No will made - what now?

Do nothing unless the situation is causing stress for your friend. The small amount of money will be of little consequence in the long term.

The law is fairly clear

• You are married with children Spouse takes two thirds – children take one third between them

Hard as it seems he needs to make a will. It doesn't take long or much stress to do. My own brother had to do so within weeks of his death.

Even if he makes a will, his estranged spouse is entitled to a minimum one-third of his estate......

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1965/act/27/section/111/enacted/en/html#sec111

The ony way to ensure that the child gets all of that money is to bung it into a CU account and make a nomination in their favour. As outlined in the previous post.

If the adult "child" can be trusted, why not just let the money "rest" in thier account, and they would have it instantly.

Sorry, I thought the amount was much smaller than that.

13k is enough to cause trouble in the family depending on their situation.

Your friend should consult a solicitor and you should not give any advice in order to protect yourself.

Poster eiperello: Your friend should consult a solicitor and you should not give any advice in order to protect yourself.

Protect yourself from what? I suggested the the OP's friend put the money into a CU and make a nomination. What are the possible repercussions you think the OP would be exposed to, if he passes on that or any other advice he gets here?

If the OP's friend dies and his money goes to B instead of A as a result of a perfectly legal step taken by the deceased, there is nothing that A can do about it. Nobody who advises the OP's friend on his options has anything to worry about.

I don't think they need to go physically to the post office to arrange a nomination. get somebody else to get the form from the post office, fill it in, and send it off.

If you were thinking of 'non legal repercussions', why advise someone to go to a solicitor?

If the nomination (max. €23,000) covers the entire amount in the account, the answer is no. If there is money left in the account, it does form part of the estate.

S.21 (4) A nomination by a member of a credit union under subsection (1) may be revoked or varied by a subsequent nomination by him under that subsection or by any similar document in the nature of a revocation or variation signed by the nominator and delivered to the credit union's registered office during his lifetime; but such a nomination shall not be revocable or variable by the will of the nominator or by any codicil to his will.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/eli/1997/act/15/section/21/enacted/en/html

If,the money can be transferred to a credit union account the "noninated" person or the co signer of the account can get access to the money and close the account.The credit union will need to know why,but usually allow the withdrawal.

Is there a reason they cannot simply gift the money to their child now?

Ultimately, who is going to pay for the funeral (could easily cost the full 13K)!

Can they enable online banking on the account and just pass the login details to the son so they can then login and transfer the money to their own account?

The poster you replied to (and quoted) was talking about the nominee withdrawing the money while the nominator (the account holder) is alive.

Which is not possible, the nominee has no rights over the account while the nominator is alive. Because at any stage, the nominator could (1) get married, which would void the nomination or (2) he could revoke the nomination.

You are correct in that when the nominator dies, the nominee doesn't actually withdraw money from the account, the CU cuts a cheque and hands or posts it to you.