Beneficiaries Contesting Will Holding Up Distribution of Estate

YoungBlueEyes

ChoccyPiglet - I'm in the middle of something that is basically similar (pay us off or we'll take you to court). I got a contentious wills/probate solic to send them a letter.
So far I've had an initial meeting of over an hour, a few emails back and forth, a couple of phonecalls, and a letter sent to the other 3 beneficiaries. Total to date = £590. It's a bunch of money, but I think it's been well spent.
PM me and I'll happily give you his details.

My sis and I went through probate thinking that the 6 months was a line in the sand, but our solic told us the same thing - it doesn't apply to ALL claims. He did also say that the longer they leave it to claim makes it far more likely they'll lose, and anything they want to start "years from now will probably be laughed at".

Also - the advice I on got on here was echoed by my specialist solic, if I'd been braver I needn't have bothered with him actually. This is a brilliant bunch of people, I'd go with what they say and do as much as you can before heading down the legal route

lukewarn

Also - the advice I on got on here was echoed by my specialist solic, if I'd been braver I needn't have bothered with him actually. This is a brilliant bunch of people, I'd go with what they say and do as much as you can before heading down the legal route

Exactly - YBE is spot on.

In my case, I didn't spend a penny but 'called their bluff' and with great advice from this forum came out smelling of roses.

Why waste money on solicitors when you have all the advice you need here.

I think you are worrying unnecessarily and should just hold your nerve.

AnotherJoe

Lukewarn, how did you call their bluff ? What did you do? Might be useful for the OP to know.

lukewarn

I didn't ever respond to their intimidating letters and threats,I just carried out my executor's duties to the letter.

I received 14 letters from two different firms of solicitors over a 20 month period.The second firm was much more aggressive that the first one.

The first firm made many threats and after 3 letters from them when they wanted to administer the estate I simply wrote back and basically said "get stuffed there is a probated will."

The second firms' threats ranged from letters from the deceased's GP coupled with a part 36 offer to try and make me sign an agreement to split the estate 3 ways. (on close analysis,the Gp's letter actually said nothing about the deceased's state of mind so I simply ignored it as I knew the truth and was under no obligation to even respond or take the bait.)

I was quite clear from the outset that as the sole executor (and with a probated will) I had all the authority from the deceased and that no aggressive solicitor was going to push me around and certainly not force me into employing a solicitor and paying any legal costs.

When I distributed the estate the first time the cheeky blighters returned the cheques with even more threats. Then they threatened court action unless I paid their legal costs.Also that these costs would more than double if I didn't pay immediately as they were going to employ a barrister.(more threats!)

I didn't respond and just turned up on the day at court and they lost a second time and they had to pay all their own costs. The judge even asked me did I have any of MY costs (as a litigant in person) that I would like to recover from them. As it happened I had only spent only a couple of quid for car parking.

Even at the end, once they had finally agreed to the distributions per the will, their solicitor tried to 'instruct me' to pay their bequests to him in the form of a bank transfer. I ignored this request and just paid their bequests by cheque exactly per the names on the will.

So, when I say I called their bluff I mean that I refused to be pushed around and intimidated by them and instead just got on with the job as instructed by the deceased.

troubleinparadise

It strikes me on reading the posts from different people here that there are a number of dubious legal people out there - solicitors and barristers - who are happy to act on seemingly flimsy evidence to bully executors over Wills.

And potentially cost the claimants significant fees once the cases hit the buffers.

I wonder if these examples here are about an encouragement to !!!8216;have a go!!!8217; because they just might push an inexperienced executor to cave in although the basis for a claim is not strong in law. !!!8216;No win no fee for Wills!!!8217; rather than personal injury!

And a number of reply posters suggest a mediatory response in making some payment just to make them go away, even though there is no reason other than keeping the peace.

I can see that the ordinary person finding out they are an executor of a Will in a difficult family situation would possibly love to just walk away given it is essentially a voluntary role that may well not even have financial reward for lots of stress!

AnotherJoe

Got to agree, I feel very lucky that the situation I'm involved with as executor has been so simple with everyone being very cooperative, for example in apportioning out small personal possessions as well as the somewhat "biggie" of agreeing an instrument of variation, which going by the letter of the law, wouldn't have to be agreed by a beneficiary even though that was the wish (but not legally in the will) of the deceased.

I suppose we are suffering from sampling bias and for obvious reasons mostly hear about the difficult cases here?

YoungBlueEyes

AnotherJoe - I agree, sampling bias at work here. I'm yet to read a post that says "look how easy this is! It's all going swimmingly!"

troubleinparadise - that's exactly what happened with me. A very clear and simple will, 4 daughters, the 2 who needed more got more than the other 2, in a nutshell. 2 daughters instantly started making unreasonable demands and threatening court (Daddy had died just hours before) and my sister - the youngest of us - instantly caved. I disagreed. But just the mention of court made her so scared she agreed to everything they asked for without question.

I dread to think how many other people this applies to.....

I honestly don't know what I'd have done without all the mse folk. I've posted everything from rants and raves, some dumb questions, repeated myself, and every single reply has been helpful and legally sound. You all saved my sanity and I'm so glad I found this forum.

OP listen to the guys here, you can't knock it

badmemory

I agree with AnotherJoe, we are the silent majority. Apart from in response to people having problems we have no need to post. We just got on with it. Apart from the difficulties caused it must be really upsetting to have family members argue over what the outcome should be when there is a completely valid will.

buildersdaughter

We don't know the back story. We also often see posts such as 'My dad died 30 years ago and left everything to his wife. He said she would leave me my share in her will..........'
Whilst theoretically it doesn't make a difference, it can make a big difference to how beneficiaries behave, and the lengths they are willing to go to.

It seems that one of the best things we can do is review wills every few years, in light of new circumstances. Though of course, in this case, if there was no contact for 30 years, she might have written them out all together!