Title deeds not updated after death of owner

After the death of my Father the title deeds for my parents house weren’t updated. The deeds were only in my Father’s name. My mother has now passed away and I’m having issues selling the house as the title deeds are not in my Mother’s name and I’m told the house is therefore not part of her estate. What’s the simplest way out of this? Can the house be retrospectively transferred to my Mother (as that’s what my Father’s will stated]?

Graham - sorry to read of your losses here. You can't retrospectively transfer the ownership to your late Mother as sadly she is now deceased.
The property remains part of your late Father's estate so you need probate for him and you can then sell as his executor.
The alternative is if your Mother applied for probate for your late Father then you can apply for probate for her and create what's known as a chain of representation with both probates

 
Hi Adam,

I found this post after researching a similar case we are experiencing just now. This has given me some clarity on what may happen with my now late Aunts house. Out of curiosity I reached out to a lawyer because we feel my cousins have been very private about my late Aunts will - which apparently confirms the house is left wholly to them based on the outcome of my late grandmothers will. When my grandmother died, she left my mother (who is still alive) was left money and my aunt was left money and the house in her will. We feel this is really unfair as of course the house has increased in value and my mum will not see any of that inheritance from what was her childhood home.  My aunt only lived in the house for 8 years before we lost her unexpectedly.

My solicitor advised me to get a copy of the Title Deeds to the house - which she did on my behalf.  Funnily enough, the property is still in my late Grandfathers name.  My cousins are now in the process of selling the property (they are unaware of the title deeds at this stage). I assume this will rear its head when they come to the Title Deeds and see that the house was not in fact in my late Grandmother or Aunts name.  My query is whether or not my mother has a stake in the property because she is now the only surviving beneficiary of my Grandfathers estate. We are still waiting on seeing all three wills to see what they say regarding beneficiaries etc. 

 
 

Hi Gemma - we don;t deal with the beneficial ownerships so whether she has a 'stake' or not is one to seek legal advice on.
We register the legal ownership and if the register refers to her late Grandfather then it remains as part of his estate. Probate will be needed for him and if that already exists and say it was his widow and she has died, then probate will also be needed for her. This can create a 'chain of representation' then then enables her executor(s) to deal with (sell) the property for example.
But it really all comes back to the wills as to whether such a chain can be created and indeed what happens to any 'stakes' in the beneficial ownerships

Many thanks.

We are getting the probates for all to see what it brings up and I will subsequently get legal advice on that thereafter. 

HI My dad passed away in 2019 he was the sole owner of his house he shared with my mum for 54 years. She is his surviving spouse how do i change the deed as its not changed automatically x

Hi Claire - see our online assisted guidance which asks you a series of Qs the As to which will then link you to the required forms/guidance needed to transfer the ownership as appropriate
HMLR Guide: Start - External  · HM Land Registry