What happens if someone dies without a will in Trinidad and Tobago?

Who inherits, in order

Debts, funeral costs and expenses are paid first. The rest goes to the first group on this list with someone alive at the death. If there is no husband or wife, a qualifying unmarried partner takes the spouse's place (Administration of Estates Act (Chapter 9:01), ss 23–26A):

1. A spouse, and no children or other descendants: the spouse takes everything.
2. A spouse and children: the spouse takes half, and the children share the other half. The Act does not expressly cover a spouse who survives with grandchildren whose parent died first, so take advice.
3. Children or other descendants, and no spouse: they take everything. If a child died before the parent, that child's own children share the part their parent would have taken.
4. Parents: in equal shares, or all to the survivor.
5. Brothers and sisters: those sharing both parents first, in equal shares, then half-brothers and half-sisters.
6. Grandparents, in equal shares.
7. The descendants of brothers and sisters (nephews, nieces and their children), full-blood before half-blood. They take only if no brother, sister or grandparent is alive.
8. Uncles and aunts (brothers and sisters of a parent), full-blood before half-blood.

Cousins are not in this order, even though the Act's definition of "next of kin" includes them (s 2), so a cousin should take advice. If nobody qualifies, the estate belongs to the State (s 26C). Once the Administrator General has taken out administration, the President (or a person the President authorises) may by warrant order all or part of it to be paid or transferred to someone who establishes "a legal, equitable, or moral claim" to it (s 27).

Husbands, wives and unmarried partners

A spouse whose divorce was made absolute before the death takes nothing. Neither does a spouse where, at the death, a decree of judicial separation was in force and the couple were still separated (s 10A).

An unmarried partner inherits only if they were of the opposite sex and lived with the deceased continuously, in a genuine domestic relationship, for at least 5 years immediately before the death (s 2). Then:

• if there is no surviving spouse, the partner takes as a spouse would (s 25(1));
• if there is a spouse, but the deceased and the spouse were living separate and apart at the death, the partner shares only in what was acquired during the cohabitation, subject to the rights of the spouse and the deceased's descendants (s 25(2));
• if there is a spouse and they were not living apart, the partner takes nothing under these rules.

The deadline. Within 28 days of the death, the partner must file a notification of interest with the Registrar of the Supreme Court. Within 3 months after that, or such other time as the court considers appropriate, the partner must get an order from the Family Court confirming the relationship and the share (s 25(3)). The Act lets the court allow a different time for the order, but says nothing about extending the 28 days. If the 28 days have already passed, take advice at once.

Children born outside marriage, and adopted children

Descendants count whether they were born within or outside marriage (s 2). For a child to inherit from a father who was not married to the mother, the father's paternity must be recognised in law, for example by his registration as the father, or by a court order or declaration, which can be made even after his death (Status of Children Act (Chapter 46:07), ss 3, 7, 10(1)). Tell the administrator about the claim before the estate is distributed (s 5).

An adoption order places the child in the position of a child born to the adopter (Adoption of Children Act (Chapter 46:03), s 32(1)).

Property that passes outside these rules

Property the deceased owned with someone else as joint tenants passes to the surviving owner automatically and is not shared out under these rules (for land, Administration of Estates Act, s 10(1)). For Real Property Act land, the survivor applies to the Registrar General to be registered as owner, with proof of the death (Real Property Act (Chapter 56:02), s 76). A share held as a tenant in common is part of the estate.

The first step, and a second chance

An administrator has legal authority over the estate only once the High Court grants letters of administration. Until then the property vests in law in the Administrator General (Administration of Estates Act, s 10(4)). The surviving spouse has the first right to apply, then the next of kin (Wills and Probate Act (Chapter 9:03), s 30).

If the result does not make reasonable financial provision for a spouse, qualifying partner, former spouse who has not remarried, child, child of the family or dependant, that person can ask the Family Court for provision out of the estate (Succession Act (Chapter 9:02), s 95(1); Family and Children Division Act 2016, ss 3(1), 4(2), 9(1), Sch 1). The claim must be made within a limited time after the first grant, unless the court gives permission to bring it later, so act quickly (Succession Act, s 98). On a claim made in time, the court may be able to treat the deceased's share of jointly owned property as part of the estate (s 103).

The intestacy rules on this page apply to deaths on or after 25 September 2000, when the Distribution of Estates Act 2000 came into force (s 1(2)). Older estates follow the earlier rules. A claim for reasonable financial provision is available only where the death occurred after Part VIII of the Succession Act came into force on 6 November 2000 (Legal Notice 271/2000).