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Help needed - Late father's estate and his wife (separated)
This is a long story so I will try and make it as brief as I can.
My father remarried after his divorce from my mum, his new wife was living in a rented flat when they got together, he received a lump sum in damages after an accident at work and he bought a flat which they both lived in. After around 6 years of marriage his health started to fail and because of this he found it difficult to work. My step mother made life very difficult for him, she was fine, already retired with a good NHS pension, and the marriage failed.
he left the family home and lived with me for a while, before finding a flat to rent.
During this time my step mother decided she wanted to be legally separated and together they saw a solicitor.
From what little he told me he would receive around 15% of the value of the flat and walk away. Why I don't know, but despite me trying to talk him out of it this is what he did. A separation agreement was drawn up and they went their separate ways, she remained in the flat.
Around this time he told me and my siblings that he had sorted out everything should he die, and we weren't to worry.
His wife continued to visit him and also cried hard up on several occasions which resulted in him handing over cash for various reasons, house repairs, etc.
Six years after they split my father died. We organised a funeral but after searching his flat could find no will and no paperwork at all which related to his will, life insurance, etc.
My brother visited his bank with ID and copies of his death certificate but they refused to speak to him, he was told as he was still married we were not his next of kin.
There was a small amount of money in his account but we could not access it.
We got in touch with his wife and asked for her help, she told us they were legally separated and it was nothing to do with her. All we wanted was her assistance to access the money so we could pay the funeral bill. We told her that she was his legal next of kin and responsible for sorting it all out if we could not, she disagreed and told us it was our problem, we had organised the funeral. We asked for a copy of the separation agreement so we could prove to the bank that we were his next of kin, she agreed and said she would send it on.
This didn't happen so I rang every local solicitor in our area until I found the one who dealt with the separation. He confirmed he had carried out the separation but refused to speak to me until he had spoken to his client, my step mother. I asked a solicitor nearby to help as maybe they would disclose the info if it went to another solicitor, rather than us.
After nothing happened I spoke again to her solicitor who confirmed that they would not be providing a copy as his client was my step mother, not my father and she did not want us to see it!
She also visited the firm I had asked to help and was rather rude to them, stating they had no right to ask to see it!
I finally managed to get the bank to make a cheque out to the funeral directors towards the funeral bill. It wasn't enough and we paid the balance.
That was over two years ago and we haven't heard from her since then.
Two weeks ago the person who registered the death received a letter from an insurance company who wanted to locate the next of kin of my father.
He rang them only to be told they did indeed hold a death policy for my father and needed to contact his next of kin. He provided these details and the company have said they will contact us.
My question what happens now?
I know they did have an agreement in place although I have never seen it. I now suspect that my step mother may have removed paper work from my father's home prior to his death. namely his will and his copy of the separation agreement. Hence the reason why we found nothing after his death, even though there was other paperwork going back over 30 years, it seems odd he would keep those but not valuable info.
I suspect this because I believe my father completed a section 22 in the separation agreement which formed part of his will. I think my step mother did not want us to see the agreement as I think it contains his wishes over the flat. If not why will she not show us a copy? Maybe he didn't sign it all over to her? (why would he anyway it was his money in the first place) does the agreement contain what should happen to the flat once one of them dies? Did she only get to stay there until one of them died? Then the flat be sold and split between their respective families?
it seemed strange that he would a assure us all that everything was in place should he die, then nothing being there at all.
I'm unsure how to proceed with the insurance company should they get in touch, where do we stand leagally?
Any help would be much appreciated TIA
My father remarried after his divorce from my mum, his new wife was living in a rented flat when they got together, he received a lump sum in damages after an accident at work and he bought a flat which they both lived in. After around 6 years of marriage his health started to fail and because of this he found it difficult to work. My step mother made life very difficult for him, she was fine, already retired with a good NHS pension, and the marriage failed.
he left the family home and lived with me for a while, before finding a flat to rent.
During this time my step mother decided she wanted to be legally separated and together they saw a solicitor.
From what little he told me he would receive around 15% of the value of the flat and walk away. Why I don't know, but despite me trying to talk him out of it this is what he did. A separation agreement was drawn up and they went their separate ways, she remained in the flat.
Around this time he told me and my siblings that he had sorted out everything should he die, and we weren't to worry.
His wife continued to visit him and also cried hard up on several occasions which resulted in him handing over cash for various reasons, house repairs, etc.
Six years after they split my father died. We organised a funeral but after searching his flat could find no will and no paperwork at all which related to his will, life insurance, etc.
My brother visited his bank with ID and copies of his death certificate but they refused to speak to him, he was told as he was still married we were not his next of kin.
There was a small amount of money in his account but we could not access it.
We got in touch with his wife and asked for her help, she told us they were legally separated and it was nothing to do with her. All we wanted was her assistance to access the money so we could pay the funeral bill. We told her that she was his legal next of kin and responsible for sorting it all out if we could not, she disagreed and told us it was our problem, we had organised the funeral. We asked for a copy of the separation agreement so we could prove to the bank that we were his next of kin, she agreed and said she would send it on.
This didn't happen so I rang every local solicitor in our area until I found the one who dealt with the separation. He confirmed he had carried out the separation but refused to speak to me until he had spoken to his client, my step mother. I asked a solicitor nearby to help as maybe they would disclose the info if it went to another solicitor, rather than us.
After nothing happened I spoke again to her solicitor who confirmed that they would not be providing a copy as his client was my step mother, not my father and she did not want us to see it!
She also visited the firm I had asked to help and was rather rude to them, stating they had no right to ask to see it!
I finally managed to get the bank to make a cheque out to the funeral directors towards the funeral bill. It wasn't enough and we paid the balance.
That was over two years ago and we haven't heard from her since then.
Two weeks ago the person who registered the death received a letter from an insurance company who wanted to locate the next of kin of my father.
He rang them only to be told they did indeed hold a death policy for my father and needed to contact his next of kin. He provided these details and the company have said they will contact us.
My question what happens now?
I know they did have an agreement in place although I have never seen it. I now suspect that my step mother may have removed paper work from my father's home prior to his death. namely his will and his copy of the separation agreement. Hence the reason why we found nothing after his death, even though there was other paperwork going back over 30 years, it seems odd he would keep those but not valuable info.
I suspect this because I believe my father completed a section 22 in the separation agreement which formed part of his will. I think my step mother did not want us to see the agreement as I think it contains his wishes over the flat. If not why will she not show us a copy? Maybe he didn't sign it all over to her? (why would he anyway it was his money in the first place) does the agreement contain what should happen to the flat once one of them dies? Did she only get to stay there until one of them died? Then the flat be sold and split between their respective families?
it seemed strange that he would a assure us all that everything was in place should he die, then nothing being there at all.
I'm unsure how to proceed with the insurance company should they get in touch, where do we stand leagally?
Any help would be much appreciated TIA
