OT: Intestacy

[Peter Parry]

the moderated lot are quite moderate and even useful.

[Newshound]

+1

Or at least, start by talking to a solicitor

[Huge]

Quite so.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

It had got to the point where he was happy with the contents and it was ready for signing and witnessing. I'd agreed to go to his place and witness it when the solicitor brought it there - but he felt too ill to do this when the time came. Or more to be bothered by it. The next week he went into hospital, and became confused.

[Roger Mills]

Any Enduring Power of Attorney signed before the rules changed is still potentially valid. But I'm pretty sure that John is wrong about it surviving the death of the 'donor'.

I had an old-type EPA for my father-in-law, and could operate his bank accounts while he was alive - but as soon as he died, they were frozen until I had obtained Probate.

[Lobster]

So do you, or anybody else other than the solicitor, know who was in line for a payout? It would definitely be worthwhile that person(s) aggressively pursuing the line of getting the will unsigned will recognised; presumably the solicitor will be prepared to state that it was only a matter of unfortunate timing that the will wasn't signed.

If not, I expect the solictor wouldn't be able to divulge the contents of the will under confidentiality rules, but I would have thought that if specifically asked the question, would be able to give the nod to whoever might find it in their best interests to pursue the matter?

David

[Lobster]

That's what it says on the forms, yes.

We did both the 'financial' and 'health' Lasting Powers of Attorney with my mum last year. We found the forms pretty confusing I have to say and we ended up with a couple of errors (sequentially) but on each occasion Mum was sent the forms back for resubmission, with no charge.

The other thing is that unlike the old Enduring Powers of Attorney, you don't have to have a solicitor to draw them up (or perhaps you should, given my experience!) so at least you don't have those fees to contend with.

David

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes. There was only one beneficiary - the pal who'd been looking after him for some time. That's what he told me and I had no reason to not believe him. He'd asked me to witness it since I was not a beneficiary. FWIW, I approved of his choice. The said pal is also partially disabled and is re-training at college for a new career after being retired from nursing on medical grounds. So of all his friends could use the money most. All the rest - including me - are ok money wise.

Thanks. I'm meeting the said pal today and will try and find out who the solicitor is.

[Rick Hughes]

If no spouse or dependant, then without a Will it will go to Crown.

There is a huge amount of money sitting in Crown bucket ... it is up to any relatives that come to light in future to claim against this. Take a look at Heir Hunters TV program ... lots of companies making living off this.

Everyone should have a will if they have any size estate, so if you have savings or own a house ... you need to make a will.

Also be warned that even if you have a will, the Crown can take a big chunk of it in taxes if any of it is sold off .... example you had 2 kids ... you (& spouse) pop your clogs and leave house & all estate to kids ... to be shared equally. If you have not specified anything over who can remain living there .... they sell house to split proceeds.

However if 'over'; the current threshold, the government takes a large chunk in taxes (so called death duties)

You can avoid this .... I have put all my estate in Trust now, I don't own it, I can continue to use estate fully, if I die first wife gets same conditions. If we both die together or sequentially ... estate can be fully inherited (and sold off) with no taxes as it is already held in trust in their name ...

Simple to do, but you need a solicitor, (fixed fee for this) .. don't attempt with a Will form from W.H.Smith ... there are lots of solicitors making money out of wills screwed up that way.

[Dave Liquorice]

That can go into the running for "understatment of the year".

That is good to hear, =A3120 seems an awful lot for a rubber stamp and perhaps a little bit of checking that the people exist etc.

This true, to get a solictor to do an LPA will cost several hundred quid and you still have to provide all the information. A solicitor just fills in the form and does a sanity check so it shouldn't bounce due to an error.

You can still do the forms yourself and run them past a solictor for much less money and of course if they do then bounce the solicitor is liable (assuming they don't bounce because the information you put down was wrong).

[RobertL]

to the Duke of Lancaster I thought, but maybe I am out of date.

Robert

[RobertL]

But even when they exist, did they "endured" only in the sense of continuing to work even when the grantor was mentally incapabale, not beyond his death surely.

Robert

[Martin Bonner]

[e-mail]...

Good lord, there's a lot more than "spouse or dependant" before it goes to the Crown. Off the top of my head: children, siblings, parents, aunts&uncles, grandparents. (And if anybody in that list existed and had children, but is now dead then the children inherit in their stead).

[Roger Chapman]

Same difference. The current Duke of Lancaster is QE2.

[Roger Chapman]

messagenews: [e-mail]...

Off the top of my head as well so could easily be wrong but isn't the outer margin of the extended family forth cousin?

[John Rumm]

Yes you could well be right - I was possibly extrapolating too far. A "normal" POA would cease if the granter became incapable of managing their own affairs, whereas the EPOA was specifically created so that it did not, but as you say that probably changes on death rather than just loss of capability.

[Man at B&Q]

That may be what they tell you, but I very much doubt it.

The daytime TV prog clearly shows them visting registry offices to get B/M/D certificates, which they would not need to do if they had all the details on their own databases.

MBQ

[dennis]

That would be because not all birth/death/marriage certificates are available as computerised records. It doesn't mean that they don't have all the available records.

[Man at B&Q]

[e-mail]...

If the heir hunters had all the available records in their own database, why would they need to request them from somewhere else?

MBQ

[John Williamson]

messagenews: [e-mail]...

As it's "reality" TV, showmanship. It makes a more interesting show than just reading the information off a monitor. And as the previous poster said, not all data needed for the show is available online, as not all of it has been digitised yet, as I found when doing some research a while ago.