The Rules of Intestacy refer to a previously maintained person and specifically exclude them. An Administrator cannot therefore consider such a claim. However, persons may apply to a Court for an order under I(PFD)A 1975 on the ground that the disposition of the deceased's estate by the law relating to intestacy is not such as to make reasonable financial provision for the applicant. If successful, the Court provision for a spouse may be either a lump sum or maintenance and for other applicants is normally limited to maintainance. The persons who may apply for an order are the deceased's
(1) surviving spouse (or former spouse who has not remarried)
(2) child or person treated by the deceased as a child of his family
(3) cohabitee, a category introduced for deaths on or after1 January 1996 by the Law Reform (Succession) Act 1995. A person will be in this category of claimant if, during the whole of the two year period preceding the deceased�s death, lived in the same household as the deceased as the husband or wife, or
(4) any other person who was being wholly or partly maintained by the deceased immediately before their death.
The application for the order must normally be made within six months of the date of grant of representation, but a court may allow a later application.