Don't give up looking for a Will

[mfwebb]

Don't give up looking for a Will or Letters of Administration just because you can't find one within a few years of death.

It may be that no-one proved the will at the time, or took out Letters of Administration for the estate where no will was left. Look also around the time of death of the next generation. It may be that a will, or an unadministered part of an estate, only came to light after the death of a beneficiary of the previous estate.

An example of this has just been concluded by a distant member of my family with a tiny bit of encouragement from me. Here's the story.

An elderly gentleman died in a nursing home in 1965. He left no will. He was a widower and had only one surviving son who was the sole beneficiary of his father's estate. No Letters of Administration were taken out. Thirty five years later the son died leaving a widow. He left no will but the widow took out Letters of Administration of her late husband's estate.

Ten years after her husband died, the widow mentioned to me that her late father-in-law might still be named as the holder of some shares in a football club which he had acquired in the arly 1930's. This had come to light from a letter passing between the father and his son, her late husband. With a little prompting from me that, if these shares did exist then she was the only beneficiary through her late husband, she contacted a solicitor who traced the shares and took out Letters of Administration of her late father-in-law's estate in her name. This was 45 years after he died.

This resulted in her profiting from the sale of those shares to the tune of about £17,000.

So the message is -- keep on searching. Probate or Administration may not have been granted until many years after the actual death.

[Jane Elderfield]

A fantastic story--thank you for sharing it with us, Malcolm.

In a similar vein, sometimes someone has a "life estate" in the property of the deceased, and the will is not probated until the person with the life estate dies--ten, fifteen, twenty or more years later.

[Zen Rabbit]

I agree I have an ancestor who's will was proved 16 years after he died.

[v.wells]

Great story Malcolm! 45 yrs later an inheritance - Fantastic outcome

[RobinC]

Do you think that would apply to parents who left a will but died when their children were still very young as I have two cases of that in my family tree.

Henry Robert David Crouch died in 1900 leaving behind his wife, a 12 year old son and an 8 year old daughter.

Robert Peter Crouch died in 1928 leaving behind 2 daughters who were 13 and 11 years old and 1 son who was 9 years old. His wife had died 6 years earlier.

[mfwebb]

Hi RobinC.

My understanding is that any person who is entitled to inherit from an estate can seek to inherit any part of the estate which has not been dealt with or liquidated in previous disposals -- as in the case of the football shares which had not been dealt with when the original holder died 45 years previously. He died a widower with a sole surviving son who became the legal owner of the shares even though they had not been formally transferred to him. When the son died the shares passed legally to the son's widow and she was able to claim them and dispose of them even though it was 45 years after the original shareholder's death.

She had to provide copy birth, death and marriage certificates and swear several affidavits to prove her entitlement to the Court before a grant of Letters of Administration of her late father-in-law's estate could be issued, thereby enabling her to deal with the shares. I think she had been aware of the existence of the shares whilst her husband was alive but had not realised their potential value until several years after he died.

All the best,

Malcolm Webb
Lincoln UK