Intestate

rednose

Hi
Looking for any info from people in the know. My wife’s uncle, who she had a great relationship with, has passed away and turns out he had never done his will. He has always said he was leaving her everything and he has told numerous other people this as well. She looked after him in his later years(because she wanted to, not because of the will) and he passed away recently. His best friend(whom he also told his wishes to leave everything to my wife) was supposed to bring him to get his will sorted but never got around to it. So now it seems his full estate will go to his brothers/sisters, as he has no kids, some of whom he wasn’t even talking to at the end. Is there anything that can be done or is it just bad luck and his verbal wishes count for nothing? Thanks

coylemj

Your wife's parent (your father or mother in law) who was a sibling of that uncle, are they alive or dead?

rednose

coylemj wrote: »

Your wife's parent (your father or mother in law) who was a sibling of that uncle, are they alive or dead?

He is alive.

coylemj

rednose wrote: »

He is alive.

That means your wife will get nothing. If she feels that she has a moral claim on the estate, she should talk to a solicitor but she will have an uphill and potentially expensive battle ahead of her.

As things stand, the estate will be shared by the uncle's siblings and if he was predeceased by siblings who had children, those nieces and nephews will divide up their parent's share. This is a distribution known as per stripes.

69.—(1) If an intestate dies leaving neither spouse nor issue nor parent, his estate shall be distributed between his brothers and sisters in equal shares, and, if any brother or sister does not survive the intestate, the surviving children of the deceased brother or sister shall, where any other brother or sister of the deceased survives him, take in equal shares the share that their parent would have taken if he or she had survived the intestate.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1965/act/27/section/69/enacted/en/html#sec69

rednose

coylemj wrote: »

That means your wife will get nothing. If she feels that she has a moral claim on the estate, she should talk to a solicitor but she will have an uphill and potentially expensive battle ahead of her.

As things stand, the estate will be shared by the uncle's siblings and if he was predeceased by siblings who had children, those nieces and nephews will divide up their parent's share. This is a distribution known as per stripes.

69.—(1) If an intestate dies leaving neither spouse nor issue nor parent, his estate shall be distributed between his brothers and sisters in equal shares, and, if any brother or sister does not survive the intestate, the surviving children of the deceased brother or sister shall, where any other brother or sister of the deceased survives him, take in equal shares the share that their parent would have taken if he or she had survived the intestate.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1965/act/27/section/69/enacted/en/html#sec69

If the siblings were happy to waive their rights and allow my wife to inherit, would that be lawful?

coylemj

rednose wrote: »

If the siblings were happy to waive their rights and allow my wife to inherit, would that be lawful?

That’s a legal and taxation minefield. If your wife is the only niece or nephew of the deceased then it is doable. The siblings (including your father in law) would all need to unconditionally renounce their succession rights. In which case your wife would be the ‘next of kin’ and would inherit the estate.

As a niece, she would have a relatively low exemption threshold for capital acquisition tax, it’s currently €32,500.

The ‘minefield’ I mention arises if they renounce their rights in favour of your wife. That will give rise to potentially double taxation because for each uncle and aunt who does this, Revenue interpret that action as (1) uncle or aunt takes their inheritance and (2) gifts it to your wife.

ohnonotgmail

coylemj wrote: »

That means your wife will get nothing. If she feels that she has a moral claim on the estate, she should talk to a solicitor but she will have an uphill and potentially expensive battle ahead of her.

As things stand, the estate will be shared by the uncle's siblings and if he was predeceased by siblings who had children, those nieces and nephews will divide up their parent's share. This is a distribution known as per stripes.

69.—(1) If an intestate dies leaving neither spouse nor issue nor parent, his estate shall be distributed between his brothers and sisters in equal shares, and, if any brother or sister does not survive the intestate, the surviving children of the deceased brother or sister shall, where any other brother or sister of the deceased survives him, take in equal shares the share that their parent would have taken if he or she had survived the intestate.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1965/act/27/section/69/enacted/en/html#sec69

is that not per stirpes?

coylemj

ohnonotgmail wrote: »

is that not per stirpes?

It is. A mistype on my part.

Claw Hammer

There is a case called McCarron v McCarron where a nephew who had worked for his uncle was given a farm on the basis that he had been promised it and had worked on the farm for 16 years. This was despite the fact that there was no will and he wasn't, under the rules of intestacy, entitled to any share of the estate. It is a very extreme case however.