Will contesting advice please

briskly_2

Is it possible for an only daughter to contest a will in the case where her (divorced) Father has left her all his (fairly modest) possessions, but in the form of an ill-thought-out and messy Trust, administered by his elderly brothers, who had no prior knowledge of what was expected of them and no idea of how do run it and on condition that, apart from some interest, she will not have access to the estate or sell his house for 10 years or until her Mother dies? She believes this to be a cruel will - she has given up her job to look after her terminally sick Father and desperately needs the financial help a sensible will should provide. When the Father has been asked why he has done this, he says it is to prevent her Mother (who he divorced 40 years ago has hasn't seen since) getting any money - but there is no chance of this. He has also been told recently by a solicitor that setting up a trust will be costly, involving bank fees, accountants charges etc which will consume perhaps 50% of the funds over 10 years.

I fear even contesting the will in an attempt to gain immediate access to the funds will cost more than she can afford in solicitors fees. I'd be very grateful for any advice.

dzug1

An easier route than contesting may be to set up a Deed of Variation in which the trust is never set up but the assets paid out/transferred immediately. The brothers should have no reason to object (it saves them a job they don't really want) and there are no other beneficiaries.

Edit - reading the post again it's not clear if the father has died or not. If he hasn't then you can't do much until he has - other than perhaps make sure the brothers make it very clear to him that they are not prepared to be trustees.

briskly_2

Thanks - sorry I wasn't clear about the Father - he hasn't died yet but probably only has a few weeks left. He is insistent on the terms of the will to the end. One of the brothers (80 years old) has now been told about the will and appears clueless about what he has to do but on the other hand quite determined to abide by his brother's wishes by acting as a trustee and seems intent to keep the daughter out of things. Can you please give more details about how you go about the deed of variation ASAP?

dzug1

You'd need to get proper professional advice on this - it's not a job a layman can easily do. Try the CAB first - that will be free. Whether a trustee in waiting can object to a DoV - pass.

However it seems to me that your daughter will be the benficiary of an interest in possession trust. My understanding is that the beneficiaries (if they all agree - easy here as only one) can at any time require the trustees to wind up the trust and hand over the assets. There may be reasons not to (taxation mainly) but it's another line to investigate.

But you really do need proper advice and find some way of paying for it. DIY really isn't an option here.

briskly_2

Thanks again for your help - as a result of your assistance it looks like she has managed to persuade her father to change the will tomorrow so that the money is paid directly to her and a trust is not involved. I can't begin to tell you how helpful you have been.