Father died leaving no will...but...

Mick Shrimpton

ooops...mods please delete

Owen

That's difficult. The legal heads will answer soon enough, but my Father died many years ago with no will, and we only sorted out the probate 4 years ago (He died 17 years ago), so keep the faith, it might take a while.

ladylorenzo

The first thing you need to do is sit down and have a chat with your siblings and try to come up with some sort of agreement as to what to do. The fact that you father's last wishes weren't incorporated into a will means that the rules of Intestacy automatically apply irrespective of what he may have said in the hours before he died. This means that the estate is automatically divided between the three of you. Letters of administration must first be extracted so that his Estate can be administered. Depending on the circs of the case, this should not take too long but any opposition to the adminstarion of his Estate in this way will of course delay the proceedings. Personally speaking, i dont really think that your siblings would have a case if they decided to contest the administration of the estate before the 5 years had lapsed.
Keep in mind that in my experience, the only people who benefit out of family disputes in probate matters are the lawyers so try to come to an amicable arrangement before you approach a solicitor(i'm doing myself out of future earnings here!!)
Good luck with it all. Its not an easy time for any of you. LL