Anybody know what this means?

Scale_Rule

Anybody know what this means?

'the testator has signed the will in the attestation clause'

Letter from Probate today stating the above and asking for a witness to attend an interview.

Given that the will was produced by a will writing company (waiting for a call back) you'd expect it to be problem free.

NordicNoir

It sounds as though the person making the will (testator) has signed it in the wrong place (in the attestation clause).

It does not sound like it is an error on the part of the will writing company, more a mixup of the testator and witnesses at signing time.

TBagpuss

It sounds as though the person whose will it is signed where the witness should have signed.

I would guess that this has raised issues as to whether the testator was aware of what he or she was signing (i.e. did they know it was their will, or did they think they were signing as a witness for someone else?) and possibly also as to whether the will was properly witnessed - did two witnesses sign? They may want to check that the witnesses both signed at the same time, and in the presence of each other and the testator.

Unfortunately will-writing companies are largely unregulated and while some are very good, others are not - it's absolutely no guarantee of anything.

It's something I would normally expect a competent lawyer or will writer to notice, unless of course the will was simply sent to the testator and not returned to the company (this is the kind of reason why most solicitors arrange for wills to be signed in their offices or in their presence - so they can record that it was all done correctly)

Scale_Rule

The will writer (witness one) who was approached and instructed by the testator, the testator herself and the second witness were all present at the signing at the same time. Genuine mistake that wasn't spotted.
Lets hope the interview resolves it.

Mojisola

Scale_Rule wrote: »

The will writer (witness one) who was approached and instructed by the testator, the testator herself and the second witness were all present at the signing at the same time. Genuine mistake that wasn't spotted.

It's to avoid 'mistakes' like this that you pay a professional - how could the will writer not see that the signature was in the wrong place, especially as he/she was a witness!

I hope the rest of will is of a higher standard than this mistake suggests.

BobQ

A simple attestation clause closes the will and might read like:

"- “signed by the testator in our presence and then by us in his”.

It sounds as if the testator has signed next to or over the attestation clause (which could be several lines long ) instead of immediately after it, so the Probate Office wants to investigate the circumstances since there is doubt that the testator had a properly signed and witnessed will.

Worse case is the Will is invalid. Best Case, the witness confirms under oath that he saw the testator sign the will , she knew what she was signing and the signature is indeed his signature.

Scale_Rule

BobQ wrote: »

A simple attestation clause closes the will and might read like:

"- “signed by the testator in our presence and then by us in his”.

It sounds as if the testator has signed next to or over the attestation clause (which could be several lines long ) instead of immediately after it, so the Probate Office wants to investigate the circumstances since there is doubt that the testator had a properly signed and witnessed will.

Worse case is the Will is invalid. Best Case, the witness confirms under oath that he saw the testator sign the will , she knew what she was signing and the signature is indeed his signature.

Thanks, fortunately it would appear that the latter situation is what is happening.

Crabapple

Did you get a response from the will writing company?

This is an error that should not have happened and they should bear the cost of sorting it out. You (or the Executor if you are not one) needs to be making a complaint.

Scale_Rule

I shall complain, however I thought it best to hold off, I may need them to get involved and be on my side if it doesn't pan out as currently suspected.
To be fair to them they have offered to step in and sort it out (which is the least they should do), some companies would go in to hiding.

Crabapple

Glad to hear they are offering to resolve things. Hopefully they will also take more care in the future. It's pretty basic stuff making sure the document is signed in the right place!

Scale_Rule

Crabapple wrote: »

It's pretty basic stuff making sure the document is signed in the right place!

Well you'd think so!
The witness has signed an affidavit in front of a solicitor at the request of the Probate office. All good, except that the solicitor didn't sign the copy of each page of the will attached to it. Arrgh.

So the Probate office have sent it (mistakenly) to me asking for it to be signed correctly. What a farce, does nobody know how to do their job?

So off it goes to the witness again so that the process can restart with another fortnight wasted.