Can a none wife change joint will directly after my dads death?

zaxx

My father passed away the end of June, before his death he and his partner who was not married to each other, She told me after my dad passed away that there had a joint will and estate and was to be equally divided between myself and her son, but until her death, she would retain control of everything.
I never saw his/their will at all and his partner is still alive and now the home is now up for sale only 5 weeks after his death. I have asked for a copy of the will but refused to send a copy to me. Can she go back on their decision as I am guessing since my father's death his partner has changed the will to exclude me and favor her own son entirely? At one point she said that I was no longer apart of the family. I have been to Citzaen advice bureau about this and they sent a letter to her asking for a copy as off yet she not sent it. Also, she not gone to probate with the will or the property
His personal possessions were either given away/ sold to other people or thrown away ( as they were a big skip in the drive 1 weeks after his death) without consultation with me as I have nothing of his to keep not even photos and I am also shocked at her behavior as we always got on very well. now she has cut all ties with me

Do I have any rights to contest this, can my father's last wishes be taken into consideration any all? Thank you for any replies to this

RADDERS

If she cannot produce a will and they were not married then surely she is not entitled to his estate. The other thing to remember is you cannot have a joint will, mirror wills yes so if there is a will it needs to be followed no matter what the partner says.
First I would check on the land registry site to find out how the house is held i.e. Joint tenants or tenants in common and whose name is on the title. It may be that it is held as joint tenants and then the house would transfer to the partner if not then half would go into your fathers estate.
I would also ring round local solicitors to see if you could locate a will, just explain that your father has died and you are his next of kin, you never know you may be able to find it yourself.
Hope that helps

Mojisola

RADDERS wrote: »

If she cannot produce a will and they were not married then surely she is not entitled to his estate.

The other thing to remember is you cannot have a joint will

There is such a thing but it's very rarely used these days.

If a will can't be found, zaxx can apply to administer the estate under the intestacy rules.

zaxx

RADDERS wrote: »

If she cannot produce a will and they were not married then surely she is not entitled to his estate. The other thing to remember is you cannot have a joint will, mirror wills yes so if there is a will it needs to be followed no matter what the partner says.
First I would check on the land registry site to find out how the house is held i.e. Joint tenants or tenants in common and whose name is on the title. It may be that it is held as joint tenants and then the house would transfer to the partner if not then half would go into your fathers estate.
I would also ring round local solicitors to see if you could locate a will, just explain that your father has died and you are his next of kin, you never know you may be able to find it yourself.
Hope that helps

Hi thank you for the infor RADDERS
My dad bought the house back over 30 Yrs ago then you did not need to reg the property with the land reg. So the home is not Reg so i can not find that out who owns it. Also i have called the solicitors in the area but got nowhere they do not have any details on my dad. She says every thing was all joint the Will ,house, bank ect the lot and she refused to send me a copy of the will. As she says its her will as well and she has the right to refuse to send a copy but thank you so much

zaxx

Mojisola wrote: »

There is such a thing but it's very rarely used these days.

If a will can't be found, zaxx can apply to administer the estate under the intestacy rules.

Thank you i will look into it

BrassicWoman

zaxx wrote: »

My dad bought the house back over 30 Yrs ago then you did not need to reg the property with the land reg. So the home is not Reg so i can not find that out who owns it.

you most certainly DID register houses 30 years ago!

Rosieandjim

I expect that they may have purchased a DIY will that you can buy from any post office or book shop etc and got someone to sign it. If the estate does not come to over a certain amount she can deal with everything herself. I am not sure if a stern solicitor letter would make her give you the will. Maybe someone more knowledgeable will come along.

Land_Registry

BrassicWoman wrote: »

you most certainly DID register houses 30 years ago!

1990 was the last trigger date for compulsory registration in England and Wales. That's 27/28 years ago so it is possible that if he bought it 30+ years ago then it may be unregistered and the proof of ownership is in the deeds/docs normally held by the owner.

Not our area of expertise but it seems like you need to get legal advice around what rights you each have re his estate. You presumably have some but for his partner to then prove to what extent they have a right to deal with his estate for example

If the property is unregistered then odds are it will need to be registered before a buyer will complete. If there's no deed transferring ownership from Father to them both then probate (will) or letters of administration (no will) is needed. so if selling you should be able to check how in time once P or LofA are granted

RADDERS

How long was he with his partner ?

If your dad owned the property before she came on the scene then do you know where the deeds are, maybe held at a solicitors or if at any time he had a mortgage they could be at a Building Society, some let you keep the deeds there after the mortgage was redeemed for a small charge especially smaller societies.

If she will not let you see a will can you not apply for letters of administration as his next of kin? If you said you were going to do this she just may become more cooperative. Also you will need to check if bank accounts were held jointly or just in his name, but think you will need letters of administration first due to data protection.

Sorry it seems such a mess for you at this sad time.

seven-day-weekend

Get a copy of his will here: https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills.

That is what I did when a family member was trying to pull the wool over my eyes. (Also as I was a chief beneficiary the solicitor eventually sent me a copy).

GrumpyDil

Unfortunately bitter experience taints my view but this definately does not sound right However, until and if probate is applied for the will won't be available to see on the government website.

What you can do is to put a register a caveat or standing search with the probate registry. The standing search means you will be notified when a will is registered. It lasts for 6 months and can be renewed. The caveat stops a grant being registered I think but you would certainly need legal advice if going down this route.

Depending upon how far you want to go with this I would speak to her and explain that you would like to see the will as your dad never mentioned writing one so whilst you accept she may be worried about her rights if there was no will, you are concerned she may be being a little flexible with the truth (I'll leave you to work out how to phrase that one). If she still refuses then I'd probably say well in that case I don't believe there is a will and need to start applying for letters of administration to deal with the estate.

However if there is a will and he has left everything absolutely to his partner then yes she can do whatever she wants with the assets, including spending them, giving them away or leaving them to anyone she wants to.

Either way good luck as disputed will's are a horrible place to end up.