I have an estate whereby Husband has died intestate. His wife is applying for LOA. There is one child, who is an adult. The estate has to be split between Wife and daughter.
When making the application on myHMCTS the Mother is the applicant. It asks if there are any minor interests, the answer to which is no.
In generating the legal statement, the declaration the Mother is required to sign states … “I am the only person entitled to the estate” which is not factually correct because daughter is to receive a share. Have I misunderstood, when they state ‘entitled to the estate’ does this mean entitled to take out LOA (rather than entitled to a beneficial/financial share)?
Please could somebody clarify. It seems basic but I would like to be sure.
Going back to the wording of an original Oath, this would have said that the mother was… “the only person entitled to share in the estate”. I would be tempted to amend the wording of the Statement of Trust to this.
It used to be so easy when there was someone at the probate registry to speak with. Even if a matter needed amending, the process was only likely to take two weeks maximum before a response was received.
I had a very similar situation a few months ago and did a live web chat with the HMCTS and got confirmation in writing during that chat that this should be dealt with via cover letter explaining the situation rather than amending the Legal Statement. I submitted the application with a cover letter and a print out of the web chat. I have since moved firms but I understand that the Grant has been issued without any problem.
According to the .gov website, you should only apply for Letters of Administration through myHMCTS if “there is only one applicant and they are the only person entitled to the estate”. As that is not the case, you should submit a paper application.
