will contesting advice please

paulnstar

Hi

Firstly Happy Easter to you all.

I know this is a touchy subject, but my mum is in a right state.

My Nan died last year and left an estate of around £250K and after being told over many years that I would be looked after in her will my mums sister (Aunt) and husband were named sole executioners of her will and I and my brother as well as my mum had been removedl.

My mum and her sister fell out years ago after my grandad died and my Nan re-married. We moved away and I can honestly say I probably saw my Nan around 20 times from the age of 10 to my age now (33) when she died. So I know I probably deserve nothing.

We always got xmas cards and birthday cards and the odd letter. My Nan fell ill 2 years ago and my mum had moved to Cyprus. Her sister who lives in the same town as my Nan and who also worked all her life as a nurse in care homes placed her in a care home of my Aunt's choice – and during this period my Nan had her will changed by my Aunt, which sounds as though it was done with witnesses and a solicitor etc – My Aunts solicitor and friend.

I've never been allowed to get close to my Nan and didn't even know she was in a care home until she had been in there a year.

When we heard my Nan was ill and was in hospital I called my Aunt who I've always got on ok with and she said my Nan didn't have long to live so I went to see her.

At this point she didn't really know where she was and kept asking for my mum. I went and saw my Aunt to find out what had happened and told her that my mum was very upset with her as the will had been changed - she denied it but wished me well.

Well a few days later my Nan died (last June 08) and we had the funeral and my Aunt wished me well for the future.

Afterwards we find out that she and her husband are sole executioners of the will. Her daughter is in the will but my Mum and me and my brother are not.

I told my mum to walk away as I believe in life that money should be earnt and to be honest the whole issue had been going on for a few years between my Mum and Aunt.

However my Mum is now quite ill and has lost a lot of weight through stress and won’t let the matter rest.

Sorry for the epic but what are the options, I would walk away but I know my Mum won't as she feels that me and my brother have been cheated out of our inheritance.

Can we contest the will, I've heard this will cost thousands and their we could foot the entire bill if we lose?

Based on the facts above do we have grounds to appeal? ( I know my mum placed a probate?)


Again thanks for your time - this is a honest post and personally I wish my Nan had agreed earlier with my Mum and Aunt to leave the whole lot to a charity but because my Mum is in such a state I thought I'd write this post.

Many thanks
Paul

RAS

hi

We need to disentangle a couple of things here.

The executors of a will are the people who are required to sort out the distribution of the deceased's possessions and assets. They may or may not benefit from the will.

The beneficiaries are the people who receive assets from the will. They may or may not also be executors but they may not be witnesses to the will.

You actually need to know what the situation is.

And legally gran could leave the whole lot too the cat's home and none to family and there is nothing you could do, unless she was mentally impaired at the time.

Savvy_Sue

Also, I can't see that any of you have grounds to contest the will because none of you were dependent on your nan when she died, were you?

If you have the time, money and emotional capacity to spend on trying to establish that nan was not of sound mind when she made the will, or that your aunt has somehow done you out of your 'inheritance', best of luck to you. But honestly, trying to persuade your mum that it's not worth it, and YOU don't feel hard done by, is your best course of action, IMO.

paulnstar

Guys thanks for the comments.

As I mentioned before, personally she could have left it to Bin Larden but it was how the will was changed.

I'm going to try my best to ask my mother to walk away but I'm pretty sure she won't.

I bet my Nan was of sound mind, but also knowing she'd never paid a bill or done any paperwork in her life meant that she probably just signed the bit of paper without knowing.

My Aunt is the main beneficiaries of the will and is the executor too. The witness I think was the solictor or manager of the care home - both long term friends of my aunt.

The money aside I never got a photo of my grandad (who died when I was 4) or had any of the photos of me and my Nan returned, nothing. So you can see why I'm upset about it too.


Maybe I'll wait till when my Aunt is in a care home and of sound mind and then pay her a visit like she did my Nan and see if its fair then.

ella_ella_ella

This is a bit of a touchy subject for me. My Grandad who died last year had two horrible step children, they never did a thing for him and never once asked my mum if she needed a break after 20 years of caring for him only coming out of the woodwork when they could smell money.

The will was spilt 4 ways between the two step children and his own two children but one of his daughters had died so her share went to her daughter. The step brother was the executer of the will and tried and tried, very slyly, to put him in a home and change his will as he thought it should be only spilt 3 ways rather than my cousin getting her dead mums share.

My grandad never wanted to go anywhere with him as he knew exactly what the step son was like and asked me and my mum to make sure he stayed in his own home. When my grandad became really ill they damanded family meetings, bullying my mum to put him in a home and talking of his dying in front of him as though he wasnt there, I was 9 months pregnant at the time so couldnt do as much as I would of normally but we brought him home and my mam cared for him 24 hours a day until he died when my daughter was 8 days old. He held on until she was born as it was his first Great Grandchild although the step son refused to have this mentioned at the funeral and said I shouldnt go with my daughter.

As it turned out the minister made a huge point of him hanging on to meet my baby and also called them the STEP children. I HATE these people and refuse to have anything to do with them. I guess there are always two sides to a story but luckly we were there caring for him and to hear him say 'you have made me so happy' just before he died was one of the best things in my life.

I do realise im rambling now and dont really have any advice but if it was me I would just leave it as its really not worth the heartache especially if your mum is becoming ill because of it.

Pee

Yes, as a child of the deceased, your Mum could make a claim against her mother's estate under the IPFDA 1975. I wouldn't expect this to be successful, based on the information you have given, but it would be worth a free half hour interview with a solicitor to see.

The other alternative is to challenge the will on grounds of a lack of capacity or understanding, yet it seems to me your Gran knew perfectly well what she was doing.

Taking this any further than that first interview is likely to be costly and extremely stressful. I think there is something about the greiving process which brings this sort of reaction out in people, and so maybe as your Mum comes to terms with her loss, she will find this easier to accept.

There is six months from Grant of Probate to make the claim I have suggested above.

lowis

sorry your mum feels so upset by this, maybe she feels that her mum somehow loved her less or something and that is why she didn't benefit from the will? you need to convince your mum otherwise, let her find peace with what has happened.

my uncle and aunt were very clever with my grandad, they bled him dry before he died...he left £5k in his will (which paid for the funeral), this was only 3 years after he sold his business and pocketed £200k. what they didn't get though were his sporting medals (they were precious to him, more than money), i now have those safely tucked away as a reminder of him and his achievements, and i really do treasure them.

jack*tigger

Is it worth talking to the Aunt? Is she a reasonable woman??
Maybe for yourself you could ask for the photos and any other mementoes that you want.
Tell Aunty you personally aren't fussed about the money but your mum is.
Also have you actually seen the will itself. Does it say what your Aunts family says it does ???

Primrose

If you mother thinks the Will was written while your grandmother was of unsound mind or was subject to undue pressure she can put a caveat on the Will to prevent it going forward for probate. That caveat cannot be removed until she takes action to remove it. But to contest the Will would mean going to court with horrendous costs and your mother would have to produce very firm evidence as to why the will was invalid. It may be that your grandmother knew pefectly well what she was doing when she wrote her will and it was her absolute right to dispose of her money as she chose. Nobody has an absolute right to inherit anything just because they are a relative.
Hard though it will be for you all, I suggest you just try and walk away from the situation. In the long run trying to contest this situation will only cause you all more grief and stress. If your mother feels very strongly about it she should consult a solicitor but unless he's got his eyes on the very fat fees he could earn, he will probably advise not proceeding with legal action.

localhero

Hi paulnstar,

If your grandmother was of sound mind, then the only realistic likelihood of successfully challenging the Will is if it wasn't signed properly or there was undue influence from your aunt.

If I were in your situation I would want to obtain a copy of the Will and I would want to know the circumstances in which it was drawn up - who was present at the meeting and why the grandmother departed from her earlier Will - all of which should be detailed in the notes of the instruction taker for her Will.

Only if the aunt was involved in some way, or it could be ascertained that your grandmother wasn't of sound mind, would I consider going any further with this. Unfortunately a lot of vulnerable people are exploited and so I don't think I would simply let it go without satisfying myself that everything's in order.

Georgie4

I've been on the receiving end of someone threatening to contest a will and had to pay out to a solicitor to put an end to it because other relatives felt they were "owed" an inheritance. It is extremely unpleasant for everyone involved and your mums obvious disappointment should not blind her to the fact that your gran was entitled to leave whatever she wanted to whoever she wanted and that is something you need to simply accept