Shares of a pre-deceased sibling on intestacy

29 January 2021

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Just a quick point, on something I came across recently.

We all know that in an intestacy situation that the children of a pre-deceased sibling take the share of their parent, when a single person dies without wife, children, grandchild or parent. The next in line are brothers and sisters on intestacy. This is dealt with in s.69 of the Succession Act. However, one important qualification in the section is that there must be at least one surviving brother and sister. If there is at least one surviving brother and sister, then the shares of the predeceased brother/sister are preserved for the benefit of their children. If not, then, the next in line after that are nieces and nephews. The provision makes sense. If there are no brothers and sisters surviving the next in line must be nieces and nephews.

Just on that point. The share of a pre-deceased brother or sister is only preserved to the extent that the pre-deceased brother or sister had children surviving. If they have had no children (or children surviving), then, such pre-deceased brother or sister does not share.