Intestate question

Malbcull22

Hi mother passed away last year,and did not make a will.We now have to decide what to do with the property that's in her name(5 children,Dad recently deceased).I've been in contact with our solicitor,and he told me he would arrange a valuation of the property etc.As there is no executor do I have to act as an administrator of the estate,or can the solicitor go ahead and look after this for us?Also,with regards bills for this property,can I just pay for all of these,and then claim them back when the property is sold?Have lots of questions on this,but just starting off,any help appreciated,thanks-MB

dennyk

Someone will need to be appointed the administrator of the estate. If you want to do it, you can apply for a grant of administration from the Probate Register, and it should be fairly straightforward if your mother doesn't have a surviving spouse and none of your siblings would object to your appointment because they want to take on the role instead.

You are free to hire a solicitor to help you manage the estate, even if it's not specifically required under the circumstances. Since there is real estate involved in the estate, it was probably a good idea to retain a solicitor.

You should not pay any bills or debts or otherwise touch any of the estate's assets until a grant of administration has issued. There are strict rules about how such matters are to be handled and how the estate's assets should be distributed, and doing anything yourself without a grant of probate could leave you personally liable for any damages caused by your inappropriate distribution of assets. If any bill collectors come looking, advise them that your mother has passed and her estate is pending probate. Once the grant has issued, your solicitor will be able to advise how to handle any outstanding bills or debts the estate owes, and help you with disposing of the estate's assets and distributing the proceeds to the heirs.

This Citizens Information page has a lot of useful information about the process:

https://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/death/the_deceaseds_estate/dealing_with_the_deceaseds_estate.html

Malbcull22

Thanks for that reply dennyk,I've been looking up details of what needs to done,but that's cleared up some points for me.