Will and Probate - dispute

Annasp

Hi, please can someone advise
My Dad paid cash for his house about 25 years ago.
His wife did not pay towards it
My father had dementia for several years before he died last Tuesday
In August 2015, with fairly advanced dementia, he arranged Power of Attorneys to act on his behalf - his second wife and myself.
His second wife took the Power of Attorney letter granting Approval from the solicitors.
I have never had access to it and was not able to check whether his finances were abused. The Solicitor said that there no other copies so I could not act for my father.
Dad’s wife has a son who my father despised as he never works and does not really want to.
My Dad had a good relationship with me, my brother and his grandchildren
Since 2015 my Dad’s wife has sold or got rid off all my parents things while he has been in a care home. Her son moved in a year ago and my Dad’s pensions have been paying for him to live there
My Dad went into hospital in September 2015, then into a care home.
He was scared of his wife
In August 2915 she took him to the solicitors to change the will to avoidcare home costs.
The will was changed to accommodate this and Dad’s family are left with nothing in favour of his wife’s family.
I have just found out that I am the Executor. I had no idea, so I have to deal with my Dad’s estate which we have been disinherited from ( the house was left to us in the previous Will)
I understand contesting is extremely expensive and hard to prove and I have little money.
Why is the law so unfair in that it is so easy for anybody who is dishonest and motivated to act so dishonourably to just get away with it. My brother and I are heartbroken. She wants the funeral service arranged the funeral service with no mention of our Mum. ( we found out in time to stop this) My Mum and Dad were happily married for 32 years, both worked so hard for us. All so unfair - that the Will could be rewritten when Dad was clearly unwell. Why was I not warned that I was Executor too?
To top it all I have a letter from Debt collector telling me I owe £149.99 for a parking infringement in August 2017. I have never even had a ticket.
The system is broken

Red-Squirrel_2

I’m sorry for your loss.

You don’t have to act as executor if you want to. You have every right to refuse and to focus on looking after yourself and getting through a difficult time.

DirkLewis

Hi. Sorry for your loss. Firstly I am not giving any legal advice here (I've just found myself as one of the executors of an estate so have been researching that for several weeks - I have also been through the initial grieving process following the death of a family member - I didn't even read the will until several weeks later).


As the previous post states, you do not have to act as the executor of a will if you do not wish to do so, there is no legal obligation


It seems there are 2 main issues here. The emotion of losing a loved one and the finances/will.
The best advice I can give you at this stage is to take your time, don't make any rushed decisions. You have longer than you think. So take some time to get over the loss and bereavement and don't let anybody force or rush you into doing anything.

The only real deadline concerning a will/estate in the UK is the 6 months (from date of death) to complete the inheritance tax form, so I can't emphasise this enough you do not need to rush.


So take your time to bereave and clear your head. Then of course you can decide on what (if anything) you want to do regarding the will and estate. Once you are thinking more clearly you might then want to think about whether it is worth it to consult a solicitor regarding a possible contesting of the will etc.
Obviously I can't comment too much about what condition your father may have been in when the will was changed as what constitutes 'mental capacity' is a massive grey area. Though personally I would seek legal advice on that one. Are there any free legal advice services/solicitors you could initially contact?

Take your time, grieve and make a decision regarding that in the near future.


All the best.

TBagpuss

I'm sorry for your loss.
As others have said, you don't have to be executor. As long as you have not 'intermeddled' with the estate (dealt with any of the finances) you can simply decline to act.

It would be hard to prove that your dad was pressured to make the will in the terms he did. You could ask the solicitor who made the will to provide details from their file - what notes to they have of your dad's instructions, was there any explanation from him about why you and your family were left out, for instance, but it would be hard to prove any undue influence,

Sea_Shell

I'm not sure of the timeline here...but if your Dad had a previous will in which you were beneficiaries, was this written BEFORE he married his current wife?

If so, the marriage will have invalidated that will anyway (*), so in the absence of this new will, intestacy rules will have applied, which is to say most (if not all) of the estate would have passed to the new wife in any case.

(*assuming not written in contemplation of marriage.)

Flugelhorn

You need more time before sorting all this out, the death is very recent and it is a physical and emotional shock. there is no hurry to all this although people feel they need to run round "doing things". happens to everyone.

Couple of things to consider - I am not sure how changing a will in 2015 could affect care home costs - I am presuming that what might have been done was making a property tenants in common? You would be able to see if that was done via the land registry. Also if you are being told you are the executor then you need to see the will which would confirm that (I was told that I was the executor of a will - which was the last thing I needed at that time, turned out when I actually saw the will that I was only to be so if other parent had died)

Keep_pedalling

Someone with advanced dementia should not be able to either make a LPA or complete a new will. You certainly could challenge the will if you have proof of his condition at the time the will was made, but no It will be expensive and you could lose.

The care cost issue makes no sense. His house would not be counted in his assessment as his wife was still living in it. All his other assets would count which is perhaps why things needed to be sold. A changed will cannot avoid care costs, but if any large cash saving were transferred out of his name to avoid costs then this would be deemed as deliberate deprivation of assets, and I am sure his LA would love to know about that.

Have you read the will thoroughly? Are you sure that his widow has not just been left a life interest in the property? It seems out that you would be disinherited and made executor. If that is really the case then you need to renounce your powers, especially if you want to challenge it.