Written out of my father's will - so sad!

Hi all - a bit of a long story really!

My mum died 3 years ago unexpectedly! Mum and Dad had mirrored wills leaving everything equally between their 4 children.

My father went to live with my sisters after mum for about 1 year. As Dad was an alcoholic - they couldn't cope and put him up in a hotel (his house was 3 hours away). He got a taxi home the next day and they ignored him for months!

I had previously had a fall out with my father and had not spoken to him for about a year - but I decided to ring up Christmas 2007 to see how he was to find out that my sisters had kicked him out and he had been on his own for months.

I travelled straight through to see him - eventually ended up putting him in a Detox clinic to help him!

My "sisters" decided it would be best if he went back to live with them after his detox even though I said he could live with me.

2 months later I got a phone call from one of my sisters asking if we could have Dad for the weekend! She met me half way on the motorway and this was the last that Dad or I heard from any of them for 5 months!!!

Sorry to go on - but Dad lived with me and my partner from June last year and was sadly diagnosed with and died very quickly of lung cancer in April 30 this year.

Dad had arranged for a solicitor to come around to my house to change his will in that he wanted me to be Executor!

Two things happened!

1. I found out that Dad had made a new will when he was staying with my sisters and wrote me out of it.
2. The will that the new solicitor drew up was not expedited with the Court before my Dad died.

I KNOW that Dad had no recollection of making new will when he was with my sisters as he told the solicitor that his will had always been the same in that we each have a 1/4 share.

Dad also suffered with dementia

As I do not speak with my siblings because of the way they treated my Dad........any ideas what I can do?

Anybody else been in a similar situation?

Would appreciate any advice.

Many thanks, very sad Fi x
Total Quidco earnings - £547.98

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Comments

  • tandraig
    tandraig Posts: 2,260 Forumite
    this is a bit complicated and I am not a solicitor - and i think you need to see one.
    your dad was an alcoholic and also suffered from dementia? for how long?
    he made a will he doesnt remember doing while staying with your sisters?
    he recently changed his will while staying with you (through a solicitor? properly signed and witnessed?) do you have a copy of it?

    I cant see any problem if the most recent will has been signed and witnessed but would contact the solicitor who drew it up for clarification. people make homemade wills all the time and they go through probate ok.
  • If the will he made which excludes you is valid and the last will, then you have a problem if you want to inherit anything. You are going to have to prove that he was not fit mentally to write up such a will. You will have to look at undue influence from your other relatives. You will have to address any reasons why you might have been written out.

    If what you say is true, then what has likely happened is that your relatives have worked on your late father to change his will to exclude you because they wanted more of any inheritance. This means you are their enemy and you will have to fight them. They face losing 25% of what they would inherit but they may have to cover legal fees to hang onto that. You and theyhave to do the maths.
  • tandraig
    tandraig Posts: 2,260 Forumite
    i got the impression that your dad had made new will while with you from
    Two things happened!

    1. I found out that Dad had made a new will when he was staying with my sisters and wrote me out of it.
    2. The will that the new solicitor drew up was not expedited with the Court before my Dad died.
    I am not sure what you mean by paragraph 2? this is why i said to contact solicitor cos if he had signed and witnessed it - i dont see why it wont be valid.
    if it isnt signed or witnessed then you will indeed have a battle on your hands with sisters. also - if you want to challenge probate of previous will - be quick - there is only a limited time to do so!
  • far2812
    far2812 Posts: 919
    PPI Party Pooper
    Forumite
    The solicitor who came around took all the details from Dad ie - he wanted me to be Executor, me to have his bits and bobs (there was a word for this?). Dad signed some documents (I am not sure what they were) but apparently she did not complete all the paperwork necessary or lodge it with a Court so it is invalid!

    I forgot to mention that my 3 siblings had Dad sign Power of Attorney to them - again he had absolutely no recollection of it and I had to mention it to him when they rented his flat out without him knowing.

    He went mental and immediately had that revoked and a new one made out with me being Power of Attorney!

    I am just so sad as I know my father was not aware of this other will as he was talking to my uncle about having my siblings signed out of the will!!

    x
    Total Quidco earnings - £547.98

    Everyone is scared of someone or something, everyone loves someone or something, and everyone has lost someone or something! BE NICE!
  • A will does not need to be lodged with a court. The whole idea of Power of Attorney is to protect the vulnerable. Sorry but lots don't sound right here
  • far2812
    far2812 Posts: 919
    PPI Party Pooper
    Forumite
    Yes but the Power of Attorney dies with the person apparently. Hopefully a court will see that. What do you mean "lots dont sound right here?"
    Total Quidco earnings - £547.98

    Everyone is scared of someone or something, everyone loves someone or something, and everyone has lost someone or something! BE NICE!
  • tandraig
    tandraig Posts: 2,260 Forumite
    again - if dad made his wishes plain and he seems to have done then the fact the will wasnt lodged makes no difference. with the circumstances you describe hun i would indeed inform probate you are contesting will if its the previous one that has gone to probate. you will need all the documents from solicitor including drafts of the will. i would also get proof your dad had dementia. while having a solicitor do this is good - its not essential. i would look this up on that direct.gov site as i am sure i have seen something about it on there. and there was a previous thread about contesting a will about a month ago i think. may be helpful.
  • Sorry OP I did not mean my post to sound offensive to you , but on reading it back I think it probably did. What I meant is that I think you need to persue and contest as per tandraig's post above.
  • far2812
    far2812 Posts: 919
    PPI Party Pooper
    Forumite
    Thanks tandraig - I will look on that site!

    I couldn't find any other similar posting on here about this kind of thing!

    The whole situation is just sad - I know that Dad would be turning in his grave knowing that this is going on - he was signed out of his father's will 3 weeks before he died and it split their family up and Mum and Dad always told us that it would never happen to us!

    No problem with getting information from Doctor - it was a psychiatrist who explained that Dad had alcoholic dementia and a brain scan that I took him for showed that he had the brain of an 88 year old (he was only 67!) and that his brain could not store any new detail!

    I cared for my dad for the 11 months he lived with us and when he became very ill - my siblings didn't even come and visit him until 3 days before he died!

    They didn't even send him a christmas card - they broke his heart!

    Thanks for letting me talk about this - it really helps!
    Total Quidco earnings - £547.98

    Everyone is scared of someone or something, everyone loves someone or something, and everyone has lost someone or something! BE NICE!
  • Playing devils advocate here. I know nowt of the legalities- just looking at it from a common sense perspective.

    Timeline:

    Dad writes will whilst being cared for by sisters. It favours them.

    They part company.

    Dad moves in with & is cared for by you. He writes new will. It favours you.

    He has you written out of the 1st will. You comment that he "was talking to my uncle about having my siblings signed out of the will!!"

    And yet you then say:
    "The whole situation is just sad - I know that Dad would be turning in his grave knowing that this is going on - he was signed out of his father's will 3 weeks before he died and it split their family up and Mum and Dad always told us that it would never happen to us!"

    So, should you go to court, you'd be arguing that your dad wasn't in a fit mental state to write the will written at your sisters...but he was, subsequently in a fit state when he wrote the will whilst living with you? Am I missing something here?
    Only dead fish go with the flow...
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