Confusing will are beneficiaries entitled to a copy of wills?

bluejellysal

i had 3 uncles, all unmarried who lived together in their parents ( now deceased) home. They were left 1/3 share each. They had wills made up that on the passing of each brother 1/3 share of the house was left in trust to my brother and myself , house to be sold on death of 3rd brother. 1 brother now remains who is executor of the will. My mum now tells me he has taken out equity loan against the value of the house.. we have not officially seen the wills since uncle Bob showed and explained it to us in 2007 . The remaining Uncle is approaching 80 and has early stage dementia is he allowed to do this. Are the solicitors obliged to let us know we are mentioned in the will and as beneficiaries are we entitled to a copy of the will from the solicitor? How do we go about finding out where the wills were drawn up?

sammyjammy

He still owns a third of the house and is entitled to do what he wishes with it although it seems unlikely he'd get an equity release mortgage on a third share.  Have you downloaded the title from Land Registry to see what it says about ownership?

p00hsticks

if probate was required for any of the estates following the deaths, then any realted wills will be a matter of public record - you shoudl b able to find them here

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

bluejellysal

Great idea, land registry here we come. Not sure how to do that but I will have a look. 

thegreenone

The remaining brother can't be executor to his own Will.  He'll be gone!  

Does your Mum have any idea as to which Solicitors the brothers may have used.  It could be the same as their Parents used.  Are the Uncles on your Mum or Dad's side?

As above, I'd be surprised if Uncle is allowed to get equity release without you and your brother's agreement, as you own 2/3rds. 

getmore4less

i had 3 uncles, all unmarried who lived together in their parents ( now deceased) home. They were left 1/3 share each. They had wills made up that on the passing of each brother 1/3 share of the house was left in trust to my brother and myself.

The key here will be was a restriction put on the property(TIC) when the house transferred to the 3 brothers.

Who were the executors of the wills and who were to be trustees for the share(s) transferring to trust, were they added as legal owners.

if this has been a while you may need to do a timeline trail if the current title is not correct.

p00hsticks

bluejellysal said:

Great idea, land registry here we come. Not sure how to do that but I will have a look. 

Make sure you use the official site and not one of the ones that advertise to get to the top of the search lists and charge a premium for the service - a copy of the register should cost £3.

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

Flugelhorn

let us know how you get on with the LR - ie if there are any restrictions, could be interesting for an equity loan company if they discover he doesn't actually own all of the house