Only non-certified copy of will available - what to do?

nightsong

Me again, sorry all you kind people.

Today I tried to get the paperwork together to go to my mother's bank (HSBC). I rang their bereavement service yesterday and they told me it would speed things up if I took the death cert, will, and ID for me + OH (executors) into a local branch.

The will I have is a photocopy. She made it (the will) 28 years ago and apart from a small codicil three years later (I had another baby) it was unchanged for 25 years.

The firm she made it with has gone bust. I rang other solicitors in the area, and evidently a local solicitor took pity on the people who'd been holding deeds and wills with them and took in some of the paperwork, so I checked with them but they don't have her will.

I rang HSBC again and told them, they said was what I had a proper certified copy with a stamp? but I checked and it isn't.

So does this mean she died intestate, and if so how does this change what I have to do next? I was the joint executor and sole beneficiary of the will - she was divorced and I'm the only child.

Browntoa

contact the law society

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/

normally a company will be nominated to take ove the firms paperwork and clients etc

nightsong

Browntoa wrote: »

contact the law society

http://www.lawsociety.org.uk/

normally a company will be nominated to take ove the firms paperwork and clients etc

Brilliant, thank you.

Magnolia

Had a similar problem with the deeds to our house. Law Society were brilliant!

Errata

nightsong wrote: »

The firm she made it with has gone bust. I rang other solicitors in the area, and evidently a local solicitor took pity on the people who'd been holding deeds and wills with them and took in some of the paperwork, so I checked with them but they don't have her will.

.

That may be because she didn't leave the original will with them for safekeeping. If no will can be found the rules of intestacy apply.

nightsong

Errata wrote: »

That may be because she didn't leave the original will with them for safekeeping. If no will can be found the rules of intestacy apply.

I take your point but would have thought she would have let me know where it was in that case. She kept the copy very carefully.

nightsong

I rang the Law Society and they were very helpful, thanks for the suggestion Browntoa.

Here's what happened. My mother made her will in 1985. Her firm of solicitors, let's call them A, went broke and were taken over by another firm, B. B subsequently also went into administration and their work was taken over by firm C.

The Law Society put me in touch with a solicitor who previously worked for B. She was very helpful when I rang her, and assured me that all the wills had been transferred to C.

The problem is that when I rang firm C this morning, they checked their records and said they dd not have my mother's will.

:eek: :mad:

I rang them again late this afternoon and they will presumably get back to me tomorrow, but assuming they still haven't got it (why would they?), any thoughts on how to proceed? Do I have to just accept it as lost? Can I use the copy I have in the circumstances, even though it wasn't an official copy?

g6jns_2

nightsong wrote: »

I rang the Law Society and they were very helpful, thanks for the suggestion Browntoa.

Here's what happened. My mother made her will in 1985. Her firm of solicitors, let's call them A, went broke and were taken over by another firm, B. B subsequently also went into administration and their work was taken over by firm C.

The Law Society put me in touch with a solicitor who previously worked for B. She was very helpful when I rang her, and assured me that all the wills had been transferred to C.

The problem is that when I rang firm C this morning, they checked there records and said they dd not have my mother's will.

:eek: :mad:

I rang them again late this afternoon and they will presumably get back to me tomorrow, but assuming they still haven't got it (why would they?), any thoughts on how to proceed? Do I have to just accept it as lost? Can I use the copy I have in the circumstances, even though it wasn't an official copy?

Sorry for your loss. Roughly how big is your late mother's estate worth? The reason I ask is that if it is small then the cost of getting the copy admitted to probate might not be worthwhile compared with the intestacy rules. Sometimes it is better to be pragmatic rather than risk money on an uncertain outcome.

Flugelhorn

If you are the only child and there was no spouse then presumably you would inherit everything anyway (which was the intention of her will) If the copy of the will is not accepted then she would be intestate and you can apply for Letters of Administration.

Would have been more of a problem if she had left complicated bequests etc

Savvy_Sue

Flugelhorn wrote: »

If you are the only child and there was no spouse then presumably you would inherit everything anyway (which was the intention of her will) If the copy of the will is not accepted then she would be intestate and you can apply for Letters of Administration.

Would have been more of a problem if she had left complicated bequests etc

But there are other bequests.

However, it doesn't stop the OP following the procedure for intestacy and then passing on the legacies she knows Mum intended to make.

Tuesday_Tenor

OP, just checking, presumably the estate is not large enough to require probate, otherwise the probate process would have thrown up the same problem re lack of original will?

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

But there are other bequests.

Opening post is a bit ambiguous:
OP explicitly says he/she is sole beneficiary, but codicil for another grandchild rather implies other bequests, otherwise it doesn't make sense.

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

However, it doesn't stop the OP following the procedure for intestacy and then passing on the legacies she knows Mum intended to make.

Probably the only way to handle this, if no orginal will.
i.e. OP inherits all of instestate estate, then makes gifts (from what is now HIS/HER money) in line with what the mother intended.

IF OP's OWN future estate is likely to be over the IHT threshold, he/she needs to be aware of the impact of gifts, should he/she also die withn 7 years. Otherwise, straightforward.