Legal question RE inheritance

Hi

I have a friend in a funny position and they are in the process of getting legal advice but thought Id get an opinion on here.

The person, her parents and siblings lived with the paternal grandmother in her house for years. Her father passed away a few years ago followed recently by his mother, the grandmother.

So the grandmothers house is now 'left'. She had no brothers or sisters and no children other than her deceased son. Her daughter in law is now suffering from dementia but I would assume she would have no claim on the house anyway as she isnt a blood relative?

So does the house pass to her grandkids, her sons kids,??? The solictor seem to indicate that this would cost a significant amount of money to sort out which I found odd.

Any ideas or opinions

Is there a will do you know? If not, then the estate would pass under the Succession Acts to the grandchildren, yes. Not having a will does complicate matters, but it happens a lot in Ireland (sadly). You'd need to get an idea of what "a significant amount of money" means exactly (there are many threads on AAM from people who did not get an exact quote for a piece of work and then were surprised/angry when the costs then exceeded what they expected). Best to get a number of quotes from other solicitors too so that you can satisfy yourself about the costs.

There is a fairly clear succession list for people dying intestate (without a will). Grandchildren are number 3, after Children(2) and Spouse (1). The list extends to about 15 different categories. The surviving spouse of a deceased Child would barely feature on this list.
Dying without a will is all too common a situation in Ireland and lots of solicitors have made a lot of money from it.
Sorting out this type of situation can take a lot longer than normal. However it should not cost considerably more than the norm. This is a pretty standard practice. You are best advised to shop around.
However tax planning will be critical in this situation especially if the inheritance is significant. The threshold - before a grandchild has to pay inheritance tax - is approx 52,000 euro. However if any of the grandchildren are under 18 then their threshold would be 521,000 euro.
Finally there is also a dwelling house relief which may apply in this situation. See [broken link removed]

Thanks guys