My late father said he made a will leaving everything to his three children but my stepmum 'can't find it'

My father died in 2024 and just before he passed he married my stepmother.

I was told he initiated it so things would be easier for her to sort out once he had passed.

I have lived with my father and stepmum for 20 years in the same house and I always recall a conversation we all had, where my stepmum asked my father if he was to pass away before her, did he have a will.

He said yes and it would be divided up between his three children. 

She asked 'well where would I live because they could sell the house and kick me out?'. I said that would never happen as it is their house.

Now my father has passed away we have still not had a will reading and my stepmum says she cannot find his will.

We do not want to throw her out but we are wondering, once my stepmum passes away do we have a right to his share of the house, and how would we go about checking this?

Also, would we be able to search for his will online without asking my stepmum?

Who inherits the house: What steps can you take to find a will, and what happens if one can't be found (Stock image)

Tanya Jefferies, of This is Money, replies: Naturally you want to establish what will happen to your late father's estate, especially if you are still living in his house with your stepmother.

To be valid any will would need to take account of your father's marriage, and if not the intestacy rules would usually apply, the lawyer we consulted explains below.

She outlines what searches you can make for a will, and other checks worth carrying out.

However, your father may or may not have made a will either in anticipation of or straight after his marriage. You say that he died soon afterwards, so perhaps sadly he didn't get the time or opportunity to do so.

If you are on good terms with your stepmother, perhaps it is worth discussing with her what she wants to do about sorting out your father's estate, since there appears to be no valid will to be found.

The government-backed MoneyHelper website has a useful layman's guide on what families can do when there is no will, and who inherits under intestacy rules.

Charlotte Procter: Wills generally become public once a Grant of Probate has been issued

Charlotte Procter, a solicitor in the wills, trusts and probate legal team at Slater and Gordon, replies: There is often confusion about what happens to a loved one's estate after their death, and uncertainty surrounding their estate can make an already emotional situation even harder.

A lot of the time a close relative's death also comes with questions or disagreements between family members about who is entitled to what and whether their wishes have been properly carried out.

The first thing to know is that there is no formal 'will reading' process in England and Wales, despite what we often see in films and on television.

If your father left a valid will, the person responsible for administering his estate, known as the executor, would usually obtain a Grant of Probate and they would have a legal duty to deal with the estate in accordance with the will's terms.

How to search for a will

Wills generally become public once a Grant of Probate has been issued, and anyone can search the government's probate records and purchase a copy of the will.

You can search the probate records at the government's Find a Will service.

Your stepmother would not be informed if you were to search for your father's will on the government website.

However, it is possible in your situation that your stepmother may not yet have applied for the Grant of Probate for your father or she may not have been entitled to do so.

If this is the case and you are unable to find your father's will on the government website, it may also be worth making enquiries with solicitors' firms, if you know of any your father had previously used, or any in his local area.

It is worth noting that they may be limited in what information they can provide without authority from your father's executors.

Your father's marriage to your stepmum

A key issue in your situation is that your father married shortly before his death.

Many people are unaware that marriage generally revokes an existing will, meaning it is cancelled automatically unless it was specifically drafted in anticipation of the marriage.

This means that it is possible even if your father had made a will leaving his estate to you and your two siblings, it may no longer have been valid after he got married.

If no valid will exists, either because one cannot be found or because the marriage revoked it, your father's estate would usually be distributed under the intestacy rules.

These are the legal rules in England and Wales that determine who inherits when someone dies without a valid will.

The position of your stepmother under these rules may be stronger than you expect.

Depending on the value of the estate and the assets involved, a surviving spouse is often entitled to inherit some or all of the estate before children receive anything.

Ownership of your late father and stepmum's house

If you are able to find your father's will, and this was made with consideration to the marriage, whether or not you have a right to his share of the house will depend on how the property is owned.

If your father and stepmother owned the property as joint tenants, they are treated in law as owning the whole property together.

When one joint tenant dies, their interest passes automatically to the surviving joint tenant by the right of survivorship, and neither owner owns a distinct share that can be left by will.

If they owned the property as tenants in common, your father could have left his share under his will to whoever he wanted to, but if there is no valid will again it would pass under the intestacy rules.

You can request a copy of the title register for the house from HM Land Registry for a small fee, which may help establish how the property was owned. Again, you are able to do this without your stepmother being made aware.

Where do you and your siblings stand

While there are still some important facts to clarify, this does not necessarily mean that you and your siblings have no entitlement to your father's estate.

If your father left a valid will benefiting his children, and his share of the property formed part of his estate, his wishes should be given effect.

Even if no valid will can be found, children can still be entitled to inherit under the intestacy rules, although the extent of that entitlement will depend on the value and composition of the estate and your stepmother's entitlement as a surviving spouse.

Equally, if your father owned assets in his sole name, such as savings, investments or other property, these may form part of his estate regardless of what happens to the family home.

For that reason, it is important not to assume that your position depends solely on the ownership of the house.

The good news is that there are practical steps you can take to obtain answers.

By checking the probate records to establish whether your father did have a valid will and confirming how the property was owned, you should be able to build a much clearer picture of your father's wishes and any entitlement that you and your siblings may have.