Legal Tip 382: Intestacy Rules where identity of deceased not known

If a person has no will then the intestacy laws will apply. These laws will generally mean the assets pass to the spouse and/or the children. If there is neither spouse nor children, the next in line is generally siblings and then other family members.

Therefore, it can be important to know who the parents of the deceased person were as this will determine who the next in line will be in terms of intestacy.


Example

An interesting case is The Public Trustee of Queensland as Administrator of the Estate of Phyllis Mary Hoskin, deceased v Hoskin [2016] QSC 31



Phyllis had an estate worth $1.2 million, but no will, so the intestacy laws were to apply. But Phyllis Hoskin died without any descendants or spouse. She had inherited most of her estate from another relative.



The problem was that the deceased’s birth certificate or other records could not determine who her parents were. After investigation there were 3 possibilities as to her identity and the court determined that it was likely she was the natural child of Aaron Hoskin but not of his wife Margaret Hoskin.



The court therefore directed the estate to the only known living relatives of the Hoskin family.