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Uncle died intestate without leaving a will: how must the estate be divided?
Recently an uncle of mine died leaving no will so I have been dealing with his estate. As it is only financial with no property it shouldn't be to much of a problem. As there are no children and he never married the estate should go to his brothers. But they have died so it should got to the children of the brothers. This is where I have a problem. My brother sadly passed away before my uncle and as a result it leaves myself plus 2 cousins, so I would assume that it gets split between the relevant brother's children, as in I would get my father's share and they would split their fathers share between them, but they are disputing this saying that they think that my brother's children should be included despite the fact that my brother died before my uncle. Please put this straight for me as its driving me mad!!.
I cannot give a full answer as it is difficult to visualise the exact relationships involved. It is also necessary to ensure that there are no 'forgotten' relatives.
To clarify, under the intestacy rules and where someone dies without leaving a spouse, then the whole estate passes as follows:
- to deceased's children but if none then
- to his parents or
- his siblings of the whole blood or their issue or
- his siblings of the half blood (i.e. where they shared one parent) or
- his grandparents or
- his uncles/aunts of the whole blood or their issue or
- uncles/aunts of the half blood or their issue otherwise
- Bona Vacantia and so the Crown
If all the deceased's brothers have died before him but leaving children, then those children inherit their father's share and it is divided equally between them.
I hope this is of some help to you.
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