My partner has died without a will; we have both been married before. What should I do?
This is an unfortunate position to find yourself in. To summarise the law relating to this situation:
- Assets held in joint names with the deceased will pass to the survivor immediately.
- Assets held in the sole name of the deceased will be distributed via the Law of Intestacy. This may result in the deceased's children inheriting the estate, leading to the survivor claiming under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975. This may not result in a positive result for the survivor.
- Even worse, if the deceased was not fully divorced, his first spouse could be the person required to deal with probate etc.