Intestacy & the 1965 Succession Act...

LordNorbury

Hi folks,

Not looking for legal advice, but had a discussion with a relation last night concerning an estate that we are both aware of, where a relative we share has died intestate. I'm curious if in such a scenario, does the 1965 Succession Act provide for a claim to be made by any relative or in particular can a claim generally be made by grandchildren, say in a situation where you have the following:

Person X (deceased who has died intestate).

Person Y, (only surviving son/child of person X, still alive).

Persons Y1, Y2 (grandchildren of the deceased and two children of person Y).

It's a simple enough question, I'm arguing no, the grandchildren have no basis for a claim, my relation argues that grandchildren have a claim on the estate. Again, I am not looking for legal advice, more a wider discussion concerning the urban myths that surround wills and people who don't leave a will. There is in my opinion a lot of urban myths relating to this particular subject.

Tom Young

There's a useful search function on the forum where a simple search might disclose this answer.

234

Extract from Citizen's Advice:

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/death/the_deceaseds_estate/what_happens_the_deceaseds_estate.html

Intestacy

If a person dies without having made a will or if the will is invalid for whatever reason, that person is said to have died "intestate". If there is a valid will, but part of it is invalid then that part is dealt with as if there was an intestacy. The rules for division of property on intestacy are as follows:

If the deceased is survived by

• spouse/civil partner but no children - spouse/civil partner gets entire estate
• spouse/civil partner and children - spouse/civil partner gets two-thirds, one-third is divided equally between children (if a child has already died his/her children take a share)
• parents, no spouse/civil partner or children - divided equally or entirely to one parent if only one survives.
• children, no spouse/civil partner - divided equally between children (as above)
• brothers and sisters only - shared equally, the children of a deceased brother or sister take the share
• nieces and nephews only - divided equally between those surviving
• other relatives - divided equally between nearest equal relationship
• no relatives - the state

coylemj

If the relevant parent of those grandchildren is alive which appears to be the case then they have no claim on the estate under intestacy.

Example: Person A dies intestate. He had three children: B (alive), C (alive) and D (deceased with two surviving children, they being A's grandchildren).

In that scenario the estate would be divided three ways - one third to B and C each and the remaining third would be divided equally among D's children so they would get 1/6 each. This distribution is know as per stirpes.

The children of B and C would get nothing.

LordNorbury

coylemj wrote: »

If the relevant parent of those grandchildren is alive which appears to be the case then they have no claim on the estate under intestacy.

Example: Person A dies intestate. He had three children: B (alive), C (alive) and D (deceased with two surviving children, they being A's grandchildren).

In that scenario the estate would be divided three ways - one third to B and C each and the remaining third would be divided equally among D's children so they would get 1/6 each. This distribution is know as per stirpes.

The children of B and C would get nothing.

This is what I thought, thanks for clarifying that, in effect where there are grandchildren and the parent is deceased, they collectively step into the shoes of their parent, had their parent (sibling of the deceased), been alive...

coylemj

LordNorbury wrote: »

This is what I thought, thanks for clarifying that, in effect where there are grandchildren and the parent is deceased, they collectively step into the shoes of their parent, had their parent (sibling of the deceased), been alive...

In the case of intestacy, yes. Note that if only grandchildren are left i.e. all of the deceased's children are dead, the estate is distributed equally among them. Per stirpes only applies where there is a mix of surviving children and the children of deceased children - the grandchildren in my example above.


(3) If an intestate dies leaving issue and no spouse, his estate shall be distributed among the issue in accordance with subsection (4).

(4) If all the issue are in equal degree of relationship to the deceased the distribution shall be in equal shares among them; if they are not, it shall be per stirpes.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1965/en/act/pub/0027/print.html#sec66