Q&As

A child of a deceased individual is a beneficiary under the intestacy rules. The beneficiary's siblings have frozen them out of all dealings with the estate. What can the siblings be made to disclose in respect of the estate and how can this be achieved?

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Produced in partnership with Helen Galley of XXIV Old Buildings
Published on: 21 October 2020
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For the purpose of this Q&A, we have assumed that:

  1. the child of the deceased is not a minor

  2. a grant of letters of administration has been made to the siblings

It is assumed that the deceased died totally intestate, in which case, a grant of letters of administration will need to be applied for. The Q&A does not specify whether the deceased left a surviving spouse or just surviving children. The order of priority for a grant of letters of administration is governed by the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987, SI 1987/2024, r 22, as amended, and so the surviving spouse would be first in priority with the children second. As the children have a beneficial interest in the estate, then the spouse would apply for a grant

Helen Galley
Helen Galley

Helen has built up a reputation as a well-respected commercial Chancery practitioner with an emphasis on property and trusts related issues. She has built up extensive and wide ranging expertise in both non contentious and contentious property matters ranging from small scale cases to multi-million pound developments. Helen has also acted in a wide range of commercial and business disputes in areas as diverse as travel, hire purchase, the media, entertainment, IPR, IT and e-commerce. Contentious and non-contentious trusts matters, both on and offshore, are a regular feature of her caseload. Helen is a member of STEP, ACTAPS, the Property Bar Association, the Chancery Bar Association and IAL as well as an accredited mediator. Helen is recommended as “a first-rate advocate” in Legal 500 2015 for private client (trusts and probate), partnership and professional negligence. She is said to be “consistently able to provide excellent advice in a charming and friendly style” and is “responsive, hugely supportive and extremely user-friendly”.

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Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom
Key definition:
Beneficiary definition
What does Beneficiary mean?

A person who has a interest'>beneficial interest in property under a trust.

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