property after death

maryjane1

my dad passed away. he had a handwritten will not witnessed or anything. my mam rightfully gets everything. she thinks we should just leave everything as it is ie house deeds (in dads name), joint account etc. should we leave things or is it necessary to change things around. if so where do we start?

cycleoin

Get yourself to a solicitor. These things can become very messy if he has, for example, mentioned someone else in the will (outside the family) who has notice of his ad hoc will.

My condolences.

Hi52

Firstly, my condolences on your dad passing away.

If the handwritten will is not witnessed then it is not a valid will. Consequently the rules of intestacy apply. By operation of the Succession Act, your mother is entitled to two thirds of the Estate with the balance divided between the children equally. Your mother, however, can nominate to take the family home if the value of the house is less than or equal to the value of two thirds of the Estate. Otherwise she will have to pay the difference between the two.

The joint accounts (and any other property in joint names) pass by survivorship to the other person named on the joint property and does not form part of the Estate distributed under the rules of intestacy (although there may be tax consequences depending on the value of the joint property).

Would advise you to get a solicitor. As there is property in the Estate, Letters of Administration will have to be extracted. Hope this helps.

seamus

While it may make life easier in the short run to not have to deal with these things, eventually the issue of having your Dad's name on these things will show itself. There will be situations where signatures/approval of all named persons has to be obtained, and at that point hoops will have to be jumped through in order to have your Dad's name removed from the documents before you can do anything.

As pointed out, there are certain laws which deal with intestacy and the handling of the estate. I would recommend that the family all sit down, decide what way you want the estate to be handled, and then go to a solicitor and have him/her organise it all for you. It will save so much heartache in the long run.

grumpytrousers

aye - what seamus said. mind you, just cos the succession act provides that mam gets 2/3 and the kids get 1/3 doesn't mean that the family can't decide on a different carve-up themselves if they wish AFTERWARDS; in other words, you're not bound for ever and ever amen with the split as envisioned in the act, and so long as there's full agreement (and here's where i echo the advice of m'learned friends here) between ALL members of the immediate (spouse and kids) family.

maryjane1

thnak you for your help. well get a solicitor to help us sort it out