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

Pee

To be honest the donor is most likely to have a copy of their will at home in the same place as all of their other financial papers. Have the attorneys checked this?

Legally this is a bit of an exam question and most solicitors will try to be helpful and will for instance tell you there are no specific legacies/ you should avoid selling certain items if possible. However the bottom line is no, attorneys are not allowed to see the Will unless the EPA specifically mentions this, which most don't.

You do not need to know who is the Executor of the Will in due course, for instance, as what difference would that make?

Savvy_Sue

I thought - and I could be wrong about this - that an attorney could write a new will? Or amend an existing one? Because they're acting on behalf of the person.

If you were going to do that, you'd probably want to see the old will, to see if it really needed changing or not.

Obviously whatever you do needs to be in the best interests of the person.

Errata

^ I wish. I think that may be the one thing an Attorney can't legally do. Too much scope for shenanigans :eek:

vigman

Pee wrote: »

To be honest the donor is most likely to have a copy of their will at home in the same place as all of their other financial papers. Have the attorneys checked this?

Legally this is a bit of an exam question and most solicitors will try to be helpful and will for instance tell you there are no specific legacies/ you should avoid selling certain items if possible. However the bottom line is no, attorneys are not allowed to see the Will unless the EPA specifically mentions this, which most don't.

You do not need to know who is the Executor of the Will in due course, for instance, as what difference would that make?

1.) Thanks, but this is the most dysfunctional family I have ever known that we are dealing with! However, I have offered to help climb into a room stacked from floor to ceiling with everything from newspapers to broken televisions. No family member was ever allowed in there previously.

2.) The same potentially 'helpful' solicitors who for 6 months have denied there is an EPA and that they have anything to do with one, who have since 'found' a copy signed by the solicitor who claimed to have known nothing about it.....after extreme pressure from me? Oh yes, and who I also now learn charged £9,000 for helping execute a simple 'wife to husband will'....even queried by the useless 'financial advisers' of the donor but never explained!!!

3.) Surprisingly enough in a moment of candour, the donor let me know who was the executor of the will BUT someone we suspect of questionable actions is now claiming to be executor. It would be to clarify this situation and help raise the alarm bells on this and other subjects.

This is SO different to my own family situation. I have had an EPA for my mother for years (but no need to use it as she is completely fit and sane at 93!!). The will is known to all the family and is simply split 3 ways between the siblings and I am executor as the other two live abroad. Simples!

Vigman

dzug1

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

I thought - and I could be wrong about this - that an attorney could write a new will? Or amend an existing one? Because they're acting on behalf of the person.

If you were going to do that, you'd probably want to see the old will, to see if it really needed changing or not.

Obviously whatever you do needs to be in the best interests of the person.

An attorney cannot write or amend a will off his own bat. Only with the approval of the Court of Protection who do not give that approval readily

An attorney has no <right> to see a will but is not debarred from seeing it if others agree. (They may have reasons not to - indeed the donor may have reasons not to.) Or he may well stumble across it accidentally (which happened to me)

ionlywantohelp

I can't believe so many people express an 'opinion' on this important matter. Firstly there may be many reasonswhy an attorney needs to see the will of someone still alive. They can apply to the Court of Protection to get access.Secondly, if establishing mental capacity WHEN A WILL WAS MADE is the issue, then seeing the will is the only way to establish that. Mental capacity on any other date is irrelevant.
There is plenty of free information available covering these points.
I have just gone through the process of helping a relative make a will with her solicitor and also been granted POA so I think I know what I'm talking about.

vigman

ionlywantohelp wrote: »

I can't believe so many people express an 'opinion' on this important matter. Firstly there may be many reasonswhy an attorney needs to see the will of someone still alive. They can apply to the Court of Protection to get access.Secondly, if establishing mental capacity WHEN A WILL WAS MADE is the issue, then seeing the will is the only way to establish that. Mental capacity on any other date is irrelevant.
There is plenty of free information available covering these points.
I have just gone through the process of helping a relative make a will with her solicitor and also been granted POA so I think I know what I'm talking about.

I have to congratulate this observant 'newbie'! I held off commenting as I needed replies urgently but I was quite shocked at some of the opinions and comments made to straightforward, but complicated, questions.

Unfortunately this seems to happen more and more here these days (not just in this forum) and the poster has to somehow justify their question.

Thanks

Vigman

ionlywantohelp

Hi Vigman, I appreciate your comment and invite you to ask via this forum any question you may have and I will do my best to answer, and point you to where you can verify what I say or find answers to whatever you need to know. This is a complicated subject but not so complicated that the layman cannot get his head around it.It can also be a worrying time so anything to ease that worry is usually welcome.