight to the point. hope this helps

[Teleph0ne]

We know that my mothers sister wouldn't be next of kin and my father has agreed that the money can be split between my sister and I. My mother didn't leave a will and the only posessions were joint with my father anyway so there was no issue with her estate. The only issue is that my father was quite hurt by the comments by his sister in law and presumed that as he was next of kin when she died then he would still be next of kin now

[dzug]

I'd say that the policy forms part of your mother's estate and that therefore your father inherits. His remarriage is irrelevant.

But ICBW.

[Teleph0ne]

Thats what we thought, hopefully someone will be able to confirm that.

[themas]

Next of kin is not a legal term & cannot necessarily be used to determine who inherits anything.

If the policy was written in trust (a lot are) it would not necessarily be part of the grandparent's estate.

However, whoever is dealing with the estate needs to get this confirmed by contacting the insurance company. If it is part of the estate the proceeds will go to whoever is entitled to them under the will, or under intestacy laws if there is no will. If it is not part of the estate it will be necessary to discuss with the insurance company what should happen. There will probably be something in the small print of the policy terms covering this situation.

[Teleph0ne]

The policy was taken out by my grandmother with my mother as beneficiary, the policy was forgotten about and only turned up when my grandmother recently died. My mother didn't leave a will and her estate passed to my father without issue. Now this policy has turned up, my mothers sister is claiming that it has nothing to do with my father and should go to my older sister. The policy is only worth a few hundred pounds and isn't really worth fighting over however my fathers feelings are. I feel that the policy should go to my father to do with as he wishes but am not sure how the law sees it.

[bednobs]

then you have a perfet situation: If it goes to your sister all she has to do is give it to your dad!

[Teleph0ne]

Not the perfect situation as my mothers sister has the policy and is dealing with my grandmothers estate, she says that my father has no claim on my mothers estate now that he has remarried. It isn't about the money anyway, it's about my fathers feelings. We don't want a battle, just for her to understand that my fathers remarriage is irrelevant as they were still married when my mother died and as she didn't leave a will he automatically inherited her estate. I am not looking for opinions or ways around the situation, we already know where the money is going regardless of the outcome. I just want to know if anyone can clarify the law on this matter.

[dzug]

When did the policy mature? ie when should it have paid out? When the grandparent died or at some stage in the past?

[Teleph0ne]

The policy was taken out many years ago is payable upon the death of my grandmother which happened about a month ago, its only worth a few hundred pounds and my mother was named as the beneficiary but she died over 20 years ago. I believe there was a similar policy with my mothers sister as beneficiary who is still alive. My grandmother must have forgotton about the policies and they just been found amongst her paperwork. The money is not the issue, I just need to know that my fathers remarriage does not effect his rights as they were still happily married when my mother died.

[dzug]

I think there are three possible scenarios and I really don't know which is right:

Scenario 1 - forms part of your mother's estate and hence devolves to your father. I'm less convinced by this than I was given that the policy was not payable until your grandmother died

Scenario 2 - forms part of your grandmother's estate. As the beneficiary has died, the proceeds are divided between her, the beneficiary's, children

Scenario 3 - disbursement is at the discretion of the insurance company to whoever makes a good case to them

I'm now inclined to 2 - which is what you are thinking of doing anyway

[themas]

dzug

In your scenario 2, the proceeds will go under the terms of grnadmother's will if there is one.

Scenario 3 will almost certainly apply if the policy was written in trust - see my previous post.