First death had to deal with. Letter of wishes??

misterbarlow

My poor mother is terminally ill with cancer, and is in the last few weeks now.
This is the first death myself or my sisters have ever had to deal with..
We don't know how it all works!!

She has no main assets to speak of, no car, her house is council, just a small insurance policy of about £6k to cover her pre planned funeral costs of £4300 that she said she has part paid, an over 50 plan for about £800, her personal possessions, and a few hundred in her bank account.

She has no will, we have found a letter in her room leaving various personal items to various family members, it is signed but not witnessed, and we are wondering do we need to get her to sign anything else for example to grant us permission to act on her behalf for her affairs and accounts etc or name an executor for after she has gone??


My sister rang her funeral provider to ask what the outstanding balance was, and they refused to even discuss it with her...

jackieblack

Information here: https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/if-the-person-didnt-leave-a-will (this assumes you are in the UK)

One would hope that the beneficiaries would honour your mother's wishes regarding the letter and her personal items.

misterbarlow

Thanks for the reply.
My sister has just text that she has found a DIY will last night, it names myself and her as executors at the top, and basically then just says the same things as the letter..
It is signed by her, but again not witnessed. If we get a witness to sign it now, does the difference in dates matter??
Is this then all we need?

jackieblack

The witnesses have to witness the will being signed.
https://www.gov.uk/make-will/make-sure-your-will-is-legal

Keep_pedalling

Without a power of attorney in place, as you have found no one will be willing to speak to you regarding your mothers affairs. Unfortunately a POA takes at least 8 weeks get in place, so it is going to be of little help in this case.

Although you mother has few assets, and you will not need to go through probate because of its small size, the letter of wishes carries no legal weight so to make things easier for you when the time comes getting her to formalise that by drawing up a will, will make things far easier for you when it comes to dealing with the bank.

For a small simple estate you should be able to draw up one yourselves using a downloadable will kit like one of these.

England, Wales and NI

https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/last-will-and-testament-diy-will-download-ekit-valid-in-england-wales-and-northern-ireland/90009266

Scotland.

https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/last-will-and-testament-diy-will-download-ekit-valid-in-scotland/90009273

Keep_pedalling

misterbarlow wrote: »

Thanks for the reply.
My sister has just text that she has found a DIY will last night, it names myself and her as executors at the top, and basically then just says the same things as the letter..
It is signed by her, but again not witnessed. If we get a witness to sign it now, does the difference in dates matter??
Is this then all we need?

That will is not valid as it was not witnessed at the time of signing. Draft it up again, get her to sign the new copy, but this time in the presents of 2 witnesses. The witnesses must not be beneficiaries.

misterbarlow

Thanks all.
She is in no state to do all this again now, she is very weak on constant morphine driver in hospital, and couldn't write that much now.

Our only option then, is to write a new one for her myself in her presence, read to her and get her and some nurses to witness and sign it, is this allowed??

Keep_pedalling

misterbarlow wrote: »

Thanks all.
She is in no state to do all this again now, she is very weak on constant morphine driver in hospital, and couldn't write that much now.

Our only option then, is to write a new one for her myself in her presence, read to her and get her and some nurses to witness and sign it, is this allowed??

Provided she has the mental capacity, and can convey to the witnesses that she is doing this of her own free will then yes.

gettingtheresometime

Perhaps this is the wrong attitude to take but if the letter refers to personal items (I'm assuming these are things like ornaments etc) that your mum wants to go to certain people why fret about it?

Keep_pedalling

gettingtheresometime wrote: »

Perhaps this is the wrong attitude to take but if the letter refers to personal items (I'm assuming these are things like ornaments etc) that your mum wants to go to certain people why fret about it?

Because without a will, the OP is going to have a lot more difficulty of retrieving his mother's assets from her bank.

misterbarlow

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

Because without a will, the OP is going to have a lot more difficulty of retrieving his mother's assets from her bank.

My sister lived with her, so they obviously been privately putting plans in place over the past few months during her illness for when the time comes...

She has given my sister her debit card and pin and told her to withdraw everything from her account to keep in the house, as she doesn't want us waiting months for it, which she has started doing this week..

Is there going to be any likely comeback from her doing that?
My mother told me about it herself yesterday, so its nothing my sister has taken upon herself to do etc, its all above board.