will challenge and next of kin

Heltaskelta

elsien said:

Well she wasn’t a widower for a start. 

Where did you copy it from? 

I’m also confused about keeping quiet about a DIY will from a few years ago. Was that the one that was revoked? 

OMG !! can it be set aside on that fact alone. what a basic error. ive been copying from various sources. to no avail it maybe

the DIY will originated after the row they had in May 2018 i drafted it after we discussed it because it werent a subject she enjoyed.

the way my sisters are acting towards me they are having a hard time now accepting this Will how convienient it would be if there was one before it. the will they are challenging was the same as the previouswill only with my sister included as an executor

breif history of events

my siblings are all married with children where as i am still single and living at home. so i explained to my mother about including another executor and so she chose her eldest child. well i didnt get round to doing it there and then. my mother was fighting fit 74 years old enjoying babysitting for her grandaughters. although my mother was still hurting from my sister ganging up on herin May 2018.  

fast forward 18 months and my mother gets knocked over by a woman who stumbled down a step. my mother broke her wrist and hit her head that was in December 2019. then Covid come on the scen in March and my mother started slipping words and repeating herself. Aug 2020 taken in to hospital with what we thought was a stroke. they find the tumour. when she comes out of hospital after 2 weeks i mention the will we had been doing to get it right.

by March of this year she has passed away and ive sent the will she had signed to probate and here i am now. hope you can understand its been a difficult 8 months i dont think ive started grieving yet .

thanks for finding that error though

MovingForwards

It's not just one error, things are in that 'will' which have no basis in law to be followed. There are so many proper templates online for the different UK jurisdictions, I cannot figure out where you've got most of the wording from. 

Why didn't you get a solicitor to do it, knowing there's issues within the family. 

naedanger

onsite71 said:

elsien said:

Well she wasn’t a widower for a start. 

Where did you copy it from? 

I’m also confused about keeping quiet about a DIY will from a few years ago. Was that the one that was revoked? 

OMG !! can it be set aside on that fact alone. what a basic error. ive been copying from various sources. to no avail it maybe

No. That won't be a significant problem. However I do think you would have been far better getting a properly written will. It will be easier for someone to challenge a diy will. (Out of interest, what do you think would have happened if one of the children died before your mother? Would their children have inherited their share under clause 7?)

You also didn't do yourself any favours moving the money. 

Heltaskelta

MovingForwards said:

It's not just one error, things are in that 'will' which have no basis in law to be followed. There are so many proper templates online for the different UK jurisdictions, I cannot figure out where you've got most of the wording from. 

Why didn't you get a solicitor to do it, knowing there's issues within the family. 

the issues only really started in August last yea. every one was talking to keep the peace then, so this wasn't an issue. I know now.

my grandfathers will to my parents simply stated he was of sound mind and i leave the house to his son. 1974 it was written in ink and signed by him and the witnesses. it totals about 8 lines. they might challenge this will on my capacity never mind my mothers.

i ve learnt the hard way again.

Heltaskelta

onsite71 said:

MovingForwards said:

It's not just one error, things are in that 'will' which have no basis in law to be followed. There are so many proper templates online for the different UK jurisdictions, I cannot figure out where you've got most of the wording from. 

Why didn't you get a solicitor to do it, knowing there's issues within the family. 

the issues only really started in August last yea. every one was talking to keep the peace then, so this wasn't an issue. I know now.

my grandfathers will to my parents simply stated he was of sound mind and i leave the house to his son. 1974 it was written in ink and signed by him and the witnesses. it totals about 8 lines. they might challenge this will on my capacity never mind my mothers.

i ve learnt the hard way again.

thanks for putting me straight movingforwards appreciate it.

elsien

What’s done is done. Little point going over what you “should” have done.
Moving forwards, by far the best way will be to try to put the rancour aside and try to open the lines of communication with your siblings.
That is far easier said than done but if you can show them the money is safe in a proper executor account and that you haven’t half-inched it, that will be a starting point.
If you’re able to reach a compromise that is going to be much less stressful (and cheaper) than all sides going legal over a disputed will.
Still get some legal advice as to where you stand and don’t touch the money you’ve moved unless it’s for genuine estate purposes. 
Is there anyone you both trust who could act as intermediary? 

Heltaskelta

naedanger said:

onsite71 said:

elsien said:

Well she wasn’t a widower for a start. 

Where did you copy it from? 

I’m also confused about keeping quiet about a DIY will from a few years ago. Was that the one that was revoked? 

OMG !! can it be set aside on that fact alone. what a basic error. ive been copying from various sources. to no avail it maybe

No. That won't be a significant problem. However I do think you would have been far better getting a properly written will. It will be easier for someone to challenge a diy will. (Out of interest, what do you think would have happened if one of the children died before your mother? Would their children have inherited their share under clause 7?)

You also didn't do yourself any favours moving the money. 

ive resolved the money issue now. ive put it into an executor account in NatWest and i can see your point with the issue you picked up on. thanks for your time and input naedanger. much obliged.

naedanger

onsite71 said:

naedanger said:

onsite71 said:

elsien said:

Well she wasn’t a widower for a start. 

Where did you copy it from? 

I’m also confused about keeping quiet about a DIY will from a few years ago. Was that the one that was revoked? 

OMG !! can it be set aside on that fact alone. what a basic error. ive been copying from various sources. to no avail it maybe

No. That won't be a significant problem. However I do think you would have been far better getting a properly written will. It will be easier for someone to challenge a diy will. (Out of interest, what do you think would have happened if one of the children died before your mother? Would their children have inherited their share under clause 7?)

You also didn't do yourself any favours moving the money. 

ive resolved the money issue now. ive put it into an executor account in NatWest and i can see your point with the issue you picked up on. thanks for your time and input naedanger. much obliged.

When you say you have put the money in an executor account, are you certain? Most banks will only open an executor account after probate has been granted. (Many people will open a new personal account to hold estate assets during the administration period, but this is not actually an executor account.)

My question on what would happen if one of the children died before your mother was partly related to the no contest clause. It seems to me (but I am not certain) that if someone contests the will, and the will is found to be valid then the no contest clause would divert that child's share to their children. Not sure if this is what was intended.

cbrown372

One point in your first post you say, you get to live in the home and the money is split between all siblings. Are you saying you have inherited the house?

sassyblue

onsite71 said:

74jax said:

onsite71 said:

My mother died recently from a brain tumour. There are 5 children and I still live at home and was the registered carer. My mother made a will in august after coming out of hospital to say I was to live at home and the money gets split equally between us all. On the day she signed the will I have video footage of her some hours before indicating she was of sound mind. I didn't video the will because of coercion. I also have footage weeks after of her stating financial concerns which in my opinion show she knew what she was doing.

Upon her death I took the will to the hospital to obtain the death certificate. My sisters were also applying for it as next of kin. Because the hospital gave them the code to inform the 'tell us once' service I realised that I had to do something to protect my mother's estate.

The Registrar from the Registry Office gives you to code when the death is registered not the hospital, so they must have obtained her death certificate.

Because over the previous 6 months I had been given by her a PIN number to her bank so I could pay the bills etc. What I have done then is to open an executor account and removed funds from my mothers account into it. Approx £40,000. Now they have as I suspected gone to the bank in the next of kin capacity and have seen what I have done. They have contacted the police and fraud squad over my actions.

I’m not surprised, so would I.  BTW There is also no such thing as an 'Executor Account' it’s simply a bank account the Executor of the Will uses for the deceased's funds.

I see it as protecting my mother's wishes regarding how the estate gets shared out. I haven't stole the money just transferred it into the account because I knew it would rile them because their love for money. I have been excluded from all family activities and weren't invited o the wake in one of my sisters houses. They didn't know about the money at this time. They deleted and stopped contact with me the day my mother went back into hospital. The day before she went back in we had a doctor visit the house and we all agreed equal next of kin. When I found out later in January, my mother was asking to come home, (the right thing to do) that there was only one name as next of kin. This is misrepresentation on my sister's part I feel and they are also slandering my name by saying that I stole the money.

The hospital do have only one name as 'next of kin', my dad's did too. It has no legal bearing.

As well as negligence on keeping my mother in hospital due to spite I think I also got grounds for undue suffering and loss. I can see the way things are going my side of the story won't be heard or listened to.  They are building a case against me.

Any advice please to protect myself

You have no 'grounds' for anything.  You’ve made a complete mess of all this and you ought to start mending bridges with your siblings because what you've done with your mum's money looks extremely suspicious, although to your credit you say you can account for every penny.  I do hope so.

What do you mean you transferred 40k into your name as you knew the Pin? i had been looking after the bills etc since september. i can account for everything.

Did you do this online? How did you do this is the bank had frozen the account on her death?

my mother died on the 17th March, i went to the hospital with the Will on the 18th so they had some proof of what i was saying. on the 19th (friday) i found out during my call to the hospital that my sister was also chasing for the death certificate. they siad the registrar would get involved and the staff on the ward where my mother passed away. on the tuesday they issued my sister with the refrence number, i was so frustrated that i removed the money into my account andf left it at that. my mind hasnt been the same since.

the 'registrar' always gets involved, it’s a hospital registrar not the same as who you register a death with. Your sister must have obtained the death certificate.

Do you mean you did this after she had died, but didn't inform the bank she had and withdrew the funds?

Thats corect. all they done is made things mesy. they give the code to the tell us once service and went and closed the bank accounts and i wanted them to see it gone. i have since opened an executor account and the money is back in. i know ive gone the illegal route but ive just lost my mother. we should be pulling together instead ive been excluded from everything really and now the will isnt upto par. im doomed. ive tried my best.

I don’t think the Tell Us Once service do inform the banks, it’s government bodies. I suspect your siblings took the death certificate they obtained to the bank. I don’t mean to be harsh but you are the one who has made things messy and are the reason your siblings won’t pull together with you.

Why would it be protecting her wishes? She has a will so that would be followed.  What you have achieved could have been done entirely legally and the outcome the same.  I can understand why they have flagged this with the police, can you not? 

its my sisters who are not respecting mymothers signature and wishes. it isnt going to get better any time soon either. they should have been elated i wanted to do it. thats the reason why i added the standby executor, because i didnt know how i would be when my mother passed away. ive held my nerve and organised the funeral and paid for it.

You say you revoked your right as executor and your sister was put in as a replacement. If that is correct then of course you can just transfer money. If the first will still stand and you are executor it looks like you didn't arrange the funeral and didn't close bank accounts, is this correct? If I were you I'd read up on being an executor as that is now how you go about things

It's hard to understand what was revoked and what wasn't.

because of the stress i have put myself through and not being a will specialist,the one i sent to probate is exactly the same as the one attached only my sister name has been added just in case. i thought that was the fairest and easiest way to do it. bear in mind to ive just found out about my mothers tumour. my head is in the shed.

i hope you understand what ive wrote in bold font above 74jax.

i am much obliged for your time and the queries you posted. it has helped me see things a little clearer

My advice in italic and underlined. You have really messed up here either from grief or in an attempt to control the matter but you are one of 5 and should have given everyone a chance because now you won’t be trusted.  

You say you can account for every penny and that is going to be the reason why the police won’t do anything (I can’t speak for them but I strongly suspect they won’t), the fact that you don’t understand the law and are suffering from the shock of your mum's diagnosis and death, but going forward be honest and co-operate with everyone.
I don’t mean to sound harsh above, I have recently lost my dad so I do understand.