98 years - is this a record?

[Lindsay]

Looking at the Will of Benjamin Oake (died 1772) on Ancestry, there's a note on the last page dated 1870 to say that the executor Peter Biggs the younger left the Will unadministered and 98 years after the probate was granted, everything went to the lady who was the last surviving child of Benjamin Oake's granddaughter.

So was Benjamin's estate just sitting there for 98 years? And is this a record?

[kiterunner]

Far from being a record. I'm afraid. For instance, look at this entry from the National Probate Calendar for 1862:
NPC

(also, what an impenetrable sentence it includes!)

[Lindsay]

Goodness, I thought 98 years was a long time! I'm having trouble working out what would happen eg if someone owned property that was rented out, where would the rent be paid to? And would the contents of their home just sit and moulder away?

[Olde Crone]

I know of someone who rented a house in the late 1940s and after a couple of years, the old lady who owned it stopped coming round for the rent. The tenants took advice and were told to put the rent aside so that it would be there if someone came to collect it. They did that for 24 years, lol, then decided they had set aside enough to buy a house, which they did. As far as I know, no one ever contacted them about unpaid rent and the house remained unoccupied after they left it.

These days if a house was left unoccupied and derelict, the local council has power to take over the property, after having tried to trace the owner (for unpaid council tax if nothing else!).

OC

[Lindsay]

As you say, OC, probably a lot less likely to happen today!

Benjamin Oake left bequests that probably totalled over £1,000 (OK, no guarantee he actually had that much) but 98 years later his estate was worth less than £100. Very sad.

[Olde Crone]

My great grandfather died in 1947, leaving everything to his only child, my grandfather. He made no provision in his Will for his three sisters-in-law who had lived with him for over 30 years since the death of his wife and waited on him hand foot and finger. Only because my grandfather didn't have the heart to turn them out of their home were they allowed to stay until their death. In fact, my grandfather died before the last of the sisters and you could see how easily the whole thing could have been forgotten - who would have been aware of the terms of the will?

By the time the matter was finally dealt with, by me and my father in the 1970s, the house had gone to rack and ruin and was worth nothing like the original valuation.

OC

[Lindsay]

That's a useful reminder that sometimes there was a reason for a delay. And very kind of your grandfather!