How to administer estate if a partner dies Intestate

[pudds]

How do you kick start the process, who should you contact. Obviously there is no will to be probated, so probate office is out, I assume.

Apparently,
If you die without having made a valid will, your estate is divided according to rules laid down in legislation.

Do you go down to your local court office, or do you go to a solicitor first, or somewhere else, what is the process.

 

[mf1]

See this link to the Probate Office

[broken link removed]


Grant of letters of administration.
When a person dies without having made a valid will, they are said to have died intestate. A grant of letters of administration issues to the person or persons who were the nearest next of kin at the date of death. Next of kin is determined by the Succession Act 1965.

It all depends on whether there are assets that need to be dealt with.

I'm a solicitor so my advice would be to see a solicitor for initial advices.

After that, decide (a) whether a Grant is necessary and, if yes, (b) if the estate administrator wants to take out a personal Grant or do so through a solicitor.

mf

 

[pudds]

Thanks for that link, it answers all my questions, there is a small family home that is the only asset, so a grant of letters of administration will be necessary.

 

[horusd]

As a by the by, my father died intestate and I handled the probate application myself. It was a lot cheaper than using a solicitor. I did get some advice from the family solicitor who told me, strangely enough, that I got the application thru much quicker than he could have done! Anyhow, there's nothing like some impartial advice - I would discuss with solicitor and ask about doing it DIY if it's possible,

 

[pudds]

@horusd thanks for the tips, I did in the past handle probate of my mothers estate myself when she died and if needs be should be well able to handle this, both were/are very straight forward cases, but I'm expecting that I will be the one to go first here, but then who knows

 

[Curlywurly]

@pudds. If the house is in joint names as joint tenants and there is no other asset in the sole name of the deceased person then you will not need to take out a Grant of Letters of Administration Intestate.