Query as to how solicitor establishes ownership of a house.

[STEINER]

hi,

I am curious as to how a solicitor goes about determining who actually owns a house in the event of the person residing there dying without making a will.

say the house was built in the 1930's and purchase completed in about 1975. Original owners now deceased, 5 offspring, 2 unmarried and childless offspring continued to live in house, then passed away. so, from the original owners only nieces/nephews remain and the house is unoccupied.

does the solicitor actually do a trawl and get death certs for original owners and birth certs and death certs for their offspring and so on?

 

[mf1]

You should change your title to read:

"How do beneficiaries establish their entitlement to inherit"!

The first thing a solicitor will ask when one of the beneficiaries comes in is to produce the title deeds - showing the person whsoe name is on the deeds, however long ago.

The next thing is to draw the family tree - where did we start and where are we now?

Then - tick off each applicable event that would affect ownership, look for evidence by way of death certificates, marriage certificates, etc.,etc. Some families, while crap at dealing with big events, are surprisingly good at the little detail and will be able to produce what is necessary - once they get the big picture.

Then seek whatever else is necessary and prepare an indication of likely cost. It may be necessary to seek a number of Grants of Probate/Administration to establish entitlement.

In the end, the aim of the beneficiaries should be to establish title such as would enable them to sell , if ever they want to.

It can be quite tedious - especially with clients who want a particular result which does not accord with the advice they are being given!

mf

 

[onq]

Without impugning the reputation of the deceased, and apart from what mf1 has posted, the matter can be complicated where there are also alleged partners of the deceased of uncertain status.

This has happened to two families I am aware of and it caused no end of bad feeling because of the claims made by the alleged "partner"