Contesting a Will

kingfisherblue

haveiacase wrote: »

Hello , this is what i emailed to the beneficirie....

Dear ****

I hope you are feeling a bit better now that the funeral is over. I think it went well and Grandma would be pleased about it all and surprised at how many people were there- a full church.
I am afraid we were all very shocked to read her will. Although we knew the girls had been left out, which was hard enough to take, you had not told me that all the other great grand children had been included, I had to leave quickly then as I was so upset.
No way would this have been Grandma's wishes.
Did she understand what she was signing and what it all meant? I very much doubt it.
Why was my husbands side excluded?
You told me that *** had called the solicitor last June which I now find out is a lie. I do not like to be lied to so please can I now have the truth? Who called in the solicitor to change her will and why?
I have written to the solicitor and will speak to him soon.
Being given a box of old photos which we had given to Grandma over the last 30 years as a memento,was the final straw and very upsetting .
All I ask is for the truth.
I have kept the contact going with Grandma ever since *** died, ringing regularly, remembering every birthday, Mother's Day, Christmas etc, even though I got nothing in return and I gave her a 90th birthday party.
I have also helped you and **** financially in the past
Grandad, your Mother and my husband would never wanted all this to happen, so please for their sake, tell me the truth. If things have been done wrong then they can be corrected.
I am sorry to have to say all this but injustice is not fair, so I hope you can tell the truth.

***


basically , the girl who was taken in for care by MIL told me last week when they saw the will that a relative on her side asked the solicitors to come in to change the will , it appears this isnt true! so obviously grandma was coerced!!

If you have emailed this, you ought to be ashamed of yourself! From the ages of your children, I assume that you are a mature woman aged around 50+, but your behaviour is that of a petulant teenager. You sound selfish, money grabbing, and totally disinterested in the fact that your children failed to visit their grandmother more than once a year. Perhaps if you had maintained a closer relationship with your ex MIL, and encouraged your children to have a close relationship, the Will could have been different. As it is, you will never know.

If you are a troll, b*gger off. If not, then grow up, read the (very sensible) responses, forget the Will and move on with life. After all, this lady's passing is hardly likely to affect you, as you rarely saw her. I hope that you were kinder to her in life (on the odd occasions you did see her) than you are in her death.

Gingernutty

If your ex-MIL had died without a will, then your children would have inherited through the laws of intestacy.

If she had written a truly perverse will (leaving everything to the Government when you know she begrudged every penny in tax), then your children and the remaining relatives might have had a case for having the will disregarded.

However, she left a will. It is apparently sensible. Your children have no comeback.

Only they could mount a challenge as they are the blood relatives. As far as the law is concerned, you are nobody in relation to the deceased and have no reason to go to law.

Your children are fully grown adults and they rarely, if ever, visited their gran in recent years.

They were not financially dependent on her, they didn't care for her and were not particularly close.

Why on earth would she have left your children anything, when she was effectively a mother to the other grandkids?

The will effectively treats those grandchildren as if they were her offspring, which is a reflection of the relationship they had with her.

Rev

Love how you had to leave quickly after being upset by reading the will and finding out you had nothing left to you.

Not because you we're upset at the death of a family member.

What a lovely person you are.

seabright

thorsoak wrote: »

Of course your solicitor will encourage you ....he will be rubbing his hands at the thought of all the fees he can charge you!.

No, actually we wouldn't be. Her lawyer (who probably won't be a he - more women have qualified as lawyers than men every year for quite a while now) will take a deep breath, roll her eyes & explain in words of less than one syllable why she and her children have no claim and try and get her out of the door ASAP, so she can get on with some decent work for decent clients.

If her lawyer was feeling charitable, she might think it was the grief talking, but that seems unlikely here.

I would dread a client like this - do you think they would ever be satisfied with the work you did and pay you bill? No, which is why you'd try to get the out the door and not want them as a client.

Mojisola

I suppose this is going to be another thread where we never know "what happened next".

I'm feeling really sorry for the other half of the family. To have this worry dropped on them so soon after the death of the grandmother must be awful.

haveiacase

Do i need a solicitor to actually lodge the caveat though with the probate service ? and if i dont , do i need a a solicitor to reply to the warning i would no doubt receive from the two beneficiries ?

rpc

haveiacase wrote: »

Do i need a solicitor to actually lodge the caveat though with the probate service ? and if i dont , do i need a a solicitor to reply to the warning i would no doubt receive from the two beneficiries ?

No and no.

What you do perhaps need is a solicitor to explain to you what every single poster in this thread has been trying to say.

You will not find an answer to your questions because the only person that really knows is dead. Their wishes were recorded in a will - that is all you know and all you need to know.

There are no legal rights (as there would be in Scotland) and your children were not financially dependent on the deceased.

There is no claim.

There are no answers.

haveiacase

BUT , in theory i can have the probate halted , to give myself breathing space , and if i get as far as posting an appearance , at least then they will have to find the cash to defend the case!?

RAS

There is at least one recent case where a family spent a sum equivalent to the whole inheritance on legal fees. The down side on this was that the costs of all three parties was awarded against the person in your position.

Only go forward with this if you can afford to pay your niece and nephew's legal costs.

Apart from which you cannot act on this as you are not related to the deceased and therefore cannot inherit from her.

Errata

haveiacase wrote: »

Do i need a solicitor to actually lodge the caveat though with the probate service ? and if i dont , do i need a a solicitor to reply to the warning i would no doubt receive from the two beneficiries ?

Absolutely. Don't forget to explain that you think your MIL might have been without capacity when she made the will, although you have no proof or evidence of this.
And do explain you believe your deceased husband believed your children should have been beneficiaries although you have no proof or evidence of this.
And do explain you are willing to pay any costs that may be awarded against you.
That should get you started at £xxx per hour.