Inheritance claim going back 50 years

Hi everyone,

This is a rather obscure situation so I am just taking the chance that one of you will have advice/input. There is a solicitor investigating but we'll have a stressful time until we hear back so any help will be good.

The father died intestate with a wife and large family over 40 years ago. Apparently the children were asked to sign forms giving back their claim of the estate to their mother.

The mother later died and left the estate to the (now adult) children who remained on the estate. All of those children have since died except 1 remaining and each willed their share to the remaining siblings on the estate.

2 of the children who left home approximately 50 years ago have now written to the 1 remaining sibling's solicitor, claiming that they did not sign over their share of the estate when their father died and asking for their inheritance.

I know we are short on specifics and I have tried to keep this generic, but does anyone know if there is a precendent for such a claim or would the fact that such time has passed work in our favour?

You are going to need the services of the most prominent expert solicitor in Ireland that deals with such circumstances. This has the potential to be very costly so be prepared.

Thanks Mercman for the quick reply - although obviously that was not the response I was hoping to hear.

On reading other posts I see mention of a Statute of Limitations. Would such a Statute not apply in this case or can you give me more guidance on why you think they could have a case.

No, AFAIK the Statute of Limitations does not apply in cases of Inheritance. The amount of Discovery in this case might take months especially if it was a large estate. Have the two that went away 50 years ago any evidence to back up their claim ??

OP

As regards the question, not enough information is given to offer a meaningful response. There are a series of questions that need answers:

1. What actually happened when the father died?
2. What actually happened when the mother died?
3. In whose name is the land currently registered?
4. Has there ever to date been a formal vesting of the land in anyone?
5. if not, why not?

You would think in this day and age that people would deal with land formally but regrettably there is often still a reluctance to spend the necessary money in formalising estates.

Section 125 of the 1965 Succession Act may be of assistance and that is set out below but, really, it is a matter of going through the various stages to truly ascertain the correct position and how it should now be dealt with.

mf


"125.—(1) Where each of two or more persons is entitled to any share in land comprised in the estate of a deceased person, whether such shares are equal or unequal, and any or all of them enter into possession of the land, then, notwithstanding any rule of law to the contrary, those who enter shall (as between themselves and as between themselves and those (if any) who do not enter) be deemed, for the purposes of the Statute of Limitations, 1957 , to have entered and to acquire title by possession as joint tenants (and not as tenants in common) as regards their own respective shares and also as regards the respective shares of those (if any) who do not enter.
[GA]

(2) Subsection (1) shall apply whether or not any such person entered into possession as personal representative of the deceased, or having entered, was subsequently granted representation to the estate of the decease"

I will not say it absolutely, but it's likely that the Statute of Limitations has run in this case (12 years), barring the siblings claims to the property. They left 50 years ago, and apparently have made no claim on the property since then until now.

The thing is that conclusive advice will be very fact driven (who did what, when) so you need competent professional advice. Unfortunately many solicitors know very little about the issue.

In the meantime, have a look at the PRAI Practice Direction on Adverse Possession. It gives a useful run through the law on AP in Ireland, and gives you an idea of the kind of bar that has to be passed to claim AP.

j26 said:

Unfortunately many solicitors know very little about the issue.

Click to expand...

Really? Why would you think this?

Mercman - why do you say the Statute of Limitations does not apply in this case?. IMHO very relevant. In general terms and if no issues of disability arises the person in undisputed possession acquires title after 12 years.

JD26 Why do you say many solicitors know very little about the issues in this case? Any office practising in any of the areas in provincial Ireland from which there has been substantial emigration over the generations would have dealt with many of those cases. They are very common in all their permutations. A solicitor who knows very little about the topic must have had a very narrow education and specialised apprenticeship and work experience since qualifying.

Titles frequently come to light where the grandparent or great grandparent of the present occupant is the last entry on the folio or prior Land Commision documents.

Facts have to be gathered re the family history, who left the lands when, did they return other than on holiday visits, dates of births marriages, details of present issue etc, and appropriate application drafted to the PRA, with notice to the relatives who can be located. PRA may direct further notices or advertisements.

A dispute may be resolved in the Circuit COurt.

It is not rocket science in legal terms but takes some time and effort to assemble the information from the various registries, census returns, estate records etc.

Vanilla said:

Really? Why would you think this?

Click to expand...

Substantial experience.

JD26, could you detail your experience upon which you base your opinion that many solicitors know little of this topic ( bringing titles up to date )?

i.e. have you been involved as a client in a substantial number of these cases, or do you work in the PRA.

I have 30++ years experience of dealing with these titles in the West of Ireland both for own clients and reviewing other solicitors' applications. Based on that experience I believe every office outside the Pale would have substantial experience and knowledge of such applications.

I have to say I'd be absolutely astonished if any solicitor who ever worked in an office outside of Dublin ( maybe excluding the very small number who specialise in areas which don't in anyway cross over with conveyancing) hadn't some knowledge of s.49s. I'd also be surprised if any solicitor who ever dealt with conveyancing didn't know about them. To the best of my knowledge that would encompass the vast majority of all solicitors.

" 2 of the children who left home approximately 50 years ago have now written to the 1 remaining sibling's solicitor, claiming that they did not sign over their share of the estate when their father died and asking for their inheritance."

If the two remaining children who left home had signed over their share this document must be somewhere if not lost. If the signing was done in a solicitors office it must be on file. The first matter that must be done is to establish whether that document is available or not. It will simplfy matters if it can be located.

If it cannot be located and the solicitor has no record of any correspopndence inviting people in to sign away their entitlements it is going to get complicated. Negotiations may be better than pursuing a legal case.