Inter-23

My mother lived with her friend Jean for fifteen years before she died last year. It was a platonic relationship based on friendship and the convenience of sharing a home with someone else. My mother did not leave a will so that everything she left, including the house, was dealt with under the rules relating to intestacy. My siblings and I were amazed when we heard that Jean was entitled to get a grant of administration from the court for my mother's estate on the basis that she and my mother were adult interdependent partners. Is that right?

Yes. Even though your mother and Jean were just friends, they lived together long enough to qualify as an adult interdependent partnership. Even though they made no formal agreement, if Jean could establish that their lives were interdependent as defined by the Adult Interdependent Relationships Act, there would be evidence to presume an adult interdependent relationship existed.

The Adult Interdependent Relationships Act changed who can apply for a grant of administration when someone dies without a will. An adult interdependent partner may now make the application as a "next of kin". The Surrogate Court Rules now give an adult interdependent partner the same priority as a spouse to apply for the grant.

---

July 2003

Related FAQs:

• Marriage

Back