Inheritance Problem

[Oleanda]

My ex-husband died last year in Turkey, where he had been living for 5 years. He had made a will since going to live there, leaving everything to our two grown-up daughters. He sent them a translation of the will by email, but they have no idea where the original is. He was still a British citizen and had a UK bank account, and he was single, with no wife or partner. If the will cannot be found, will the daughters still be able to inherit under British intestancy law?

[dotty.]

it is probably with his bank or his solicitor, who informed you of his death?

[mike11111]

They will still inherit under the intestacy rules in full, providing you have no other children who could claim. As you are divorced you have no claim, so the outcome should not be too much different from that if the will is found.

[Oleanda]

The Foreign Office informed us of his death, there are no other children, and I know I do not have a claim, I am asking on behalf of my daughters.

[mike11111]

Then your daughters will be OK. If the will cannot be found they will need to apply for Letters of Administration.

[Barmaid]

Oleanda, I'm sorry to say that this is quite a complex area of the law. I have recently dealt with an estate with a Turkish element and it is not quite that simple. What it comes down to is domicile. Domicile has a particular legal meaning and is not just limited to where the deceased was living.

What were the assets - apart from the UK bank account and where were they?

I suspect you are going to need some specialist advice - although if the assets are identified and their whereabouts, it may be easier.

[Oleanda]

Thank you for your answers. This is rather more complicated than I made it seem. The girls are aware that they need specialist help if they are to sort this out, but they are not having much luck in obtaining it, and are wondering if it will be worth in the long run, it will probably cost more than the estate is worth. Their father bought a house on the west coast of Turkey when he first went there, but he had recently moved to a remote town in eastern Turkey. He also had a Turkish bank account. He was retired, and his income was from pensions paid into his UK bank and he accessed this money via ATMs in Turkey. He never told his UK bank that he was living in Turkey, and used his sister's UK address for mail. The Foreign Office gave the girls addresses of several lawyers in Turkey that they thought would be able to help them, but all of these lawyers came back saying they couldn't help, except one who said he had done a search and found no property registered to the deceased, but he couldn't help further.