need advice regarding a will (sensitive)

oliviasmummy

im writing this thread to gather information for my grandma.

very sadly my step grandad passed away on monday evening after over 3 months in hospital. his last wish was to go home to die which we managed and he was a fighter. (was given48hours to live and battled for almost a week in his new home.

both my grandma and step grandad have 3children each from previous marriages all grown adults aged 30+. as far as my step grandad and the whole of my family was concerned he was our grandad we were his grandchildren same as if we were biologically. my grandad has a will to which his daughter and one of his sons are executors of. my grandma does not get on very well with his children and is not an executor of his will. my grandma has a supposide copy of this will however there are no signatures on it what so ever. not even 24hours after my grandad passed away were his son and daughter hassling my grandma for bank statements policy numbers death certificate etc. the copy my grandma has says that his estate is to cover all debts and funeral costs then details anything remaining is split as explained in the will. my grandad discussed with my grandma what he wanted for his funeral and she is arranging this. my grandma has contacted his daughter and requested a copy of the original will which they seem to have and the details of the solicitor so she can pass this on the funeral directors so they know where to send the bill.

if anyone could can you please answer any of the following questions.

1. do they have to use a solicitor to deal with the will or can they do it themselves.

2. if they dont have to use a solicitor how does my grandma know that what they give t the beneficiaries is correct.

3. if requested from my grandma regardless to whether they are using a solicitor do they have to give her a copy of the will.

4. when the will was signed by the witnesses my grandad was not present as he was in hospital and the witnesses were not present when my grandad signed it. so therefore is it legal.

5. my grandma was also told by my grandad that his youngest son was the only executor yet the copy we have says its his daughter and one of his sons.

we have also recently found out in the last few days that last thursday and friday when my grandad was on his death bed unconcious his daughter logged onto his online service and tried to transfer £300 from my grandads sole named account to her husbands account. and on the friday tried to change the telephone number to their number for telephone banking. we only found this out because we received letters from the bank fraud team to say they had suspended all online access and telephone banking because of a suspicous transaction and requests.

all they care about is money and we want to know where we stand we are going to be seeking legal advice but wondered if anyone could give any advice or answer any questions.

any help would be appreciated

Errata

4. when the will was signed by the witnesses my grandad was not present as he was in hospital and the witnesses were not present when my grandad signed it. so therefore is it legal.

If this is what happened, the will is not legal. If a previous will exists, which it might not, that one will be the legal will. If there's no will then the laws of intestacy apply.

ladylumps45

just want to say sorry for your loss.
i agree with errata that all have to be present at the time of signing but how will anyone like solicitor know any different?

oliviasmummy

they havnt done the will with a solicitor apparently the daughters husband knows someone who works for a solicitor and from what information we have at the moment the will was done with willpack limited which looking on their website they deal with financial advisors who write up wills and then have clients sign it with witnesses. my grandma has said that the witnesses on the will would confirm they were not present when my grandad signed the will and he was not present when they signed therefore as far as im concerned its not legal. my grandma said he had a will before but wanted to update it to include grandchildren and great grandchildren so if this will is still avaiable this should be valid shouldnt it?

not sure whether it was destroyed. his son and daughter are saying that they are not dealing with a solicitor when we have asked for a copy of the will as they want to keep costs down and i quote " cos at this rate once funerla and debts are paid there wont be anything else." my grandma doesnt need this right now but i cant believe the money grabbing heartless witch. my grandad would be turning in his grave. with everything we have found out previously it wouldnt suprise me if they drafted up a will had my grandad read it then have him sign something completely different and they added and changed things in he was very nieve whenit came to his daughter all she had to do was put on the water works and she got whatever she wanted she preaches about being the doting daughter the one who wasnt there when he died went home to bed even though she knew it owuld only be hours he had left and told my mum grandma and aunties phone us when its over.

she just took my grandad for a ride and i dont think its fair she should get away with it.

localhero

Another dud DIY Will - another warring family.

Sigh.

never_enough

localhero wrote: »

Another dud DIY Will - another warring family.

Sigh.

I can understand that you must come across this all the time as it's your field, however I'm sure you could've come up with something more constructive for the OP.
It's horrid when this kind of thing happens after a death, I do hope your family manage to sort things out with a minimum of unpleasantness.

Itsgottabedone

"the witnesses on the will would confirm they were not present when my grandad signed the will"
... so they signed to say that they witnessed his signing even though that wasn't so?

Susan_Frost

Surely Grandma has access to Granddads papers, so should know who he uses as a solicitor. Presumeably they will have copies of any previous will made.

Were Grandma and Granddad actually married?

Sorry to hear of your loss, upsetting times at the moment for you all, without this.

oliviasmummy

yes the witnesses signed that he was there when he wasnt they thought they were doing a my grandad a favour as he was in hospital.

yes my grandma and grandad were married have been for a long time. he didnt use a specific solicitor we believe that his son in law knew someone who worked for a solicitors and used them to do the will with willpack limited online.

most of my grandads paperwork is in spain at the moment as thats where they spent alot of their time. we still have to go over and sort this out. went over last week had been in spain for an our and got a phone call from the hospital to say he had changed dramatically and he had 24hours to live so they flew straight back home on the next available flight.

they had seperate bank accounts and my grandad dealt with most of the finances. my grandma even had her pensions etc paid into his account where the bills came out of and now its all frozen till we can sort it out.

whatatwit

Hugs for you Oliviasmummy.

Whilst I have no personal experience of this type of matter, it might be helpful if you could post what assets were jointly held and what were in sole names.

If they need to take the will to probate, then I can only suggest that you write to the local probate office and advise them of your concerns regarding the validity of the will and the signatures.

Have you arranged for Grandma's pensions etc to now be paid into her own account?

Maybe also contact all the banks and building societies and ask them to put a stop on the accounts until the matter is resolved.
This may stop the family obtaining monies solely by turning up with a death cert and completing the form to have the monies transfered to them.
I know that depending upon the amount of money with each institution, they don't always need to go to probate. I think it is several thousands of pounds.
If you look online, you will be able to check the actual amounts over which probate is needed.

RAS

oliviasmummy wrote: »

yes the witnesses signed that he was there when he wasnt they thought they were doing a my grandad a favour as he was in hospital..

The new will is invalid. So at this stage his children have no legal right to act as executors. If the old will is not found, then he is intestate and I think that mum would be the first in line as administrator. Please check the probate web-site.

I think mum needs to see a solicitor, get a swift letter off to the steps informing them they are not exectuors and advising them she is searching for the old will.

oliviasmummy wrote: »

most of my grandads paperwork is in spain at the moment as thats where they spent alot of their time. we still have to go over and sort this out. went over last week had been in spain for an our and got a phone call from the hospital to say he had changed dramatically and he had 24hours to live so they flew straight back home on the next available flight..

You need to be careful. If he was resident in spain, then his estate there may have to be administered under Spanish law. I am not sure if a will made in england would cover assets in Spain.

oliviasmummy wrote: »

they had seperate bank accounts and my grandad dealt with most of the finances. my grandma even had her pensions etc paid into his account where the bills came out of and now its all frozen till we can sort it out.

I assume that she has now organised to get her pension paid into her own account?

You might find this thread saluatory reading?

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1613591