Estate of a female relative who died intestate in 1935 before her husband

[Deirdre784]

I'm wondering about the estate of a female relative who died intestate in 1935; administration of the £1,269 estate (almost £80,000 in today's money) was granted to her husband and eldest son.

Would this have been 'her' money? I'd always assumed that the money belonged to the husband - she didn't work after her marriage - and can't recall another case in my family history where a wife who died before her husband left money. He died in 1942, leaving a will amounting to £1,111, so presumably he didn't have any (or much) of his own. Her father left £400 when he died in 1909, left to eldest son, but 8 siblings in total.

She was a domestic servant in 1881 before her marriage in 1884, to a wealthy solicitor and family. He left just over £104,000 when he died in 1896 (£12,000,000 today) so i was wondering if she was given a gift when she left the family, but she is not mentioned in his will.

Any idea if this was likely, or any other ideas?

Thanks for reading

[Galium]

After the Married Women's Property Act was passed in 1882, a married woman had a right to her own property, so whatever your relative possessed when she died in 1935 absolutely belonged to her, and was not automatically her husband's, either before or after she died.

She may have accumulated savings, inherited from another family member or worked at a job  that wasn't a full time occupation. (After she married, census records state that my grandmother's occupation was "home duties".  I know for a fact that she earned money from sewing.)

[Deirdre784]

Thanks Galium, not aware she worked but maybe she did. Lot of money though 🤔

[Andy J2022]

Under section 46 of the Administration of Estates Act 1925, because she was intestate, her husband would automatically have inherited all her chattels (ie personal possessions, furniture etc) and £1,000 in value (cash or real property) and because she was survived by her son, he would have shared the remaining £269 with his father, in equal shares. Have you considered that she may have owned the house they lived in - maybe inherited it from a relative, or been helped to buy it by her solicitor employer? £1,000 would easily have been the value of a reasonably sized house in 1935 (for example, see this article).  Does the husband's will speak about a house, rather than more liquid assets, which made up the value of his estate?

[Deirdre784]

Thanks Andy, no idea if they owned any property …. after their marriage (1884) in Bristol they were living in Cardiff where he worked. Moved 4 times (same area) before 1890 when they had moved to live with her parents in Bedminster. Appear to have been there until 1892 (children’s births) but back in Cardiff in 1893. At one address until 1897, then one address 1898 to 1909, and 1910 to 1939 at another house in the same street. Have always assumed they were rented properties. He then moved in with a daughter shortly after that, having worked for the same company in a variety of roles (labourer, driver, tipper at a patent fuel works) for more than 50 years. They had 8 children, all but one (died on active service during WW1) still alive when he died.

Her father was a jobbing / domestic gardener until his death, and all 9 children (5 girls, 4 boys) were still alive, so not much to share out of his estate. As both fathers were labourers etc i can’t see any way they could have had much money.

Even if she did work (sewing, baking etc) that is a lot of money for her to leave (strange she didn’t make a will). Apart from my engagement and wedding rings, i personally only have clothes (nothing posh or expensive) and a small collection of Swarovski crystal. Everything else is ‘ours’ 😀

Have got both fathers’ wills, as well as the solicitor she worked for (could only have been a few years) but saved on a flash drive i can't currently access. Will look for them and also see if i can find out if their latest house was rented.

[Andrew Tarr]

Might the husband have put some family assets in his wife's name to protect them from an unplanned mishap - perhaps expecting her to outlive him in any case ?  Not an unknown situation !

[Deirdre784]

Mmm hadn’t thought of that possibility. Thanks Andrew. Sadly I guess i’ll never find out where it came from 🤔

[sparrett]

Deirdre,
I think your original theory of a gift before or just after her solicitor husband's death is entirely likely.
It may have been an amount even larger than that which she left at her death, having been partially used over the years of her second marriage to support the family in addition to her second husband's wages.

My mother born in 1913, was advised by her mother, if at all possible, to keep a separate bank account not immediately accessible to her husband for "just in case"

And she did

Sue



 

[Deirdre784]

Thanks Sue, she wasn’t married to the solicitor, just worked for his family before her (only) marriage. Apologies for any confusion in my original post.

But a gift from his family when she left to get married does seem the most likely answer to me.