Will not called for after death?

nad1611

Nicki wrote: »

OK then, if you are POSITIVE that FIL did not know about the will, rather than not understanding that he needed to abide by it, or choosing not to abide by it because it was too much hassle, then nothing will now happen. The estate will have been dealt with as though MIL was intestate and as it was small, probably didn't need formal probate. There is a strict time limit to produce a previously lost will after the estate has been settled and even if FIL found out the will was in existence in 2007, it was by then too late to reopen the estate.

Where it gets tricky though, and why I am telling you to leave things be, is that if FIL knew about the will and for whatever reason decided not to follow it, then he could be personally open to either criminal or civil liability depending on the circumstances of the case. But for that to happen there needs to be a complainant, which if you decide to open this up would be you! If there weren't other aggrieved beneficiaries there really isn't anything to be gained by opening this all up. There aren't any tax or other legal niceties in all of this related to MIL's estate, which has been settled, and finally distributed.

No one has any legal clout as you put it to decide what you should do. You asked for informed opinion as to the best thing to do however, and that's what I have tried to give you, three times now.

Actually I'd have to differ with your opinion on no one having the legal clout to tell me what to do I think the law might suggest otherwise.

But actually you've now actually given your opinion on the question I actually asked and not for the third time.You've actually stated what you think the legal outcome might be which is all I wanted, all the rest was superfluous. Actually as I said in my earlier post if read, there was Will and we and he had a copy. There would have been no Probate Granted to distribute anything because the original Will would be needed for that and we're presuming it'#s still at the Solicitors. Father in Law probably wouldn't have deemed it ignoring what was in it because again as said he was probably just thinkinig well it comes to me.

Look for some reason you seem to have taken umbridge about this as though I have some sinister intent.

Of course I'm not going to be a complainant, but there might not need to be one if we get to the point where my F-I-L's died and we go for probate and questions are asked then.


Please for the last time I'm not planning on opening anything up as you put it, we just don't wnt any nasty shocks down the road.

Nicki

nad1611 wrote: »

we just don't wnt any nasty shocks down the road.

There won't be any. When FIL dies, no one is going to look back several decades to see where he inherited his money from, and decide he came by some of it illicitly.

If MIL's death was registered, as it must have been assuming she was buried or cremated, then even if she had debts which weren't settled as part of the estate, they are now long since unenforceable. As I said previously I can't believe she would have had assets undiscovered up to now. I really do think you are worrying about nothing.

I haven't taken umbrage at anything and apologise if I have come across as brusque. I spent 6 hours today sitting beside the unconscious body of my 10 year old DD who had a major fit this morning and took a long time to come round from it, so I am perhaps a tad out of sorts myself!

But it is true that no one has legal clout to tell you what to do in this case. You can be advised as to the pros and cons of various courses of action, but no one can direct you what to do. The only situations you can be ordered legally to do something are where you are standing before a judge or in certain circumstances a police officer, but even then neither of these would get involved in a situation like this so far as you (not your FIL) are concerned. So you will need to take your own decision as to what is best to do, based on hopefully good advice, as no one can tell you what to do next.

sueeve

Have you actually seen the will? If not I don't quite see how you can judge whether or not everything is per her instructions. It would be good to be able to check that to put your mind at rest, but then of course you have a sticky problem if she put in it somethng unexpected. I understand whre you are coming from, as it is nice to get all the loose ends tied up.

Savvy_Sue

The OP said that both FIL and she (presumably her husband) had a copy of the will, and that they were sure it was the latest will, and that it passed everything to FIL.

I'm guessing that the OP also knows that it was a small estate rather than oodles of money, so it really doesn't sound as if there is going to be a problem, even when he dies. The probate form will ask about both living and deceased relatives, so I suppose if any cross checking goes on questions might be asked then, but not a lot anyone can do about it at that stage.

nad1611

Thanks Savvy Sue.Hopefully nothing too bad will hapen.
Yes although there's a property involved it would have been in his name, so certainly no IHT to pay or anything.
I think if and when it does come to light, we'll be able to show a simple mistake, although as my ex police father always told us " ignorance of the law doesn't normally give defense for a misdemeanour" or "Ignorantia juris non excusat" !!

nad1611

sueeve wrote: »

Have you actually seen the will? If not I don't quite see how you can judge whether or not everything is per her instructions. It would be good to be able to check that to put your mind at rest, but then of course you have a sticky problem if she put in it somethng unexpected. I understand whre you are coming from, as it is nice to get all the loose ends tied up.

Yes we have a copy although we've only recently been given it as F-I-L wanted us to have it as he's in his mid 80's.
Exactly, I want to be able to find out without actually having to come clean as it were. I like you prefer to deal with things as they arise I don't like putting things off.

nad1611

Nicki wrote: »

I haven't taken umbrage at anything and apologise if I have come across as brusque. I spent 6 hours today sitting beside the unconscious body of my 10 year old DD who had a major fit this morning and took a long time to come round from it, so I am perhaps a tad out of sorts myself!

Probably not the best time to make comment then, on what must be a most trivial matter when compared to your circumstances. Hopefully your child will recover well.

rachbc

Sorry if my reading of this is wrong but

FIL knew of will and executed estate according to wishes of will

Now it seems FIL it did not go through probate as did not have original will

You want to know if he should have gone through probate and if so what are the ramifications of not doing so now.

You are not contesting if he distributed estate correctly or not.

Have i got that right?

Greenlight77

A grant of probate isn't always needed if it's a just a small estate so it's not always necessary to get a will proved, see this link

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/Death/Preparation/DG_10029799

nad1611

rachbc wrote: »

Sorry if my reading of this is wrong but

FIL knew of will and executed estate according to wishes of will

Now it seems FIL it did not go through probate as did not have original will

You want to know if he should have gone through probate and if so what are the ramifications of not doing so now.

You are not contesting if he distributed estate correctly or not.

Have i got that right?

That's right. He gave us a copy of the Will and within it there was a letter dated 2007 from his solicitor one to him and one to his wife asking them to let them know if they still wanted the firm to keep the Wills.
Now obviously this could simply have been an oversight, someone looking at a computer screen of things stored it may not have been deleted.
Otherwise yes, it would mean that he didn't go through Probate as he wouldn't have had the Original. The Will gives everything to him, so no we're not contesting the Will at all, I simply thought there might be a normal legal process which should normally go through, for tax purposes etc (not IHT).

He may have not needed to go through or apply for Probate but I would think it's far more likely that it was an oversight on his part, rather than a conscious decision that he wouldn't need to applu.