general advice please

marc3

forgive me where this may have been asked before but i am not familiar with this site.
couple of questions re a will.

a) I believe all wills are in the public domain-where do i contact in order to get a copy of a will-is it about £15 ?

b) if i need to dig deeper to find out what actually occurred in a will (i have good reason that there is no need to go into at this stage 0 my understanding is that info is understandably private and conf.however,and equally if i were to simply contact the solicitors who dealt with the will and distribution, i would get short shrift.
however ,all solicitors obviously keep records and am i right, that if i via my own solicitors approach the will solicitors they are then obliged to provide my solicitors details of the will file and actual distribution of funds and what actually happened in practice.
am i correct ?

c) this is in fact all linked to a new will-which has been modified by what may have happened in another parties previous will as in b) above.
i do have good reason,and depending on b) i may have to challenge the latest will.
my third question is :what is the timescale i can work within if i need to make an official challenge to the latest will.
on the latest will the application to the probate registry for grant of probate was made last week'
hence -what is my timescale to challenge this will if i so need (depends on what info i get in b).

hope that makes sense and answers to all or any of those 3 questions would be most appreciated.

many thanks in anticipation

michael dale

G6JNS

marc3 wrote: »

forgive me where this may have been asked before but i am not familiar with this site.
couple of questions re a will.

a) I believe all wills are in the public domain-where do i contact in order to get a copy of a will-is it about £15 ?

b) if i need to dig deeper to find out what actually occurred in a will (i have good reason that there is no need to go into at this stage 0 my understanding is that info is understandably private and conf.however,and equally if i were to simply contact the solicitors who dealt with the will and distribution, i would get short shrift.
however ,all solicitors obviously keep records and am i right, that if i via my own solicitors approach the will solicitors they are then obliged to provide my solicitors details of the will file and actual distribution of funds and what actually happened in practice.
am i correct ?

c) this is in fact all linked to a new will-which has been modified by what may have happened in another parties previous will as in b) above.
i do have good reason,and depending on b) i may have to challenge the latest will.
my third question is :what is the timescale i can work within if i need to make an official challenge to the latest will.
on the latest will the application to the probate registry for grant of probate was made last week'
hence -what is my timescale to challenge this will if i so need (depends on what info i get in b).

hope that makes sense and answers to all or any of those 3 questions would be most appreciated.

many thanks in anticipation

michael dale

You can get a copy of a will that has been admitted to probate by following this link.

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

You have no right whatsoever to see any other documents relating to the will directly, or via a solicitor. On what grounds do think you can challenge the will if you have not seen it? If you do have good reasons you can lodge a caveat to delay probate but you may need professional legal advice to do so.

Tuesday_Tenor

re (b)
Were you a major beneficiary of the first will?
If so, you are entitled to a full set of estate accounts to see what the whole estate consisted of and how it has been distributed.

If you were not a beneficiary, then you have no right to this information.

re (c)
>>> a new will-which has been modified by what may have happened in another parties previous will
Not very clear so impossible to comment on helpfully.
Do you mean the testator changed their will before death?
Do you mean the executors are adjusting something in the distribution of the estate due to what has happened previously?
Note:
(i) If there is something explicit in the will or codicil instructing the excutors to do this, then they may be pergectly in order.
(ii) Alternatively, if all the affected beneficiaroies agree, the distribution of the estate can be changed by a Deed of Variation.
In the absence of a DoV, the executors should be administering the estate exactly as intructed in the will.

TBagpuss

What is your link to the people whose wills you are taking about?

As Tuesday tenor says, unless you are a beneficiary you have no right to see estate accounts. Also bear in mind that people generally have freedom to leave their assets as they wish. I am trying, and struggling, to think of how a will might be challengable based on what happened in a previous will - unless you are suggesting that someone has left an assets in which they had only a life interest, or which they held as a trustee - if that is the case, then I don't think you would technically be contesting the second will, as a gift of something the testator did not own would fail.

however, it sounds fairly complex so the first step, after viewing the original will, would be to speak to a solicitor and get some proper advice.

marc3

have been left the family trust in a will from a relation who died 3 months ago

that will was made circa 1990.

in circa 2000, that family trust was closed when the brother of the person who died recently died, and money distributed (not too sure to whom but suspect majority went to his younger bother )

there is an executor common to both wills, and was also involved in helping the younger brother who has most recently died formulate his will in 1990.

the lady who is executor to both of these wills is saying that the 'solicitors messed up' when the trust was closed down.(not sure what that means and is somewhat vague )
apparently no-one informed the younger brother who died recently(who was due to inherit the trust from his elder brother ,but it was in fact closed down,that his own will would be affected,and 'i' would no longer be a beneficiary as nothing to give me as trust closed.
there were other funds which are due to go to other parties, but it seems i was due to be a significant beneficiary and provided for by way of the trust, but now lose out ,as trust no longer exists !!
apparently the other beneficiaries do not wish for there to be a deed of variation, and want to keep all of the remaining money to themselves.

is it just 'tough titty' on me-combined either with sheer bad luck,or should various parties have pointed out to the younger brother that his own will would be affected by the trust being closed down.
the solicitors may not have known that it affected the younger brothers own will-and the younger brother may not have been in a position to understand the consequences .(if he was advised-why leave it in the will .

the common denominator is the lady /relation who is executor to both wills who would have had all of this knowledge.she is also a benficiary of the younger brothers will ,and has benefiited by older bros trust being closed .
I suspect when trust closed-the money was transferred to younger brother-thus has more liquid capital.
I was not a beneficiary of the liquiod capital but was due to get the trust.


i am joint executor of younger bros will-as well as due to get the trust -but now get nothing.

i had no involvement in older bros wil ,and had no involvement in formulating the younger bros will.

something not quite right-so i need to see older brothers will and distribution,and any records of the younger brother being advised that his will would be affected by closing the trust.
that given-different solicitors so they would not have known the younger bros will affected.

the one party who would have done is tthe executor of both wills ,and advisor to the younger brother-recently died-and who has benefotted from the trust being turned into liquid capital ,and would have known all along that i would not therefore inherit anything , but she would get a bigger slice.

maybe it is just tough-but does not seem right-agree life is unfair-but surely there are rules and guidelines on this stuff.it all may be fine-but for numerous reasons have suspicions that something is amiss here.

other exec is blaming the solicitor who sorted older bros will back in 2000, but she would have known what would happen,and should she have done something.
by doing nothing and not advising recently died younger brother-she has benefitted substantially at my expense

does that make sense.

don't know what to do-and everyone thinks they are'the favoured one' but i was particularly close to the recently died younger bros,. and i am sure he would have had no intention to disadvantage me-when it is evident from his will that the intention was to leave me something substantial.

frankly , i don't know what to do,or do i just have to kick the cat and move on.life can be cruel and unfair,but this just not feel right on many levels,and on the face of it-one person has manipulated this to their personal advantage.
i need to be absolutely sure though-which is why i need access to will file/solicitors notes from older bros will, and don't want to be making accusations based on what i think has transpired-i need more fact-but even if i get more fact-can i do anything about it.

help