Contesting a Will - no Larke v Nugus 23 July at 3:21PM in Deaths, Funerals & Probate 10 replies 754 views

WeAreGhosts

(Asking for a relative)
If someone made a Will with some self employed Will writer who appears to be uncontactable, is it more difficult to contest that Will?
My relative was told to submit a Larke v Nugus letter to the Will writer but hasn't been able to find this person except on Facebook where they haven't replied to messages (generic ones were sent so as not to alert them to the issue without making contact first).
Is it a dead end if you can't get answers from the person who created the Will?
(The Executors and their families benefitted fully from the Will, so not much point asking them about details of the Will)

xylophone

https://www.willwriters.com/blog/larke-v-nugus-2/#:~:text=A%20Larke%20v%20Nugus%20letter%20is%20sent%20when%20there%20is,of%20the%20Will%20as%20possible.&text=Whether%20the%20information%20provided%20to%20the%20testator%20was%20explained%20and%20understood

Has the relative obtained a copy of the Will?

If he wants answers, either he or his solicitor will need to write as above to the drafter of the will at his registered address.

Why on earth should the drafter reply to generic questions from some stranger on Facebook?

WeAreGhosts

Yes, she has a copy of the Will.
There is no registered address. The company name she has been given does not appear anywhere on the web, the home address for the person who drafted the Will was recently sold. She has no idea where he lives now, hence resorting to facebook.

xylophone

the home address for the person who drafted the Will was recently sold. 

Assuming he was living there, he may have arranged a mail forwarding service - your relative could try sending her letter to the last known address.

Otherwise, if she has compelling reasons to believe that some malpractice was involved and there are substantial sums at issue, she might think it worthwhile to employ a tracing service?

Marcon

WeAreGhosts said:

My relative was told to submit a Larke v Nugus letter to the Will writer but hasn't been able to find this person except on Facebook where they haven't replied to messages (generic ones were sent so as not to alert them to the issue without making contact first).
Is it a dead end if you can't get answers from the person who created the Will?

Told by whom? And what does the person who 'told' your relative suggest she does now?

YoungBlueEyes

Would it be possible to do a new will? Properly, through a solicitor?  I think this automatically cancels out the current one. I’m not an expert tho, happy to be corrected. 

Manxman_in_exile

YoungBlueEyes said:

Would it be possible to do a new will? Properly, through a solicitor?  I think this automatically cancels out the current one. I’m not an expert tho, happy to be corrected. 

I suspect they are deceased.

Marcon

YoungBlueEyes said:

Would it be possible to do a new will? Properly, through a solicitor?  I think this automatically cancels out the current one. I’m not an expert tho, happy to be corrected. 

Not when the testator is dead. Ghosts can't make wills, so far as I know!

YoungBlueEyes

Ah. Yes. Let’s be kind and say I thought it was a hypothetical question... 

WeAreGhosts

There may be a mail forwarding service, I didn't think of that. I will suggest that as a course of action. Thank you.
She has paid for a Certainty search which has revealed nothing.

Brynsam

How about giving the name of the will writer in case anyone here has contact details?