No will made can a sibling be excluded from inheritance

Road-Hog

If a person dies without a will made how do things pan out. Is it possible to exclude siblings of the deceased from their share of the deceased estate?

How does the process work? I know the 'next of kin' will liaise with a solicitor and the probate process has to be undertaken but say there was a family of 10 brothers and sisters, one dies who was estranged from the others, very little contact for a long number of years and the nominated 'next of kin' is not honest and decides not to disclose the existence of three of her siblings who are living abroad during the probate process etc. Thereby the estate is divided by 7 as opposed to 10, Can anyone tell me if such a 'scam' is possible?

Ken.

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

If there is no will and the spouse/civil partner has never renounced his/her rights and is not "unworthy to succeed", then that spouse/civil partner has a right to what is called a "legal right share" of the deceased's estate.

If there are no children, the spouse/civil partner is entitled to one-half of the estate;
if there are children, the spouse/civil partner is entitled to one-third of the estate. The children are not necessarily entitled to the rest.
If you find that your spouse/civil partner has made a will that does not recognise your legal right share, you may still claim your right. You do not have to go to court; the executor or administrator is obliged to grant you your share.

Cohabiting couples have no legal rights to each other's estates but may be able to apply for redress when one of them dies. A church annulment has no legal status and so does not change the status of a spouse. If a partner in such an annulled marriage subsequently "remarries" or enters into a civil partnership, this is not a legal marriage or civil partnership, and the parties have no rights vis a vis each other. Cohabiting couples may, of course, make wills in favour of each other but such wills may not negate the legal right share of a spouse/civil partner.

IsaacWunder

Road-Hog wrote: »

If a person dies without a will made how do things pan out. Is it possible to exclude siblings of the deceased from their share of the deceased estate?

How does the process work? I know the 'next of kin' will liaise with a solicitor and the probate process has to be undertaken but say there was a family of 10 brothers and sisters, one dies who was estranged from the others, very little contact for a long number of years and the nominated 'next of kin' is not honest and decides not to disclose the existence of three of her siblings who are living abroad during the probate process etc. Thereby the estate is divided by 7 as opposed to 10, Can anyone tell me if such a 'scam' is possible?

Such a scam is possible, but unlikely to succeed.

As said above, by ken, if no will is made and the deceased person has a wife and children they get the money, if no wife and kids, then the deceased parents, if they're not alive then it's equally divided between the deceased's siblings, if they're not alive, then the deceased's nephews and nieces, if none of them exist then it's shared equally between uncles and aunts (blood relatives), cousins, and so on. If nobody can be found it goes to the state. This division process is called the rules of intestacy.

There's no such thing as a "nominated next of kin," rather when a dead person dies without a will a legal process (called a grant of letters of administration) is ordered by the High Court and then issued by the probate office, and a court appointed individual (known as an administrator) handles the estate. They cover the funeral expenses, pay off the deceased person's medical and other bills, settle their debts, take out the fee for the administration process, and then they divide the remainder as laid out in the first paragraph. It is possible to avoid getting the order from the High Court and going through this process if the dead person had very little money or assets.

The administrator can be sued if they don't do all of the above correctly. In your example if the administrator somehow didn't discover siblings of the dead person they would be liable to that sibling later. The fact that the rest of the family lied to them about the existence of brothers and sisters overseas might be a defence, but I don't think it would be enough to take the word of a family member, particularly where it's obvious the dead person is estranged from the rest of the family. After all it's not a difficult process for an administrator to discover whether a person had brothers and sisters as these are public records.

sparkling sea

Information from CI website comcering the intestate process.
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

If you ring your local CIC they will post you out intestate information. Many CIC's allow the free legal aid service to operate from CIC premises, its in the evening, you can ring CIC and they will make the appointment for you