My mum is desperate!

A question about : My mum is desperate!

My mums partner of 21 years sadly and suddenly passed away in December last year. She was living in his flat for the whole of their relationship. However he did not leave a will and now his sister is trying to evict my mum. He does have a daughter somewhere, but we have no idea where she is as they lost contact when she was still a small child in the 70's. The flat was originally the father of the sister and my mums partner and was left to him, his sister and her husband in the fathers will. It's all a very long story, but my mum has been told she has eight weeks to get out. Is there anything we can do?

Best answers:

• The sister is behaving as though the flat is hers.
  I am not sure that it is.
  Would the daughter not he the first to inherit? Just because people dont know where she is does not mean she should be disregarded.
  As for you poor mum. What a terrible situation to be in. I would speak to CAB and a solicitor. Some give the first half hour free. Not all are sharks.
  Best of luck.
• Can we assume that the laws of England & Wales apply to this situation?
  Mum's deceased partner is self evidently not your dad?
  Did you and your num not realise what a financially dangerous situation she was in by being financial dependent on her "partner".
  Before you do anything you need to track down the legal ownership of the lease on the flat. With the correct postal address you can invest Ј3 now on-line to check this and print off copies of what you find. [Perhaps the flat only belonged to "partner" for his life time and then reverted to his sister]
  Assuming the sister does not get the flat automatically it will go to the missing child (aged ?).
  To belong to anyone else not already catered for by its current legal owner, the sister must apply to the court for a grant of representation called Letters of Administration.
  If and when "sister" gets the L of A, mum has 6 months in which to prove she is dependant on the deceased and will be left destitute.
  When you have investigated the Land Registry and the Court of Probate, come back and we can make recommendations based on fact not supposition.
  https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/pro...f-grants-wills
  https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/....php?t=4705779
  https://www.landregistry.gov.uk/
• Webtalk, it would seem that the daughter has been disregarded by the sisters solicitor. I don't know if the solicitor even knows there is a daughter.
  My mum has spoken to CAB and a solicitor, I took her myself, she is still in denial that this is all happening. CAB didn't really help, and obviously half an hour of a solicitors time is not enough. I have found her another solicitor that she will go to see next week. I don't know what else to do. Or how much she will let me do.
• John,
  No mums partner was not my dad. And yes they both knew it would be a difficult situation if anything happened and I think he would have left a will if he would have thought he was going to die so suddenly, in hindsight I think most of us would. However this is the situation she has found herself in.
  I believe the flat is solely in my mums partners name, but the sister has a legal charge. Not 100% on what that exactly means yet, but I am looking into it.
  The sister has applied and been granted letters of administration. So I am kind of thinking she has my mum over a barrel, but I want to make sure before we just give up.
• Oh dear what a situation for your mum to be in. It comes as a stark reminder to anyone who is in a partnership but not married that you need to make a will. No matter how young or old we are nobody knows when their time will come.
• Sorry to hear about this difficult situation for your mum.
  - you need to check if the flat was jointly owned by the deceased partner, his sister, and the sister's husband? Or what the charge entails.
  - now that the partner is dead, his daughter may inherit his share, but if he never bought out his sister/BIL , there would only be a partof the equity for the daughter to inherit?
  If the flat is jointly owned, your mother and her deceased partner may have benefited from living in it for some time, perhaps even witout paying rent to the sister/BIL for their share? If that is the case, it sounds very understandable that the Sister/BIL now want their equity.
  It also sounds plausible that the estranged daughter would want her share, instead of subsidising her father's girlfriend, if they don't have a close relationship and your mum never did anything for her.
  If I were your mother I would make arrangements to move into another flat asap. (And without starting a family feud.) If her partner died in suddenly December, she has already had reasonable time to make arrangements.
• Nom,
  The sister has already sent a solicitors letter and they have told her in two weeks time they are under instruction to go to court to get an eviction order. And then underneath that it says she has eight weeks notice. And they think this is a reasonable amount of time for someone to pick up their life and leave a home they love because they shared so many memories in it and find somewhere else to live. My mum is still devastated from her partner passing away and now has this to deal with. She cannot afford a solicitor and apparently there is no legal aid anymore, so what is she supposed to do. I don't see any options. Looks like she will be made homeless in eight weeks time. Just around her 60th birthday for which I was taking her away to forget about things for a while looks like that won't happen now because she will be looking for somewhere else to live.
  Sorry to go on but I feel so helpless
  Thanks for everyone's input very much appreciated.
• Who is your Mother paying rent to while all this is going on?
  Are you trying to track down the deceased's daughter?
• 8 weeks is not a lot of notice but keep in mind, if he died in December 2012 they did at least wait 7-8 months.
  Sorry to say this but from the family's perspective, she could have moved out voluntarily or tried to negotiate a rental agreement in this 7-8 month period. Has she been paying them rent?
  Edited to say - can you move her belongings to your house/garage temporarily,mso you can at least enjoy the holiday? Sounds like you will both be needing a break.
• As your mother is coming up to 60 you may find that she is eligible for sheltered housing. Contact the council housing department.
• Giggle pig,
  I have tried to tell my mum all that you have said. The family were not a close one so there would be no feuds. Nobody, including the sister know where the daughter is.
  I tried to tell my mum that she wouldn't be able to stay there because he left no will and even if there were no family she still would not get to stay. But she was and still is devastated and in denial. It's not want she wants to hear so she doesn't listen. Just when I think maybe it has sunk in and she is starting to listen to sense, someone else goes and fills her head with false hope and because this is what she wants to hear she listens. She says she is not giving up without a fight but I don't think there is a fight to be had I think that she lost before she started.
• Dimey, she hasn't been paying rent, although I did suggest to her that she could sort out some sort of arrangement with his sister to pay rent and then maybe they would let her stay.
  Yes we are trying to find the daughter although that also is proving very difficult.
• Hardpressed, the sheltered housing is a good suggestion I hadn't thought of thank you x
• If your Mum wants a fight then she's going to have to employ a solicitor.
  What would she be fighting for?
  If she wants to inherit her partner's third share in the house then she's not going to. You've said he'd died intestate so his estate will go to the nearest blood relative(s).
  If she wants to continue renting the property then she's on to another loser. The Landlord(s) can give her notice to leave like any other landlord/tenant relationship. This is what they've done.
  The deceased's sister and BIL will have to worry about the deceased's daughter's third share situation. Not your Mum.
  Sooner or later your Mum will have to leave. Best do it sooner while you can take your time packing and get cheap storage for her belongings if she doesn't find a new place to rent fast enough.
  If your Mum won't listen then there's something very wrong. Sorry to ask but is she mentally fit? If she is then you can only give her good advice and if she won't take it then you'll have to stand back and watch her handle the situation herself. Including being evicted if that's her choice.
  Meanwhile, you could ask the council about eligibility for emergency housing and check out private rentals, in case it comes to that.
• Thanks all for your input and yes she is mentally fit just very distraught losing the love of her life and the home they shared is a lot for someone to deal with. I will try again to give her my best advice and hope she listens but as you say if she doesn't there is not much else I can do.
• I'm sorry about the situation your mum has found herself in. This sort of thing happened to me when my father died without a will. My father was living with a women, not married, and they had been together 8 years. When my father passed away his partner assumed everything would be hers because of being his "common law" wife. There is no such thing. Myself and my brother were his legal next of kin and only we could deal with his estate, which was only enough to pay for his funeral. I thank god no big sums of money or a house were involved as it would have caused all sorts of problems with his partner. The only person entitled to your mums partners estate is his daughter, if she is still alive. It would then pass to her children, if she had any and she had passed away.
  If you are not married and live with someone, make a will.
• Hi
  Assuming England and Wales here.
  It is essential that you download the copy of the title deeds from the LKand regsitry immediately.
  You not only need to know in whose name the flat is held but also the form of ownership.
  If the flat was owned by the three adults as a joint tenancy, then on the death of the partner, the remaining tenants are the sister and her spouse, so the daughter would not inherit as the property is not part of the estate.
  If it is tenants in common then the partner's share is in the estate and either the daughter or mum as dependent partner could claim on it.