Xi Lin’s husband passed away suddenly without a Will at 45

Xi Lin’s husband passed away unexpectedly at the age of 45 before he had made a Will. He had a heart attack whilst mowing the lawn. To make matters worse Xi Lin spoke very limited English as Mandarin was her native tongue. In the midst of her sorrow, there was a sea of paperwork to wade through and the funeral to arrange. Fortunately her late husband had a wonderful sister Beth who made an appointment for Xi Lin to see me. Beth wasn’t sure of what could or should be done legally but she knew that getting quality legal advice early would help.

The first appointment was scheduled with a translator in attendance by phone. Xi Lin’s husband had left most of his funds in a sole bank account and an interest in a superannuation fund. The bank would not release the funds without someone producing a grant of Letters of Administration (on Intestacy). Xi Lin had no access to the funds as the bank account had been frozen. Letters of Administration is a Court sealed document authorising the proper person to receive and distribute assets in accordance with the law. You can read more about Letters of Administration here.

Given her limited grasp of English we gave Xi Lin some options . She decided to renounce her priority as spouse to apply for Letters of Administration so that her sister-in-law Beth could apply. This would mean Beth would be able to deal with all the paperwork. Beth kindly agreed to help Xi Lin. We were also able to provide Beth with the legal basis on which she could lawfully make early distributions from the estate for maintenance of the widow before the formal Court documents were settled. Beth was able to become the authorised Administrator in about half the time it takes with most firms due to our express service model.

Passing away without a Will is not ideal. It creates a lot of uncertainty for your loved ones. If settling a Will is still pending for you we can help. Visit our Wills page and in ten minutes you will be on your way to securing your estate. The hardest part is getting started but we have taken the friction out and given you a smooth runway with our client journey.

But if your loved one passes away without a Will, help is at hand. If you would like assistance with applying for Letters of Administration then please book a discovery call here or start your new client intake questionnaire here so we can get in touch and see how best to help you.

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Thankyou for reading and we hope to be able to serve you at some stage.