No will and next of kin renounced his family

Matt.ie

so i learned over the weekend a relative died unexpectedly,probably a heart attack. his estranged brother was informed but said he wanted no contact and nothing to do with the burial or anything else.he communicated as much in an email to my sister.
they hadnt spoken in 30 years or so.

the dead man had made known his wishes to be buried with his father,which is in ireland and he,the deceased had lived in london all his life,2nd generation irish.
he made this known at my fathers funeral 12 months ago,to my sister and i.

thing is,he never made a will.theres a large sum of money involved also,a very large sum of money.his first cousin is a trustee of this account.

the deceased's mother is in a care home in london with dementia,shes almost 90 and needs fulltime care,she isnt aware nor unlikely to know of his passing as shes quiet ill.

what could happen next? who will be the beneficiaries of his estate now? how can we bury him,repatriate the body? i have no funds to do this. the whole situation is a mess.

RobbingBandit

Citizens information has details on repatriation.

http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/death/after_a_death/bringing_a_body_to_ireland_for_burial_or_cremation.html

LirW

So he doesn't have any family beside his elderly mother, his brother and you? I assume you're cousins or uncle?
If this is the case and it would be your responsibility as the closest family you need to get onto a solicitor, in the best case one that's familiar with the British law. You can only really go from there.
The mother probably needs to be informed too,, as hard as it is.

I just wish you all the best, I know first hand of how messy this can be. Get in touch for legal advise today.

Also make sure, if the deceased is Irish only or if he holds a British citizenship too. That might be important later on to solve inheritance.

Water John

His next of kin, his mother, inherits all IWT. The cousin with access to funds you contact and tell this man's wishes.

C3PO

The Succession Act of 1965 outlines the rules of inheritance when someone dies in Ireland, the English law would be broadly similar I believe.

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

Obviously the fact that your relative has died intestate (without a will) and in another jurisdiction will make this case far more complicated!

In Ireland, if he had no spouse or children, then his mother would inherit all of the estate?

Peregrinus

SFAIK, under English intestacy rules, his entire estate will go to his mother. Obviously, if there's a large sum of money, that could make a difference to her quality of life/quality of care.

Whoever looks after his mother's affairs will have an interest in taking out a grand of administration so as to get in the assets to which the mother is entitled. That person can also arrange to have the deceased's remains repatriated to Ireland and buried there, and can pay the costs of that out of the estate. However they are not obliged to do this; they can choose to have him buried/cremated in England. Or they could cremate him in England and send the ashes home for burial in Ireland.