another probate question

kazzah

apologies- I have looked to see if my question has been answered previously- but couldn't see it.

My brother recently died and my sister and I are named as co-executors with our children being the main beneficiaries with a nominal % coming to each of us from the estate.

Not to bore you all- but like a lot of families there has been a falling out and my siblings had not spoken for 4 years ( they lived 200 miles apart) and my brother had altered his will to try to remove her as a co-executor - but it wasn't altered with the solicitor so of course it isn't binding.

I have the will ( my brother and I lived close to eachother) and his bank paperwork etc at my house as per his wishes.

I contacted my sister about the grant of probate and advised her that if she didn't want to be bothered with it all, she could reserve her right of probate or renounce her executorship and I would deal with the administration - and also pointed out that this would NOT affect her inheritance.

She has e mailed back to say she has been in touch with a solicitor and has been told she needs to swear an oath in the solicitors office with the probate application and will there in order to be granted probate along with me

sorry for long windedness - I;ll get to my question now - IF we are both applying for probate and both get copies of the forms ( not sure what format probate comes in) does that mean that banks/utilities/other institutions will expect BOTH of us to be present to close accounts ? because I don't know if she would be willing to travel and go to appointments with me.

apologies- I wanted to give as much info as I thought you might need
thanks

Ms_Chocaholic

This might help

https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-jan-apr-2017/renunciation-as-executor-of-a-will/

kazzah

thanks Ms Chocaholic-
that was interesting, but didn't answer my specific query about whether both of us would need to be present to close accounts etc - I had asked her if she wanted to renounce or reserve her rights- but she went straight in and said she would swear an oath to get probate

lika_86

What do you mean by "my brother had altered his will to try to remove her as a co-executor - but it wasn't altered with the solicitor so of course it isn't binding".

How did he 'alter' his will? Did he make a new will? A solicitors involvement isn't relevant to the question of whether a will is legal and valid.

kazzah

lika_86 wrote: »

What do you mean by "my brother had altered his will to try to remove her as a co-executor - but it wasn't altered with the solicitor so of course it isn't binding".

How did he 'alter' his will? Did he make a new will? A solicitors involvement isn't relevant to the question of whether a will is legal and valid.

He crossed her name off the will where it said " I appoint my sisters xxxx of xxxx and xxxx of xxxx to be executors and trustees of my will.

The will he altered had been drawn up by a solicitor

but he hadn't initialled the alteration nor asked his solicitor to change the will - i suspect he had intended to - but simply was too unwell to organise it.

Tom99

Yes you will both need to sign everything which will be a pain.

Are the children just yours or your sister's as well and are they under 18?

chesky

Why didn’t you post this in the ‘Death, wills and Probate’ section - you’ll get much more advice there.

getmore4less

kazzah wrote: »

thanks Ms Chocaholic-
that was interesting, but didn't answer my specific query about whether both of us would need to be present to close accounts etc - I had asked her if she wanted to renounce or reserve her rights- but she went straight in and said she would swear an oath to get probate

In most cases you can do it by post often better that way as counter staff can mess up, keeping everything in writing gives a trail.

A bit of a pain if you have to post stuff to each other to get both signatures.

getmore4less

kazzah wrote: »

He crossed her name off the will where it said " I appoint my sisters xxxx of xxxx and xxxx of xxxx to be executors and trustees of my will.

The will he altered had been drawn up by a solicitor

but he hadn't initialled the alteration nor asked his solicitor to change the will - i suspect he had intended to - but simply was too unwell to organise it.

If that was the original signed/witnessed copy then that could cause issues.

if it was just a copy with the solicitor holding the original that will be OK.

TBagpuss

If you both act as executors you will both need to sign documents,but you don't normally need to go into a branch or to both sign at the same time.

Normally what would happen is that one of you would sign the forms, send them on to the other, who would counter-sign them and send them on to the bank / other organisation.

You and she may each need to separately go into a branch to provide ID to set up an executors account so it would be sensible to try to agree on which bank to use, and to pick one which has branches near where you each live.

Have you and your sister fallen out? It's sad that your sister and brother fell out but if you and your sister are on good terms you should be able to work together.

You will both need to apply together for probate so do check that you and she are not duplicating work by each separately getting advice to complete the oath - normally you would both sign the same document, although you can do this at different times and locations from each other.

kazzah

chesky wrote: »

Why didn’t you post this in the ‘Death, wills and Probate’ section - you’ll get much more advice there.

oh sorry- I thought I had posted in the appropriate section
my mistake