Intestate - what exactly does it mean?

[belfordian]

Can anyone tell me why someone would be described as dying intestate by the Probate Office when they did in fact make a will which was deposited with a solicitor? In this case someone died in 1970's and left everything incl property to his widow, but had no savings or assets of his own, would it be necessary to apply for probate? Or would everything go automatically to his widow? The property was jointly owned by the couple and mortgaged at the time.

Would be grateful for any explanations.

[ScouseBoy]

Maybe the will  was not considered as being valid for some reason?

[mazi]

If the property was jointly owned and he had no other assets then there was no estate to administer,
A jointly owned property becomes the property of the survivor automatically on the death of one party, the death certificate alone is all the land registry requires.

It may be that the solicitor did this paperwork and applied for administration to ensure he was covered by his indemnity insurance should some hidden assets come to light in the future

Mike

[mazi]

Equally scouseboy's thoughts are valid, it seems strange to make a will and deposit it with a solicitor if you know you have no assets, normally if a will is deposited with a solicitor it was drawn up by him, or at least checked for validity, after all a solicitor stores the will for free in the hope of getting future business.

Could there have been a remarriage between the will being written and the death, or a move of house, if the will specifies a definite property and they have moved house then that part of the will is not able to be carried out.

Mike

[belfordian]

Thank you, Mazi. Food for thought. Have sent you PM.

[mazi]

Thanks for the PM, sorry I cannot be more definite about this

Mike

[mazi]

It has occurred to me that if there was a large mortgage on a property backed by an insurance policy
then even tho insurance policies do not normally form part of an estate the services of a solicitor might be useful to arrange the redemption of the mortgage and tranfer of ownership.

Mike

[arthurk]

...it seems strange to make a will and deposit it with a solicitor if you know you have no assets,

There could have been "mirror wills" where husband and wife made essentially the same will leaving everything to their spouse, but if they were the surviving spouse, then other provisions would apply. After the first death, whatever had been owned jointly would become the sole property of the survivor, whose will would determine how it was distributed at the second death. For this to work, husband and wife both have to have a suitable will in place in case the other one dies first, but as has been pointed out, it may not always be necessary for the first one to go to probate.

Arthur

[groom]

I agree with all that has been said, however, that doesn't explain why the man was said to have died intestate, does it? The only way he could have done that is if he either didn't make a will or, as it seems in this case, if the will was invalid for some reason.