Intestacy rules not followed

A question about : Intestacy rules not followed

Elderly relative dies with no will, lived like a pauper and in those circumstances left a somewhat shocking amount of money.

Nearest surviving elderly sibling applies for Letters of Administration & wraps up estate, sticking the money in a separate a/c where they have not touched it for 3 years.

Does not attempt to distribute it to possible beneficiaries, loosely speaking for valid reasons in a few of the cases - but I'm not trying to justify this action!

When this elderly relative dies themselves the 'inheritance' will be lumped in with their own estate, could the executors of their estate be held accountable for something they have absolutely no knowledge of IF any of what went previously ever came to light?

Best answers:

• a court can appoint a new administrator of the original estate.
  if the executors of the 2nd person were aware that the money was part of an estate they would have to proceed on the basis that the money did *not* form part of the deceased's estate and was held by the deceased on trust.
  If you are a potential beneficiary of the intestacy, or a potential executor of the 2nd relative, you should try to speak to them about it now. IS the account in which the money is held at least labelled as an executors account?
• Executors of 2nd estate would be definitely unaware of where this 'separated' money actually came from, it's just sitting in an a/c in the name of the elderly administrator of the 1st estate.
  Looks just like all other monies the person has of their own, ISA, bank a/c, couple of savings a/c's etc They definitely haven't held on to it from a 'greed' point of view - I'm well aware it hasn't been touched & that they have their own money.
  All other siblings of the initial deceased person are dead with their own children not living in an easily accessible country (some would have to be traced somehow).
  Only 1 in UK & he's not asked 1 single question! I think that is why the elderly person has done nothing (so far anyway). I suppose if a family member lived like a pauper, there's no reason to think they left a pot of money.
  For me, the whole thing is like "the elephant in the room"!!!! I can't decide whether to just leave well alone, or give it a 'poke' at some point.
• Where or who are you in the chain ?
  Related, how ?
• Apologies if I have misunderstood in some way, but it looks like the elderly relative has done nothing wrong. With intestacy, there are no beneficiaries, only the 'next-of-kin beneficiaries' in a laid down format. So, if this person has applied properly for LOA, been paid out from the deceased's estate, and now popped the lot in his/her bank account, that looks quite legitimate to me. Any other family members -lower down in the intestacy pecking order -will just have to bide their time as they have no claim on the original intestate deceased.
• Only 1 surviving sibling out of several & that 1 was the youngest & in late 80's now (the one holding this money), all the other beneficiaries would be any 'children' of all the deceased siblings (& worse, I think possibly children's children!). As far as I'm aware they should inherit the share of their dead parent/s.
  All but 1 of them lives in UK. Any/all others do not live in UK but in a country which was not open to visit. Communication was nigh on impossible & has not been maintained on either side. 'English' names of the deceased siblings were changed (as far as we know) because of the political climate.
  Tracing would certainly have to involve a specialised company with a starting point of practically zero! Looking for the records of dead siblings whose names are changed, followed by finding their children whose names are unknown................!
  1/3 of the estate of the person holding this money will eventually drop into my lap, believe it or not I'd prefer it if it didn't. On the other hand I definitely don't want to get saddled with unravelling all this correctly, it is NOT of my doing.
  I just have concerns about what might happen if the Executors eventually unknowingly distribute this money as part of the current survivors estate. For me, being in this position SUCKS.
• Agree with Beenie. If the elderly relative was the only surviving sibling and had no children or grandchildren, then it is likely they inherited everything.
• I don't believe there is provision for nieces and nephews under the intestacy rules, regardless of whether their parents are deceased.
• Sorry everyone, you can probably see why I have tried to stay uninvolved in this mess (& I wish I could claim "I know nothing").
  8 siblings, 4 moved to UK over 60 years ago. 4 left behind, some of whom died trying to escape the Japanese & others over the intervening years leaving only 2 (both in UK).
  Number 7 died with no spouse nor children, leaving only number 8 to deal with the 'estate'. As this person increases in years I've been wondering what is the right thing to suggest regarding number 7's money.
  I don't doubt there would be nothing left for anyone to inherit if searches for children & children's children commences in a foreign country, but at the same time by doing nothing I'll eventually end up with 1/3rd of it and DO have a conscience (by inheriting my share of number 8's estate when they die).
  I don't want to get number 8's eventual Executors in to trouble by default because I said nothing.
  I think my options are:
  a) To eventually advise Executors of number 8's Will of the circumstances & insist they dump that part of the estate in the lap of a solicitor.
  b) Say nothing & plead total ignorance if the sh hits the fan!
  To anyone with no Will, get one. Thanks for views on the subject, doesn't seem to be simple answer.
  PS Mojisola, particularly helpful comments, thank you.
• duchy, I believe what you have told us but that division of the estate looks wrong to me. It should be parents, then siblings then nieces/nephews.
  Your father's rights (being your late aunt's brother) would trump those of the neices/nephews.
  In other words, he should have got the lot.
• Thank for the clarification Mojisola.
  Does that mean that when my sister died intestate, my mother is incorrect in her reading of intestacy that she (mother) inherits the whole estate? i.e. as my father is dead, I should inherit his share?