Letters of administration or ?

Question

A man died without a will.He is survived by a woman(whom he wedded under the English Act) and a 9months old son.Now the woman wants everything owned by the man to pass on to the son.What should she do.Please only attorneys to respond

Answer 1

In the United States, the woman would "disclaim" her interest in the estate of the man with the idea that her share would pass by intestacy to his other intestate heir, his son.

The laws in the United Kingdom are similar.

Answer 2

As Mark says, in the US a beneficiary can "disclaim" an interest and it would pass to whomever would take as if the disclaimed interest had lapsed. However, I had a case in which an English estate was the beneficiary of my US estate. The beneficiary of the English estate, the wife of the English decedent, wanted her benefits to pass directly to her daughter (the daughter of the English decedent) Her solicitor supplied us with a "Deed of Assignment" of the English estate benefits. So apparently she can do it this way. As I recall British estate/death taxes are high (US taxes are very low in comparison) so perhaps this is a common way of skipping a level of taxes. Talk to your solicitor.