Advice over father dying intestate

[meglet]

My father walked out on his family over 30 years ago when I was 2. He had no contact with any of his family at all until I decided to try and find him earlier this year. The Salvation Army found him in a residential care home but not a well man. He died this week so I am so thankful that I got to get to know him.

He died without leaving a will but he did leave an expression of wishes about his funeral that may turn out to be quite expensive (he wanted his ashes scattered in Greece) and we don't know yet whether his estate will cover it. My concern now though is that my uncle will take over. As a joint beneficiary can I insist on being an executor? Can I approve cash sums withdrawn from his account to cover debts / expenses? Can I request that we use my solicitor? He also had a brand new laptop and flat screen TV in his room which we are going to collect with his personal effects tomorrow - should we sell these and add the cash to his estate? Or can I keep them?

This summer I also tracked down and in met his ex-girlfriend of 20+ years who told me she paid for him to be flown to the UK after his 2nd stroke which cost her €1000. Should I tell her to make a claim on his estate for it or just give it to her myself after probate (assuming there is enough left)?

Finally, she also told me he had an offshore account in Jersey. Given the fairytales he told her about his backstory this could very well be rubbish but how would I go about checking?

[woofgang]

here's all the legal info. If your father died intestate the rules of inheritance once debts are paid is absolutely clear.
http://www.hmrc.gov.u...emmanual/tsem7800.htm

[bednobs]

ps re personal effects - they form part of the estate.

[Buenchico]

Woofgang's link is largely to internal procedures used by HMRC when assessing the liability to tax (if any) of a deceased person's estate.

The intestacy rules are here:
http://www.hmcourts-s...rvivedTheDeceased.pdf
Unless your father was married (or in a civil partnership) at the time of his death, the estate should be shared equally between yourself and your siblings. (If a sibling died before your father did, his/her children, if any will get his/her share).

Your uncle has no claim on the estate. You, or any of your siblings, have the right to apply for 'letters of administration'. (That's similar to 'probate' but applies upon intestacy). If your father's estate was very small you might not need to obtain a formal 'grant of representation' (= letters of administration) but your local Probate Registry can advise you:
http://www.hmcourts-s...robate/registries.htm

The simplest way to deal with the distribution of an estate, where there is more than one beneficiary, is to sell everything and then to distribute the proceeds. However it's permissible for one beneficiary to keep a specific item (such as the laptop) as long as the value of that item is taken into account when 'balancing the books'. For example, a brand new laptop might have cost, say, £400 but it would probably only fetch around £100 (after the deduction of fees) at auction. If one beneficiary retained the laptop, the accounts would need to show that he'd received £100 out of his inheritance in that form. (Such procedures can be extremely sensible

[Buenchico]

. . . because it means that someone gets a £400 item at a cost of only £100 but, equally, they can be the source of many arguments if other beneficiaries believe that the item has been under-valued).

Chris

[meglet]

Thanks all for your comments. We'll know more tomorrow about the size of his estate when we collect his papers etc which will give us an idea of what we can spend on his funeral and whether his ex getswhat she is owed. My concern was also that my uncle and my nan would steam ahead and arrange the funeral (which would also come out of his estate) without consulting my sister and I on our wishes. My dad my have left us, but he left them too and didn't talk to them for 34 years and I don't feel comfortable with my Nan choosing all the hymns at the service etc when by all accounts he was trying to escape from her clutches.

Does anyone have any thoughts on tracking down this offshore account?

[woofgang]

meglet if your uncle is not entitled to apply for letters of administration, then if he organises the funeral without discussing it with you and your sister, he could end up paying for it....is he aware if this?

[meglet]

I doubt it Woofgang. Thanks for the tip.

[coccinelle]

I would have thought there'd be some bank statements amongst his papers if he still had the account. My off-shore account in Jersey is with RBS. Isn't there a sollicitor sorting out the estate?

[meglet]

coccinelle, we haven't instructed a solicitor as yet. We found the details of his account in Jersey (which was RBS actually) amongst his effects and have sent a letter and death cert to see what he assets had there. As I understand it if the estate is small we don't need a solicitor so as soon as we get the info back from RBS we'll know what to do next.

Thank-you.