will

[homerbart]

This is a true situation.

A man and his wife get divorced years ago. They have two children in their twenties. The man went off with somebody else. The wife owns the house outright as she inherited it but what is the position if and when she dies and has not left a will. Does the husband have any say in it or does it go straight to her two children. Thanks for answers.

[daffy654]

I'm not positive about this one but surely as the couple are divorced he has no claim on the property unless something was specified in the divorce settlement.

[homerbart]

thanks for that daffy but I need to know the correct law on this.

[fredpuli47]

Divorced, he has no status, no claim. The problem arises when a couple never bothered to divorce.Then the survivor has an automatic right. You can imagine the distress that causes if the deceased had been living with a new partner for many years as man and wife.

In any case, she ought to make a will .Everybody should.Then they appoint suitable people they choose to be executors to take care of the estate and they give directions as to the disposal of everything they own, right down to details. In many cases the intestacy rules produce a result which is far away from what the deceased , or their family,wanted or expected

[Stu Dent]

Fred is quite correct. The "husband" has lost any succession rights upon divorce. If there is no will then the property of the deceased will be distributed under whatever rules apply in the relevant jurisdiction for distributing property when the deceased dies intestate. In Scotland this would be the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964 and yes, her heritable estate would be distributed equally between both her children - thankfully.

Sorry if it sounds as though I'm splitting hairs, Fred. But I don't have a will (although I've been thinking about writing one). The reason I don't have a will is that if I died intestate my property would be distributed exactly as it would if I died testate - half shared between both my siblings, and half to both of my parents. I have considered making a will so that one sibling would receive half and my nephew and nieces from my older sister would get one third each of the other half. But so far I am satisfied that the result I would get if I died intestate. My feeling is that there will be many people out there who spend money making a will when in fact, they don't need to.

But I would agree that it would be worthwhile to review personal circumstances from time-to-time to ensure the result one wants is the one that one will get. Precisely for the reasons you explain!

[fredpuli47]

Yes Stu Dent .
You are in Scotland. In England as an unmarried person with no children, your property would pass to your parents absolutely and your siblings would get nothing on your intestacy (not what you want). In Scotland they do get something (what you do want). Some people might not know that. Pity the Englishman who dies intestate in Scotland thinking that the rule is the same as in England (or vice versa) !

The rules of intestacy in England are complicated. They are not tax efficient either, but that's another matter. In some cases the intestacy rules would bring the same result as that intended by the deceased. The will makes it certain but, more important, can provide for all the eventualities that might befall. The intestacy rules give only one path. Making a will is cheap enough.

(This is a hair we ought not to split LOL)
.

[Stu Dent]

Thanks Fred. Think I might check out Amazon and try to get hold of some English law books out of academic interest and possible future opportunities.