Mother has passed leaving 2 children, aged 19 and 21, where will they live

I am looking for some advice here.

My friend has passed leaving 2 surviving children 19 and 21. Currently the 21 year old is room hopping around family and friends for the last 5 months when the mother went into a nursing home and the youngest child was living in the house on her own.

The father is not around much and lives in the UK and only has relations with the eldest child. The judge ordered the house to be sold within 6 months of my friend passing and split the house 50:50 between the mother and father.

Out of the overall sale, the property tax over the last couple of years has to be paid as it has never been paid since it was introduced. She has willed her share to her 2 kids. Out of her 50% she needs to pay back on the fair deal scheme and the funeral expenses have to be taken.

I reckon the 2 kids will be left with about 40k each or thereabouts after everything is sorted. I am looking for advice on how I can get the youngest child a home once the house is sold and everything is paid off ? I am worried she will be homeless and there is no room in the granny's houses. Both kids are in employment but not fully matured.

That's a very confusing post.

Can we simplify?

Mother is A and Father is B

Are you saying that there were Divorce proceedings, while A was still alive but clearly dying?

What date was the order?

What did the Judge say about the children?

When did A die?

Can you post figures?

Value of property?

Outstanding debt- fair deal, funeral and LPT? Anything else?

Will B agree to put off the sale of the house ? That would buy some time.

Would Fair Deal agree to that?

Did A appoint a guardian for the 19 year old?

If the worst comes to the worst surely some family member or friend would take the 19 year old in?

mf

Mother and father were never married. The father moved on, married, has more children and moved to the UK. The mother had a terminal illness and wanted to get the father's name off the house and for the kids to get sole ownership. About 1-2 years ago on knowing of her illness, the judge ruled that the father gets 50% of the house. The father has no interest in willing his share to his kids. The judge ordered that on the mothers passing, the house is to be sold within 6 months. I am not aware of anything being set in place for the kids. I am the godmother of the 19-year-old, so I am trying to get her sorted. The mother passed last week.

Property is worth around 200k
Property tax is around 2k
Fair deal scheme has paid about 25k into the nursing home.
Funeral is 9k

I believe the fair deal scheme want expenses to be paid within the 1st year of the person passing either through the sale of the house or via other means.

alexandra123 said:

Mother and father were never married. The father moved on, married, has more children and moved to the UK. The mother had a terminal illness and wanted to get the father's name off the house and for the kids to get sole ownership. About 1-2 years ago on knowing of her illness, the judge ruled that the father gets 50% of the house. The father has no interest in willing his share to his kids. The judge ordered that on the mothers passing, the house is to be sold within 6 months. I am not aware of anything being set in place for the kids. I am the godmother of the 19-year-old, so I am trying to get her sorted. The mother passed last week.

Property is worth around 200k
Property tax is around 2k
Fair deal scheme has paid about 25k into the nursing home.
Funeral is 9k

I believe the fair deal scheme want expenses to be paid within the 1st year of the person passing either through the sale of the house or via other means.

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Could the 2 kids stick there share together and buy a small place together ? If than cannot afford a small place use the money they receive as a deposit on a house ? Worse case Would be too use the money the receive too rent somewhere either together or alone.

Get proper legal advice. I would imagine that the kids will be entitled to legal aid so they can ensure their interests are protected. If there is a 19 year old living in that house and at risk of homelessness, I wish the father the best of luck in enforcing the sale. I can't imagine Fair Deal would be unreasonable if they were asked to defer their claim. To be honest, I would not do anything until you have talked to a solicitor. The most urgent thing is that the two kids are protected. Is there a reason why the eldest child is couch surfing rather than living in the house with his sibling?

Is there an executor to her will ? They should be seeking legal advice.

Two things to keep in mind.

1. At age 18 these young people are now considered adults, if not in full time education parents no longer have a legal obligation to support.

2. If their father failed to pay child maintenance, I wonder if they could challenge the order; it should certainly have been appealed at the time. But I'm guessing your friend was too sick to care.

This is in awfully sad situation. If alexandra123's godchild was under 18 it might have been possible to make her a ward of court. But she's not. How on earth did a judge come to order that the father gets 50% of the house when, presumably, the mother had paid for it? It sounds like the mother's estate has been hard done by. Could the executor of the mother's will appeal the court order so as to increase the size of the estate thus benefiting the children?

Does the father even care about the house? He doesn't care about his children.

Did the mother have any life insurance that could be used for the funeral expenses? €9,000 is on the high side for a funeral. Was this in keeping with the mother's wishes?

Property tax and Fair Deal may have to wait. Ideally the children, okay, they are both very young adults, should stick together, stay in the house for a few more years, try and build up their savings, and when they are both ready to move on with their lives do something about the house.

Terrible situation as others have said ….surprised it has happened.

TLO said:

Does the father even care about the house? He doesn't care about his children.

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Likely though father cares about the money I am afraid...

What country did this judge give the judgment in?

Like a pancake, the side we're eating is turned up so we like it, the other side's a mystery but the judge obviously saw it.

I am not sure why the judge in Dublin did not rule in the mother's favour. She provided the deposit for the home but he showed bank statements to say he had been paying the mortgage every month up until he left. The father never paid child support since he left the home, nor had he paid the mortgage after he left but the judge still ruled in his favour. It was a draining process getting the father to court. He had to be summoned at a funeral. The mother had no strength left to fight an appeal.

The two children although working are in no position to buy a home. They have no savings history. The banks would not even give them a mortgage based on their combined income and savings history.

The 21-year-old is couch suffering for 2 reasons, 1 is so that she does not have to pay her way and 2 because she does not feel like the home is her home since the mother went into the nursing home. The 21-year-old has the opportunity to go and live with her father in the UK if she so wishes but the 19-year-old has zero time for her father.

I believe the life insurance was null and void as the mother got into mortgage arrears when the father left the home.

It was expected that the mother would survive for a few more years so it has come quite sudden although we knew the illness was terminal.

alexandra123 said:

I am looking for advice on how I can get the youngest child a home once the house is sold and everything is paid off ? I am worried she will be homeless and there is no room in the granny's houses.

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It's important to get back to the main question and not second guess the judge's decision.

Where is the 19 year old going to live if they have no relatives to live with?

What does any other 19 year old do in this situation? They find friends or work colleagues to share with. That is what she should do.

The experts are https://www.threshold.ie/advice/ and she should arrange to meet them.

She should get a Housing Needs Assessment done and if her income is not high enough, she may qualify for HAP. But let Threshold advise her.

Brendan

The person living in the house is 19 years of age and has just lost their mother. A judgement making a 19 year old who has just lost a mother sell their home within 6 months while dealing with that is grossly wrong and unfair. I am all for complying with judgements but people get a stay on repossession judgements because they need to find a home for their dog.... You really need legal advice here to see what your options are with getting the judgement at least delayed

This will buy time to allow them deal with losing their mother and doing all the things that Brendan says above.

I don't really understand why the life insurance was null and void because she got into mortgage arrears. Were the insurance premiums up to date? Its a new one for me if going into arrears voids your mortgage protection policy.

I think the choice of words about the life insurance was probably wrong, it's far more likely the payments to it were stopped and it lapsed due to the money difficulties that were causing the arrears and that's why it was 'null and void', it wasn't really but it just wasn't in force I'd imagine due to non payment.

When arrears occur it's not uncommon for life and house insurance to just lapse due to non payment, far more cases of this than you would think, yes it's a condition of the mortgage that they are in place in theory but there is really no way for a bank to enforce it so it happens.

Terrible situation to find themselves in,
If the life Insurance was null and void, Is there still a mortgage + arrears to be paid off,The way null and void is stated looks like it was still in force at time of mothers passing,
Did the Mother inform Insurance about her Illness I have see Insurance made null and void policies because Illness was not declared ,could this be the reason it is null and void,
I suspect if house is worth 200K fair deal is owed 25K unpaid tax 2K Funeral 9K + legal fees to be taken out of estate cant see both getting 40K from mothers share,
Support in one of the most important things they need at this difficult time in there lives, Don't let emotions get in the way