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JEAN AND PAUL shared their love, finances and dreams for a future together. They had been living together for just over three years when Paul died in a tragic drowning accident caused by a leaking boat.
This did not stop Jean, our client, being completely ostracised by his family following his untimely death. Paul had not made a will and so she was left with no rights at all to his estate, causing her extreme emotional trauma and financial distress.
One particularly difficult day for Jean was when Paul’s car was taken from her. It now sits in the driveway of his parents’ home. For Jean, it was as if Paul himself was taken from her a second time.
Unfortunately, this is not an uncommon situation for those whose partners die without leaving a will.
If you pass away without making one, in legal jargon, you are said to have died intestate. The Irish rules on intestacy will dictate how your estate – your assets, money and possessions – will be allocated. This means it might not be distributed the way you or your partner would have wished.
If you die intestate and are married or registered in a civil partnership, the intestacy rules provide that your spouse or registered civil partner is entitled to your entire estate, if you have no children.
If you have children, they will get one third of your estate, while your spouse or registered civil partner will automatically get two-thirds. If your children are under 18, trustees will have to be appointed.
However, there are many young couples who will not have married or who will not have registered a civil partnership. If one partner dies, they will not automatically inherit from each other unless there is a will. As the remaining partner does not have any automatic right to inherit, this could cause difficulty and financial problems.
If you lived with your partner for at least five years, or two years if you had a child together, you are called qualifying co-habitants, and your partner would have to apply to court for provision to be made out of your net estate within six months of the date of the grant of representation taken out in your estate.
The court has discretion on whether or not to grant an order making provision for your partner.
In general, when you die your estate is frozen, unless it is in your joint names. You will need a grant of representation to access your partner’s bank accounts or to transfer property.
Under the intestacy rules, a person who has a right to take a share in the estate has the right to take out the grant of administration. However, what if your partner does not have a statutory right to a share?
Deciding the future
If you die having made a will, in legal jargon, you are said to have died testate. In your will, you name the executor who will administer your estate and extract the grant of representation to administer your estate. You decide how you want to distribute your estate, in other words.
If you have children, then it is even more important that each parent makes a will to protect them. This allows you to provide for a guardian to look after them until they reach 18 and specify how they should be cared for.
You can appoint the trustees you trust to look after your estate on behalf of the children until they reach 18. You can also provide for the special needs of a family member and ensure that the minimum tax will be paid on any benefit left to that child.
The only inevitability in life is that you will die at some stage. By making a will, you can at least provide some certainty for your family and ensure your estate is left in the right hands.
Aisling O’Leary is a partner at Cantillons Solicitors in Cork. The firm can be contacted for advice on 021 4275673 or info@cantillons.com.
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I bet there are also a few current plots in motion by Ukraine and its allies too try to kill Vladimir Putin, because that’s what happens in conflicts…
Though it only appears newsworthy or important enough to put a face in those at the top that are kept far from the conflict, not the poor sods on both sides dying in a conflict that the USA is willing to continue to fight until the last Ukrainian…
@Dvsespaña: And good so, last I checked Ukraine is the one being invaded, it’s normal for them wanting to take out Putin, but the Russians doing that to Zelensky, being a good leader or not is plain psychopath.
@Dvsespaña: ‘that’s what happens in conflicts’, but the conflict shouldn’t be happening in the first place. It’s Putin’s fault that it is.
@J Ven: The reality of Ukraine both currently and in the years between the fall of the Soviet Union and the Russian invasion, is not as simplistic or clear cut as the Russians are bad, Ukrainians are good, Americans are best of all, frankly the ludicrous designations we have been invited to believe, don’t stand up to reading a history book or reviewing the available facts, rather than blindly accepting a bite sized spoon fed finger painted picture of geopolitics, look beyond the propaganda on all sides.
@Brendan O’Brien: it’s the indiscriminate bombing in the east of Ukraine since 2014 trying to get rid or kill Russian speaking Ukrainians because they wanted self rule but be still part of Ukraine. So after 10 years of looking for help from Russia, they crossed the border to shield them from a planned invasion to overwhelm the rebels by 100,000 Ukraine troops backed by the USA. So it was the USAs fault. They saw an excuse to use Ukraine as a battering ram against Russia. Ukraine is now falling apart.
@Dvsespaña: In fairness, I say 99.9% of the world wants that to happen. The 00.1% who don’t are either allies, or the troll bots that plague social media.
@brendan C5: You really do swallow Russian propaganda whole.
@Brendan O’Brien: presumably another russian bit. Anybody who bothers to check Ukrainian history can see through this nonsense. On that basis, only somebody in thrall to or in the pay of putin could even contemplate pushing this narrative. Putin is an imperialist adventurer. His govt colleagues beneficiaries of this. Lavrov peskov and others are the leeches that cling to and feed off putin, along with RT, diplomats like the mudak filatov. In fairness to Xi, at least he does it with style
@Brendan O’Brien: tell me how it’s Putins fault? He waited years, in fact some say too long, for a peace deal. He even recommended Donbass region not to join with Russia and instead make an agreement with Ukraine. Unfortunately Ukrainian troops, backed by NATO, built up in the east ready to ethnically cleanse the Russian speakers and Russia had no choice but to intervene. Since the US backed coup in 2014, Russians and Russian speaking Ukrainians have been vilified and dehumanised to justify an unnecessary war. Please look up Victoria Nuland’s phonecall and John Mearsheimer on YouTube.
@Brendan O’Brien: No conflict should ever happen, but alas, it’s been going on since the dawn of humanity. It’s all about power and resources. People have been forced to fight for what their leaders want.The use of religion was used to effectively brainwash people into fighting for their gods over others, race was used to fight against invaders of you leaders land. The good guy in any conflict is always the victor. It doesn’t matter who started or why it was started. Conflicts are never black and white. To Russia we’re seen as the bad guy just as we see them as the bad guy. Putin for sure is a “bad guy”, but by equal measure the USA is just as bad. Nato is just as bad. Citizens of these countries are all forced and brainwashed to fight for what they perceive to be right by their leaders who only care about wealth and legacy. If Ukraine win the west is good russia bad and usa is the corporate, capitalist, hero who saved the day. American and EU interests will make billions rebuilding ukraine and get the resources there to. If Russia wins it will go down as the hero who stood up against the western Corporatocracy who sought to cripple their way of life and steal their resources and the american and european interests will still make billions rebuilding ukraine and Russia. Social media is the modern weapon used to brainwash and control the narrative by bombarding one side of the argument with biased rhetoric. It creates trolls who demonise those who would question the war on all sides and claim its side is the seeker of righteousness. The reality is the current economic structure of the “superpowers” requires conflict to drive the economy and keep the elite rich. To think putin is any more or less evil than his western counterparts is naive, and to suggest his invasion is wrong just because it’s not your side of the conflict is simplistic. We assume it’s just Putin’s ego driving the war, but in reality one man can’t control an entire nation no matter how deranged and powerful we’re led to believe he is. It’s a conflict driven and manipulated by the global superpowers. I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if putin is having tea and biscuits with the Americans laughing and having a bit of craic about the wealth the war is, and will be, generating for them all.
@Brendan O’Brien: Others believe in western propaganda. Swings and roundabouts. The reality is that this war is being encouraged by both NATO to promote them and enable their expansion, the USA to enable them to profit from war, and Russia to profit from war and gain a bit of land. The only losers will be the Russian and Ukrainian citizens forced to die and fight for their respective leaders wealth generation.
@Dan Skelton: So in your expert estimation based on a strict diet of simplistic propaganda, you believe that 99% of the world wants to elevate the current proxy war conflict in Ukraine, into a global nuclear world war three, that eventually kills every living thing on the planet? You are obviously a genius and definitely not a troll bot and part of the problem…
@Dvsespaña: and all this would have been avoided had Putin shelved his imperialist ambitions.
@Dvsespaña: not that I’d agree with taking out anyone but of course – it surely would solve a lot of Ukraines problems
@Roy Dowling: Gaza is not Palestine, and Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005 – leaving a well developed region and abandoning all their settlements.
The Gaza population failed to build on this opportunity and instead they elected a terrorist organisation to run the territory.
What could go wrong? – with their main objective being to turn their water mains pipes into rockets, build tunnels instead of schools and invent the suicide vest for use in Israeli restaurants.
@Maniac 2000: Ok, lets look at this logically. Russia under Putin illegally invaded Ukraine, but not in an unprovoked attack, there was lots of provocation, does that justify the Russian invasion? No, but you can see why it might from their perspective.
The USA have pushed NATO up to the borders of Russia, with Ukraine being the most in their face middle finger of all.
In addition attacks on ethnic Russian Ukrainians living in the separatist areas, which were back by US intelligence services to poke the bear using Ukrainian assets from Neo Nazi groups in Ukraine, this isn’t some crazy conspiracy theory, its documented fact along with secret CIA Black sites that have been operating in Ukraine for years.
Russia has despite slaughtering tens of thousands of Ukrainians, fought this conflict with one or more hands behind its back. Russia is a nuclear super power that has not even unleased its full conventional power against Ukraine to date.
But if Putin was “Taken out” as numerous self appointed military experts that were all battle hardened in the campaigns of call of duty suggest, that itself would probably escalate the conflict straight to nuclear, because his successor would seek to stamp their authority on Russia and to be seen as the defender of Russia in the aftermath of its leader being assassinated.
We are as closer to nuclear war than we have ever been, the last time was when the Soviet Union tried to put it’s missiles in Cuba, which ironically doesn’t actually border the USA.
@Dvsespaña: You castigate the US for answering Ukraines call for material assistance in defending itself from a murderous Russian invasion.
You, strangely, make no mention of Russias determination to continue its invasion of a sovereign European nation, whatever the cost. Whats the story there?
Do you think you might deign to acknowledge Ukraines agency in its own defence?
@honey badger: You appear in all your comments about the conflict in Ukraine to start the timeline from the Russian invasion and suffer from selective amnesia about all that went before, as far back as the fall of the Soviet Union.
This isnt a simple regional conflict in which the Russians are the only responsible party.
It doesn’t justify their illegal invasion of Ukraine, but to claim the USA and the rest of NATO are the hero’s coming to aid Ukraine in a conflict in which they had no part in instigating is delusional to say the least.
@Dvsespaña: you mean from the invasion of crimea onwards or from the moment russia planted its forces in east ukraine onwards?
I think the US may be ahead of Russia in taking the C lown out, The war is over, Russia won. What a waste of life, all to enrich US investors.
@087 bed: The US said it would give billions to Ukraine. The truth is that the money never left the US, straight into the bank accounts of the military industrial complex. Then Russia hits the silo where the weapons are stored. War is a profitable business for a few rich men.
@087 bed: if the war is over, and russia have won, then why is it continuing?
@087 bed: you really shout get out more.
@James Groden: I condemn both the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Israel’s ongoing crimes against Palestinians: do you?
If the Russians wanted him dead they would have killed him by now. They can drop a missile on him whenever they choose.
@Des Hanrahan: Evidently not Des. Did you read the article?
Unsurprising really given the despotic russonazis just continue their slaughter unabated.
Concurrent sentencing should be abolished in Ireland.
That said, hopefully some agent manages to get something into Putins food that causes him to explode.
De @ th to putin
@Paddy Ryan: learn your history from books not rte, BBC or sky news. Your completely brainwashed god love ya.
@brendan C5: says yer man.. you’d be a hitler supported if this was the 1930s, I’ve no doubt about it.
@James Groden: Please link to this cheerleading you fetid putin fluffer. Thanks in advance.
A plot to assassinate Zelensky? Who would have guessed it!
Might be a question with an obvious answer, but how can an account be shown as 10y, but I’ve never seen the account name before (Dvsespaña)? Account name changes? Also, and I can’t believe I have to type this, all wrongs are wrong, regardless of which country, government or citizens commit those wrongs. Human rights and morality don’t get ignored because of borders (Wallace & Daly and the emerging Far Right here please take note of this Sesame Street level knowledge).
@Numinous20111: Perhaps its all a plot being perpetrated by the journal.ie in league with myself, the FSB and Putin??
But in reality, I have been posting here for ten years, perhaps you are just not as observant as you think…
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:-)
@Numinous20111: Re. Accounts , Remember when they changed the system about a year ago ? Well the record of how long people were commenting on the Journal went crazy . I have been on for more than 10 years but am shown as 1 year .
@Des Hanrahan: that account is new to me too. Suspicious, isnt it
I think they both need to be carefull with the cup of tea.
One of them two of them in my opinion.
have your say