How do you know what was in the will?Hi guys, it's been a long time since I've posted on this site and I have a pretty general question that I hope you can guide me on.
I'm looking for a solicitor to contest a will made by my Mother who passed away in September last. 7 in the family and 6 of us are in agreement that we don't believe this is what her wishes would have been if she was of sound mind. (She was suffering from dementia but officially diagnosed in the November and will made the following March) 7th sibling was the executor, got everything in the will and accompanied my mother to the solicitor to have the will made.
I've read through a lot of posts and realise this may be a long and expensive road but we just want to talk to a solicitor to see what their opinion is. I don't expect anyone to recommend an actual name, but is there a Law Society list i could check out for recommendations? What is the best way to go about finding a solicitor experienced in this? When I google it I just get sites where solicitors are advertising their skills.
A colleague is going through a similar situation and she learned from her mistakes of enlisting a solicitor whose expertise wasnt in the area of wills so I want to avoid that if I can. (although as i write this i realise its a big ask...)
Many thanks
A copy of the will was sent out by the solicitor to all the siblings on July21 of this year. My mother had a saying "You can't make fish of one and flesh of the other" This is what she lived by so it appears that the will is totally against her normal wishes. No money left to carers or the church for Masses etc. This would have been important to herHow do you know what was in the will?
That's what I've read and understand that this is the case all rightI understand that the fees to fight the case come out of the estate, is this correct?
The will hasn't gone to probate yet - I've been checking that online - as I believe we have from 6 months after probate has been granted to voice our concerns.Has the will gone to probate already?
Some people claim that another relative or person in the deceased’s life unduly influenced them.
This is a “very, very difficult thing to prove”, according to Spierin, who notes: “The person who can give the evidence as to whether this was the case is dead.”
This is the core of your case I believe.(She was suffering from dementia but officially diagnosed in the November and will made the following March)
I would tend to agree.If you have a confirmed, written diagnosis of Dementia in (say) November 2020 and the will is dated for March 2021; then the will cannot be considered valid as the person was not of 'sound mind' and you have documented medical evidence to that effect.
Looking at the above and it has me wondering why the solicitor sent all the siblings a copy of the will. I believe there was no obligation on him to do that at all.7th sibling was the executor, got everything in the will and accompanied my mother to the solicitor to have the will made.
You’re right. Unless the executor instructed the solicitor to send it to the siblings.Looking at the above and it has me wondering why the solicitor sent all the siblings a copy of the will. I believe there was no obligation on him to do that at all.
I thought we would have to wait until probate was granted before we were free to do anything so this is interesting. My biggest fear is that the haste that seems to be here is to put the rest of the family off guard and to be slow in responding. We're all a bit shell shocked to be honestI would lodge a caveat now with the probate office and write a letter to the Solicitor holding the 'new' will and put them on notice.
That's the unfortunate thing about this but we're hopeful that right is on our side and that we'll be able to prove it and settle it before it goes to court. Fire a shot across the bows in a way and hope that reason will win out.You can be 100% certain that this will cause a family row; be prepared for that.
The link that I posted earlier clearly deals with stopping a probate application by entering a caveat...I thought we would have to wait until probate was granted before we were free to do anything so this is interesting.
Grant of Probate 'proves' the will, in other words establishes the will as being valid and allows the executor to proceed with distribution.So an option is to enter a caveat, stop the probate application and then lodge our concerns via our solicitor...something to definitely get confirmed with a solicitor. Again, I thought, naively, that our hands were tied until post probate,
@emmt I posted elsewhere about the probate office querying my mother's will because her death cert mentioned dementia even though she made her will well before any mention of dementia but her GP can't/won't vouch for her being of sound mind at the time. Has the will gone to probate already? I wonder if there's any mechanism by which you can alert the probate office to your concerns and have them query matters?
Edit: this perhaps? But probably no use if it has already gone to/through probate?
I am not a lawyer but common sense suggests to me that it'd probably be more difficult and more costly to change things after probate than before. But then common sense and the law aren't always the same thing... If it was be me I'd be entering a caveat as soon as possible.is this the proper course to pursue or is it more beneficial to wait until probate has been granted.
So we need to act now...I'll get moving on this ASAP.Grant of Probate 'proves' the will, in other words establishes the will as being valid and allows the executor to proceed with distribution.
So you want to take action now, based on what you have posted I think you have a good case; particularly when there was no earlier will.
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