Legal advice on will

Muscle750

My mother in law was left some money in the will of a friend whom she had known for 25 years plus, The person told me themselves how much money they had put in their will for her etc. The person died 3 weeks ago and the funeral is tomorrow, The friends son who has not exactly been "helpfull" and is seeming to staying away from my mother in law has now a copy of the will , and its getting fairly evident the contents of the will are going to be "not in the sons best interest".
The will was made and is dated and signed and witnessed and a copy is stored with a company that does wills , we know the company name the question is can anyone get a copy of the will at i presume at a cost or can only the next of kin do so?
The son was left the house and the moneies etc was distributed between my mother in law and a few others but it seems as if the son isnt best pleased think the funeral could be entertaining to say the least

lisyloo

Do you know who the executor is?
If the exceutor is a firm of solicitors or this will company then you have nothing to be concerned about as they will distribute according to her wishes.

Does your MIL have home insurance?
If she does she should check it to see if she has access to free legal advice or even free legal cover.

BobQ

Muscle750 wrote: »

My mother in law was left some money in the will of a friend whom she had known for 25 years plus, The person told me themselves how much money they had put in their will for her etc. The person died 3 weeks ago and the funeral is tomorrow, The friends son who has not exactly been "helpfull" and is seeming to staying away from my mother in law has now a copy of the will , and its getting fairly evident the contents of the will are going to be "not in the sons best interest".
The will was made and is dated and signed and witnessed and a copy is stored with a company that does wills , we know the company name the question is can anyone get a copy of the will at i presume at a cost or can only the next of kin do so?
The son was left the house and the moneies etc was distributed between my mother in law and a few others but it seems as if the son isnt best pleased think the funeral could be entertaining to say the least

The next of kin has no role in the matter (although could challenge any will). What matters is who is named as the executor of the lady's estate. It could be the son or a solicitor or someone else. Whoever has the original of the will needs to ensure it is given to the executor (it could be the son).

The executor is bound by law to execute the will which (given that it more than a trivial sum) will involve applying for probate to confirm their authority to be the executor. Once this is done anyone can apply for a copy of the will through the Probate Registry. It costs a few pounds and is a public document at that point. If your MIL believes that the executor is not executing the will correctly she can challenge their actions legally.

If you know where the will is you could tell the holder that she has died and that you have concerns over the behaviour of the son, but in reality if he is the executor he has to execute the will as written or face consequences.