Will his illness prevent court action?

Dalglish

Hi
My sister in law is issuing civil proceedings against her brother who is contesting of his late mothers will from which he was disinherited but he has now claimed illness serious enough for him to be signed off from working as a police officer is sufficient for these proceedings to be delayed as long as he is signed off sick for. So the question is, under uk law, does this illness give the brother unlimited delay before civil proceedings commence or not? Thank you

DVardysShadow

Previous thread is relevant, I think https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4063765

I'm thinking he is feeling sick because he bluff has been called. What proceedings is SiL taking against him? I am wondering if this is the best way of dealing with the problem, in that a witness Statement from the doctor over the actual signing of the will would go a long way towards undermining the other witness withdrawing their testimony and all that is required is to prove the will - which does not involve any case against the brother?

Dalglish

Yes previous thread is relevant as sil is issuing proceedings to have the will proved in court. Having it seems gained a false witness statement the brother now appears to be stalling the legal process. He is using a no win no fee solicitor who makes a living I guess by causing people like my sil to become so frustrated by delay and trickery that they cave in and agree to abandon the terms of the will. Quite despicable I think but I agree a doctor who acted as a witness should be able to outweigh the false testimony by making a statement.

Yorkie1

I am not an expert but I rather presume that the first time the court lists the case, he will ask for it to be adjourned. The court will insist on a medical report from a GP and would probably agree at least to start with.

However, I also doubt that a court's patience would last indefinitely.

rpc

The brother's illness may lead to a short adjournment, but as he has a solicitor acting for him then I'm not sure it really affects the case. It sounds as though he is still able to instruct a solicitor, so court should still be able to proceed.

More likely, he has realised he is in deep doo-doo and doesn't want to have to explain himself in court. Ultimately, only a judge can decide how and when the case should progress, so the best thing is to get this into court asap. Assuming you are still doing some sort of pre-trial negociation, it wouldn't suprise me if he is trying to deny anyone any inheritance if he can't have 'his'. The longer he can draw this out, the more he punishes the other beneficiaries - perhaps to the extent they offer to pay him off. Get him in court and that will all unwind.

Although I'm not sure it would come to that, it's possible he is getting worried about ending up with a disciplinary for abusing his status as a police officer. In severe cases, police can have much of their pension removed.

I'm a little suprised that the no-win no-fee hasn't bailed on him. The prospects of winning must be rather slim. Solicitors like to get paid!

DVardysShadow

rpc wrote: »

The brother's illness may lead to a short adjournment, but as he has a solicitor acting for him then I'm not sure it really affects the case. It sounds as though he is still able to instruct a solicitor, so court should still be able to proceed.

More likely, he has realised he is in deep doo-doo and doesn't want to have to explain himself in court. Ultimately, only a judge can decide how and when the case should progress, so the best thing is to get this into court asap. Assuming you are still doing some sort of pre-trial negociation, it wouldn't suprise me if he is trying to deny anyone any inheritance if he can't have 'his'. The longer he can draw this out, the more he punishes the other beneficiaries - perhaps to the extent they offer to pay him off. Get him in court and that will all unwind.

Although I'm not sure it would come to that, it's possible he is getting worried about ending up with a disciplinary for abusing his status as a police officer. In severe cases, police can have much of their pension removed.

I'm a little surprised that the no-win no-fee hasn't bailed on him. The prospects of winning must be rather slim. Solicitors like to get paid!

I have to say I agree with this analysis. In particular, I am very concerned about the possible nature of pressure which a police officer might apply to the witness who denied being a witness.

Perhaps the NWNF solicitor has seen through this and can see a way of getting his fee if his client is shown to have brought influence to bear?

Dalglish

Yes it looks bleak for a serving police officer to be in this situation I would have thought. What happened shortly after the old lady died from whom her son the policeman was estranged was the social care records kept in her home vanished. These records were proof that her soon played no part in her later life. The disappearance was reported to ye police who established the policeman son himself had taken them and he agreed to return them to his sister. It took 3 months for the sister to finally get the records back - one wonders why!