Male Partner Dies Intestate

[tony1941]

And elderly lady friend of mine has been living (unmarried)for years with a friend of hers (met at school!). He has died and his children are claiming rights to his entire estate. Is this legal? does she not have rights as a common law wife??

[fiction-factory]

I'm not sure there is such a thing as a common law wife. Might be worth checking

[fiction-factory]

Hopefully someone like Barmaid, PP or Buenchico will see this tonight and advise you.
Which part of teh UK are they in as the laws differ in some parts

[bednobs]

ere is a question a few down in which the following answer was given:
5. When there is no valid will (which, of course, includes the circumstances where a will has been invalidated through marriage) the laws relating to intestacy apply. They are explained in the flowchart here:
http://www.manchesters.co.uk/Intestacy-flowchart.php
or you can work through this:
https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

6. As you'll see from the above links, the partner of a deceased person has, in the first instance, NO RIGHTS WHATSOEVER to inherit anything from them (unless they were actually married to the deceased person or in a civil partnership with them).

7. Under the provisions of the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, a person who has lived at the same address as a deceased person, as if they were their spouse, has the right to apply to a court to VARY the terms of their will (OR to vary the intestacy rules) in order to receive 'reasonable financial provision'. So, despite what I've written above, an unmarried partner of a deceased person MIGHT actually be able to receive an inheritance from their deceased partner. However the court procedure is COMPLEX and EXPENSIVE, so it's FAR better to get things properly sorted out before the death occurs.

[fiction-factory]

Is her name on the deeds or on any mortgage? Is she still living in the house?

[ubasses]

There is no legal recognition of Common Law Wife. The flow chart below shows how the estate will be distributed.
http://www.heir-tight-wills.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Rules-of-Intestacy-1-Oct-2014.pdf.
She would need to see a solicitor to see if she has any claim on the Estate if he supported her financially, but it could work out expensive .https://www.birkettlong.co.uk/site/library/privateclient/trust/cohabitees_and_death_who_can_claim.html

[Peter Pedant]

yup - no rights
as we all say on almost a weekly basis - to people intent on leaving oral instructions or a letter of intentions and wishing to be reassured that That is OK - it isnt
.
if she were dependent on the old boy
then a claim as described in Chris' para 7.
Ubasses says it costs moolah ( I am sure that is right).
Needs a solicitor, court case and judgment + money
ALTHO - the children may be tolerant of such a request.

Oh dear - and it could have been avoided by making a will.

As I get older and stupider - and people die intestate,
I have come to realise that a decent proportion of people who die without a will, have ... decided NOT to make a will. ( positive decision rather than forgetfulness)

in short she is completely and utterly .....

[Hymie]

If there is property ownership involved, hopefully they were ‘joint tenants’, whereby the surviving tenant automatically inherits the property – rather than ‘tenants in common’, otherwise his children will have a claim on is half of the property (or all of it, if he was the sole owner).

It is so important to write a Will to ensure that your estate is distributed as you would wish.

At a very young age (over 18) I wrote a Will – otherwise in the unlikely event of my death, both my parents would have shared my estate.

[Buenchico]

Bednobs has already quoted a big chunk of my answer on a previous thread but I'll direct you to the whole of it here:
https://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Law/Question1599138.html

The key points here though are that:
(a) the term 'common law wife' has no meaning in law ;
(b) if the couple co-owned their property as 'joint tenants' (rather than as 'tenants in common') the intestacy rules are totally irrelevant; the surviving partner AUTOMATICALLY owns the whole of the house ;
(c) the intestacy rules don't give a single penny of the deceased person's to the surviving partner ; but
(d) the surviving partner has the right to apply to a court for the intestacy rules to be varied, in order that she can receive 'reasonable financial provision' from the estate. ( https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/63 )

This link provides some useful information about seeking such a court order:
https://www.hughjames.com/service/contested-wills-trusts-and-estates/inheritance-act-claims/
However the process can be lengthy and expensive. A good solicitor would probably approach the children of the deceased person first, to attempt to reach a satisfactory agreement which would prevent the value of the estate being seriously eroded by legal expenses.

[Peter Pedant]

Hymie - Francis Galton - a contemporary of Darwin and geneticist wrote his first will at age 8

he didnt want to die when at school ( not uncommon then)

paintbox to his brother
buynny rabbit to his sister ....

doesnt help the poster I regret to say

[Hymie]

Although you might expect my estate to have been of fairly low value at age 18, my terms of employment were such that in the event of my death (due to an accident) 6 times my salary would be paid to my estate.

[Barmaid]

She should see a solicitor asap. There is a strict time limit. On the face of it she is eligible to claim. The alternative us to see a barrister direct thru the direct access scheme.

[EDDIE51]

This is why Ken Dodd ( who was worth £millions) married his partner of 40 years 2 days before he died.

[fiction-factory]

I think that may have also been to do with Inheritance Tax, eddie- passing his allowance on to his wife. I think he probably already had a will in place

[New Judge]

"I think that may have also been to do with Inheritance Tax, eddie- passing his allowance on to his wife."

Not his allowance, f-f, his entire estate (if that's what he wanted). There is no IHT payable when a spouse inherits via the other half's will.

[fiction-factory]

Yes, I didn't explain it fully- yes it avoids IHT now and means when his wife dies the estate benefits from both allowances. The main point i wanted to make was to question eddie's point regarding the reason for that Ken Dodd's death bed marriage. Ken Dodd almost certainly did this for IHT reasons (Doddy having the last laugh with the taxman) not to avoid an estate dispute