Solicitor appointed himself as executor to my mother's will

[Dublinlass]

Thanks Bronte

Would anyone know if 'I request' means a request or does it mean that it has to be implemented?

many thanks

 

[Vanilla]

I haven't seen that wording before. In general if it went to court, the court will look at the ordinary meaning of the word, so 'I request' is simply a request, not an order or prerequisite. When I draft wills if the testator wants to express a desire, but allow the executor to change if required, I usually draft it more along the lines:' IT is my wish that....but I do not make a specific direction in that regard.'

In order to be sure, perhaps you could ask the solicitor to put it in writing, or change the will.

 

[Dublinlass]

Thanks Bronte

 

[Bronte]

Thanks Bronte

And what about Vanilla who is the expert?

 

[Vanilla]

And what about Vanilla who is the expert?

Thanks Bronte.

 

[Dublinlass]

So sorry Vanilla. Had a quick look at this site on my phone and thought the last post was from Bronte

Thanks Vanilla and everyone for their feedback on this.

Much appreciated

 

[polar]

Have it removed if possible. The lawyer is simply setting themselves for administration fees of between 5 to 10k. If it is not your mother's last wish that this lawyer should be her executor, then she should make a new will repudiating all former wills.

 

[polar]

Secretaries are not trained lawyers and as such are prohibited from giving legal advice. Anyone in my practice doing so would be reprimanded. Redraft the will

 

[Dublinlass]

Thanks Polar and Equal for coming back to me on this. Much appreciated

 

[NOAH]

"problem we have is that the Solicitor is at the bottom of the will stating that they will deal with the estate"

Now the way I read the role of the executor is that they deal with all aspects of the will and can if they wish appoint a solicitor to deal with the estate or bits of. Now any good solicitor would know that this is the case so why did they add in that bit at the end?

and this is the bit that has me really intrigued and the answers, " I request that the firm of ............. be retained as Solicitors to administer my estate".

The legal interpreation of a request is .. a request is never a request .. unless it is in .. writing. In other words a request in writing is not a wish, an expectation, a maybe, if this happens, and so on.

It is in fact an order, a command, an instruction or whatever you may wish to call it and it is legally binding.

The simple answer and the correct answer to the OP was " Tear up that original will, draw up a new one with the request bit removed"

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