Can a POA see a will in the donor's lifetime?

Callie22

Errata wrote: »

I think you will find the short answer is no. A will does not come into effect until the willwriter dies, so until that happens it has no legal standing which means there is nothing in it that can have an effect or impact on the duties of the Attorney.
However ...... remembering your previous thread: if the Attorney believes it is in the Appointees best interests to liquidate part, or all of the estate, then either let them get on with it or formally complain that what the Attorney is doing, or wishes to do, is not in the Appointees best interests and they are failing in their legal duty.

Could I ask a quick question about this? To whom would you complain if you had concerns about what an Attorney is doing?

Errata

Does anyone know of a legal precedence for a POA being given access to a will?

Why would an Attorney need to see the will of someone still living? An Attorney has access to the financial affairs of the Appointee and that's all they need to act in best interests.
Nobody can benefit from a bequest in a will until the willwriter dies, and often not even then if a bequest no longer exists.
People sniffing round the will of someone still living, especially when the person no longer has capacity to manage their own affairs, are g h o u l s.

Errata

Callie22 wrote: »

Could I ask a quick question about this? To whom would you complain if you had concerns about what an Attorney is doing?

The Court of Protection.

vigman

I have to say that the Office of the Public Guardian and the advisers at The Court of Protection have been extremely helpful with several complex queries.

Vigman

vigman

Errata wrote: »

Why would an Attorney need to see the will of someone still living? An Attorney has access to the financial affairs of the Appointee and that's all they need to act in best interests.
Nobody can benefit from a bequest in a will until the willwriter dies, and often not even then if a bequest no longer exists.
People sniffing round the will of someone still living, especially when the person no longer has capacity to manage their own affairs, are g h o u l s.

It could just be that some facts in the will are necessary to HELP the maker of the will get the best value from their estate and protection in their lifetime. This is an extremely complex case and there may have been undue influence (possibly illegal influence) by someone named in the will.

All the three powers of attorney (two who will definitely not benefit from the will) want to do is see the date on this will, and the witnesses identities, to ensure that a new one has not been drawn up for someone without their full mental capacity. This is not gh!!!!ish in any way.

A member of the law firm involved in the affairs of the donor has indicated that this might be the case!

Vigman

Errata

Then the time to challenge the will, if there are any grounds, is when the willwriter dies.
If you believe the person may have been coerced into doing something they didn't understand then talk to Action on Elder Abuse.

mtbbuxton

Someone holding POA is not entitled to a copy of the Will from the Solicitor for their own use. It is classed as a personal document and as previously stated, is only of relevance once the person has died. My MIL recently went into residential care and her POA asked the solicitor for a copy of her Will, so as to distribute her furniture according to her bequests. He gave us the above information, but did say he could post out a copy to my MIL - as her post is all under her POA's control due to loss of mental capacity, we were able to acquire the information we needed.
Where there's a will, there's a loophole

M x

getmore4less

vigman wrote: »

It could just be that some facts in the will are necessary to HELP the maker of the will get the best value from their estate and protection in their lifetime. This is an extremely complex case and there may have been undue influence (possibly illegal influence) by someone named in the will.

All the three powers of attorney (two who will definitely not benefit from the will) want to do is see the date on this will, and the witnesses identities, to ensure that a new one has not been drawn up for someone without their full mental capacity. This is not gh!!!!ish in any way.

A member of the law firm involved in the affairs of the donor has indicated that this might be the case!

Vigman

Are you saying there may be something in the will that tells you something you currently don't know about the assets?


There will be plenty of chance to deal with the validity of the will when the time is right.

Just collect your evidence of capacity now.
You don't need to know the date of the will to do that.

There is the risk that if the witnesses die they cannot be called so if the solicitor has the will you could instruct them to investigate(using your own money).

If the solictors were involved in drawing up the will then they should have checked capacity so you can tell them the date at which the capacity was lost and get them to sort it out(remember wills drawn up by solicitors can be much harder to challenge).

Even if the law does allow access unless the will(or copy) is in the hands of someone willing and able to give it to you the law will not help.

Mojisola

vigman wrote: »

It could just be that some facts in the will are necessary to HELP the maker of the will get the best value from their estate and protection in their lifetime. This is an extremely complex case and there may have been undue influence (possibly illegal influence) by someone named in the will.

All the three powers of attorney (two who will definitely not benefit from the will) want to do is see the date on this will, and the witnesses identities, to ensure that a new one has not been drawn up for someone without their full mental capacity. This is not gh!!!!ish in any way.

A member of the law firm involved in the affairs of the donor has indicated that this might be the case!

I would be following this up, even if I didn't have POA for the relative concerned.

vigman

Mojisola wrote: »

I would be following this up, even if I didn't have POA for the relative concerned.

....hence the flurry of current threads!

Vigman