Great Grandmother dies with no will.

[Jister]

I am more curious about this situation than intending to act on it!

My great grandmother died without a will (about 50 years ago I think). She had a small farm and a house. She had 10 children, and one of them is still alive, my 94 years but senile grandaunt.

One of her children (my Granduncle) continued to live on the holding and he had 3 children, one of whom (my mothers first cousin) purchased a house adjacent to the original holding and still lives there, and had 7 children. Some of these children (who would share the same great grandmother as me) have now built holiday homes on the original holding.

Is my 94 grandaunt entitled to claim ownership of the original house and holding?

I estimate my greatgrandmother has about 100 living decendents, between child grandchildren and greatgrandchildren and greatgreat gandchildren!!

 

[mf1]

Is my 94 grandaunt entitled to claim ownership of the original house and holding?

Not at all if she is not compos mentis. Other than that, this is is a mess and without very specific information about who did what, when and with what intention would it be at all obvious who was entitled to anything.

I suppose no-one ever wants to discuss it?

mf

 

[Jister]

Is my 94 grandaunt entitled to claim ownership of the original house and holding?

Not at all if she is not compos mentis. Other than that, this is is a mess and without very specific information about who did what, when and with what intention would it be at all obvious who was entitled to anything.

I suppose no-one ever wants to discuss it?

mf

My grandaunt was compis mentis until about 5 years ago, would she have been entitled to make a claim on it then, as the only surviving child at the time?

This is a nonrunner and I have no intention of following up on it, I am just curious about it as I visited the place on Saturday for the first time and my mother gave me the full history. Bitterness goes back about 60 years apparently!

What about the peope who have built houses there now, will they ever be able sell them?

 

[mf1]

The relevant date for entitlement to inherit would be the date of death. So if GG dies with 10 children and no spouse, then each was entitled to a tenth. But, if no-one makes a claim, did the Grand Uncle establish squatters rights? Did he by any chance go off and get a Grant or register an interest in the lands? And how did the people who built houses finance those houses if the title was not resolved?

Murkier and murkier. Worth doing a Land Registry search to see if anyone has ever dealt with the lands - if it is Land Registry property.

mf

 

[Jister]

did the Grand Uncle establish squatters rights?
mf

How does one establish squatters rights?

. Did he by any chance go off and get a Grant or register an interest in the lands?
mf

From what I can make out he didn't. The land was in a remote part of Connemara and you probably couldn't give it away until recently and its only in the last few years that it has become valuable.

And how did the people who built houses finance those houses if the title was not resolved?

mf

I don't know how the houses were paid for. A lot of them lived in America so they may have been able to finance them without mortgages.

Worth doing a Land Registry search to see if anyone has ever dealt with the lands - if it is Land Registry property.
mf

It might never been land registered. The previous generation would have been born around the time of the famine and there was landlords, rents, extreme poverty and mass emmigration in those days. Of the 10 children 8 went to England or America, one stayed on the land and another relocated elsewhere in Ireland.

 

[millertime]

I am trying to resolve a similar problem. A complete mess, no will, land never registered, and claimants coming out of the woodwork after 40 odd years. I'd advise getting a solicitor with expertise in this area, don't go to the first sol you see on the street, well worth getting a referral from someone.

 

[Jister]

I am trying to resolve a similar problem. A complete mess, no will, land never registered, and claimants coming out of the woodwork after 40 odd years. I'd advise getting a solicitor with expertise in this area, don't go to the first sol you see on the street, well worth getting a referral from someone.

I'm not really looking for anything out of this. Having heard the story the other day I am curious as to the legalities of the whole thing, considering one child is still alive etc. There are too many people descendents now anyway, so even if it could be sold everybody would get very little.

Good luck with your situation, it looks like a complicated process!