Can executor 'hide' a will?

JanChris

My Uncle married in 1983 for the first time in London aged in his late 40's.
He and his wife went on to have no children but both had nieces and nephews.
He made a will shortly after his marriage and it was lodged with a solicitor in London. It left everything to his wife (who was the only executor) but if she should predecease him then everything should be split between her 3 nieces and his 6 nieces and nephews (including me).

Some years later in the late 90's they moved to Suffolk. My Mum (his sister) saw them often and one day he mentioned to my mum and dad that he had a new will.

He died suddenly in March of this year. We have bought a copy of the will but it is dated 1989 in London.

Obviously HIS nieces and nephews will get nothing after she dies as she will leave it all to her own 3....it as a lot of family money and shares which came through our family from Cornwall and nothing to do with those three at all.

If there was indeed an updated will lodged with a solicitor in Suffolk, would his wife have been able to 'forget' that one and go with the original?

poppystar

Why not send a letter to all the local solicitors where he lived asking if they have a will for him? It is the only way anyone can be sure and something his widow may not have done especially if she genuinely believed that the London one was the latest/only will.
It may put your mind at rest and be worth doing for that alone.

It's always a danger/problem with no automatic registration of wills.

Keep_pedalling

Unfortunately what people say and what they have actually done are not nessasarily the same thing, so the original will is likely to be the only valid one, although it may be worth doing as poppystar suggests.

How do you know his wife's will is not a mirror will of his and divides the estate equally between both families as his did?

Yorkshireman99

JanChris wrote: »

My Uncle married in 1983 for the first time in London aged in his late 40's.
He and his wife went on to have no children but both had nieces and nephews.
He made a will shortly after his marriage and it was lodged with a solicitor in London. It left everything to his wife (who was the only executor) but if she should predecease him then everything should be split between her 3 nieces and his 6 nieces and nephews (including me).

Some years later in the late 90's they moved to Suffolk. My Mum (his sister) saw them often and one day he mentioned to my mum and dad that he had a new will.

He died suddenly in March of this year. We have bought a copy of the will but it is dated 1989 in London.

Obviously HIS nieces and nephews will get nothing after she dies as she will leave it all to her own 3....it as a lot of family money and shares which came through our family from Cornwall and nothing to do with those three at all.

If there was indeed an updated will lodged with a solicitor in Suffolk, would his wife have been able to 'forget' that one and go with the original?

Can you confirm that the will you bought was from the Probate Office. If so then that is the will that has been used. In any case the "family" money, unless it is in a trust of some kind, belonged to your uncle and he could leave it to whoever he wanted. Nobody in the family has any rights to it whatsoever. This may sound harsh but it is what the law says.

JanChris

It was indeed a mirror will....but she can make another now he is dead and leave to her 3 nieces. Oh well, I suppose we will just have to wait to find out.

So how does the govt get the will to grant probate? If the lady sent them the old one....would they know that there was a newer one elsewhere? How does it happen?

Mojisola

JanChris wrote: »

So how does the govt get the will to grant probate? If the lady sent them the old one....would they know that there was a newer one elsewhere?

No, the executor produces a will. No-one checks whether there are newer wills.

I know of two cases where the will was not as beneficial to the person who found it as treating the estate as intestate so the will was destroyed. One got away with it; the other was taken to court and the solicitor's records were accepted as evidence of the deceased's wishes and their copy of the will went to probate.

JanChris

I think I've decided to just do nothing. There is quite a possibility she may just leave her mirror will as it is.....she is friendly enough with us all and it's not as if she has to give away any money while she is living, she can just use as much as she wants and then the residue goes to all the 9 people listed in the will.
If we start making a fuss, she could quite easily cut us out.

Thanks for helping me decide :beer:

Keep_pedalling

JanChris wrote: »

I think I've decided to just do nothing. There is quite a possibility she may just leave her mirror will as it is.....she is friendly enough with us all and it's not as if she has to give away any money while she is living, she can just use as much as she wants and then the residue goes to all the 9 people listed in the will.
If we start making a fuss, she could quite easily cut us out.

Thanks for helping me decide :beer:

I think that the best course of action, it's unlikely that she would reverse a decision they made together especially after such a long time time together and with no history of family rifts.

konark

Just don't forget to send her a Christmas card!