When my dad passed away (10 years ago exactly today actually) he was in his late 50s and although not hugely surprising, was still quite unexpected and he had no will.
He remarried after my mother then they split and he bought a flat, retired and got a fair chunk of money off the council for taking early retirement.
Around a year before he passed away he got back with the second wife and as they never divorced there was no legal matters needing dealt with. As they were still married when he died she was entitled to the majority of the money. Sold the flat for a fraction of it's worth for a quick sale and pocketed the rest of the dough.
She walked away with around £80k or something, I got around £1,200 as I was his only child. She never even offered any of the money to me even though she knew fine well my dad would've wanted me to get the majority and if the shoe was on the other foot I'd have saw her alright.
Needless to say we don't talk anymore