validity of will

littlelady

just viewed our mothers will which the executors have released after 5 years.
two siblings who are executors have finally applied for probate.
three children are not mentioned at all not even to say they are disinherited.
the will looks false ,no solicitors stamp.
how easy is it to forge a will?
do we only have 6 months to challenge the will?
where would we start ,our mother would have never left any of her children out of her will.
where can I view what wills looked like in 2009.
any solicitors out there that could offer advise please this has dragged on for years we have waited and now this.
thankyou

cr1mson

There is no requirement for a will to be drawn up by a solicitor so certainly no need for it to have a solicitors stamp. Has probate been granted? If so then yes it is 6 months. However you may be able to enter a caveat to stop it being granted. But basically you need proper legal advice.

TBagpuss

As Cr1mson says, it is not a requirement for a will to be drawn up by a solicitor. What is necessary is that
- the will is in writing
- it is signed* by the testator (your mum, in this case)
- it is witnessed by two people who must see the testator sign, and must sign the wil as witnesses in her presence and in the presence of each other.

The witnesses should not be beneficiaries under the will or married to a beneficiary. (if they are, the will is valid, but the gift to the beneficiary isn't)

SO if you seriously think that the will may not be genuine then one of things which you might need to do would be to try to identify the witnesses and ask them about the will, and whether and in what circumstances they witnessed it.
But I would strongly recommend that you get some advice from a solicitor experienced in dealing with contentious probate before doing *anything* or approaching anyone directly.

If your mum did make her will through a solicitor then it would be worth asking for a statement from them, as normally they would keep notes of any unusual instructions such as a decision not to include all her children.

littlelady

the will is on solicitors headed paper ,but no stamp,should it have a stamp if drawn up by solicitor.
probate was applied for 6 weeks ago could I still issue a caveat?

if children were to be left out would they have been mentioned with nil inheritance.

cr1mson

You really need proper legal advice. No reason for someone to be mentioned if you are not giving them anything only if you are.

Crabapple

Solicitors don't have to use any type of stamp, no.

A caveat is to stop issue of a Grant so you are too late for that. You need to speak to a contentious probate specialist as soon as possible, but there is no requirement in law to leave your estate to anyone in particular and it will be difficult and probably expensive to challenge.

FreeBear

Crabapple wrote: »

A caveat is to stop issue of a Grant so you are too late for that.

If probate has been granted, it will indeed be too late to lodge a caveat. But it may be that there are some delays at the Probate Registry, so there might still be time to lodge a caveat. The OP will have to move fast - Hand delivering it to the local Probate Registry and ask them to process it there and then might work.

Contacting the solicitors that originally drafted the will might provide some answers to the question "is this the genuine document or has it been tampered with ?".. However, do not be surprised if they claim client confidentiality and refuse to discuss the matter. One would hope that the solicitors would confirm if the will is genuine.

konark

Just to come at this from another angle, what has been happening to your mother's estate for the last 5 years?

I assume there was a house (or why bother getting probate).

If this will has just been' found' why did no-one apply to be administrator of the estate and divide it up according to intestacy rules at an earlier date?
.If the will was known about all along it seems extremely remiss to wait for 5 years before applying for probate. Perhaps your siblings were happy to live in her house but now want to sell it and need probate.

I'd be taking a close look at that will, if done by a solicitor it is usual for them to be one of the witnesses, and perhaps their secretary the other. This is because witnesses can't be beneficiaries. If a home-made job it will be easier to contest.

It is not difficult to forge a will, all you have to do is a bit of typing and forge a signature and then name 2 deceased people as witnesses!

troubleinparadise

Following Konark's post - this whole story sounds very odd.

Five years before the executors have applied for probate, and let the wider family see the will? Did no-one think in five years to do a little research on wills etc and follow up what should or could be happening, or seek legal advice to clarify the situation?

getmore4less

very odd,

Are the kids over 18?

Spouses then children are first in line for an intestate estate so they could have ask to see this will that made siblings executors.
If one was nor forthcoming a application for the grant made on the assumption there was none.

That probably would have flushed out anything at that point not 5 years later.

Keep_pedalling

troubleinparadise wrote: »

Following Konark's post - this whole story sounds very odd.

Five years before the executors have applied for probate, and let the wider family see the will? Did no-one think in five years to do a little research on wills etc and follow up what should or could be happening, or seek legal advice to clarify the situation?

Check out the OPs older threads on this subject posted over the last few years.

They really need to urgent check out this will with the solicitors who originally made it, they should at least be able to confirm wether it is genuine or not.