A lady that's in a family will is not being able to see it ???

collectors

I have a friend staying with me & her mother recently passed away & has left her money in the will. But her brother is the executor to the will & won't say how much. “Yes, they don't get on” It is now 6 months since she passed away & my friend asked if she could have some cash to keep herself going & they said something about probate. I thought probate was when there was no will ??.
My friend also knows her mother had quite a few thousand cash in the bank & is worried her brother has somehow got access to it.
Is it legal to not show the sister the will, even though she is mentioned? And cant some cash be released to help her out. There is also a fully paid-up house involved. 

p00hsticks

Assuming we are talking England or Wales here....

A Grant of Probate (or letters of adminstration if there is no will) is what gives the executor of a will / administrator the authority to fully deal with the estate, doing things like selling any property, cashing in or transferring any stocks and share and releasing any funds above specified amounts from banks and buildings societies.

There's no obligation on an executor to share the details of a will with beneficiaries, although if they are 'residual benficiaries' (i.e. those left whatever remains after any fixed sums of money or specified items are dealt with) then the executor is supposed to share the estate accounts with them a part of the final winding up process. An executor traditionally has 'an executors year' to deal with the estate, although this can be shorter or longer depending on the circumstances - there's no hard and fast deadline.

Not all estates need probate. However, if probate is required then as part of that process the will is sent to the probate office and once probate is granted it becomes available for viewing by any member of the public for a small fee.

https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

[Deleted User]

collectors said:

Is it legal to not show the sister the will, even though she is mentioned? And cant some cash be released to help her out. There is also a fully paid-up house involved. 

It is possible, but only if the executor is willing that on that personal risk.  

If it's still going through probate, there's nothing in it for them to take that risk, however minor.

RAS

Until probate is granted the executor needs to use any cash to pay on-going costs and should not disburse assets. 

It might not be unacceptable to ask when probate was applied for? But if relationships are poor that may not help. 

At present some people seem to get probate granted in a week or so, and others are still waiting months on, even for simple estates. Nothing much any of the executors can do about it either.

And although the executor could put the house on the market now, because vast variance in processing times most potential buyers are put off. Much better to market it once the email arrives from the Probate Registry.

p00hsticks

RAS said:

At present some people seem to get probate granted in a week or so, and others are still waiting months on, even for simple estates. Nothing much any of the executors can do about it either.

It can also take some time to gather together all the information needed to submit a probate application in the first place - in particular, in establishing any debts and valuing any assets in order to determine if any inheritance tax is due, as I believe that normally would need to be paid before probate can be granted.

msb1234

You can check here if probate has been granted, and once it has, you can get a copy of the will as its then deemed a public document.
https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

Dave_5150

collectors said:

I have a friend staying with me & her mother recently passed away & has left her money in the will. But her brother is the executor to the will & won't say how much. “Yes, they don't get on” It is now 6 months since she passed away & my friend asked if she could have some cash to keep herself going & they said something about probate. I thought probate was when there was no will ??.
My friend also knows her mother had quite a few thousand cash in the bank & is worried her brother has somehow got access to it.
Is it legal to not show the sister the will, even though she is mentioned? And cant some cash be released to help her out. There is also a fully paid-up house involved. 

He needs to "get access to the cash" to fulfill his role as executer. There's no legal need to show the will to a beneficiary. Cash is released after acoounts are settled. Probate will ne needed as there is a property to sell.

SevenOfNine

If he has the death certificate he'll be able to access bank accounts, IF what is in them is less than the limit set by each one isn't reached, they'll close the a/c & transfer the money.  Lloyds is £40 (or £50k, can't recall precisely), less than that & death cert with own ID was enough to have it released. Same with Santander though can't recall their actual limit as a/c was way below it.

Neither bank asked to see the will, or confirm relationship, but disclaimers were signed. It's surprising what you can get released with just the death cert.

Barclays was over the limit so we had to wait for probate.  Nat West were just downright awkward, unprofessional & frankly, rubbish, & they ended up £££ compensating the bank a/c of the deceased. Can't speak for any other bank though, each probably have their own rules.

I executor has the deceased's money, stage payments will be up to him, I've done it but only when 100% sure about income/expenditure, but it's going to be tricky (if not impossible) if they don't get on.

thegreenone

HSBC asked to see my late mum's Will and took a copy of it.  They wanted proof of the Executor's.

OP, it took 11 months and two weeks from date of death to completion of sale of mum's property, so six months is still quite short.

Could your friend write to her brother to ask how it is all going?  Has Friend been able to have any special bits from the house?

shiraz99

SevenOfNine said:

If he has the death certificate he'll be able to access bank accounts, IF what is in them is less than the limit set by each one isn't reached, they'll close the a/c & transfer the money.  Lloyds is £40 (or £50k, can't recall precisely), less than that & death cert with own ID was enough to have it released. Same with Santander though can't recall their actual limit as a/c was way below it.

Neither bank asked to see the will, or confirm relationship, but disclaimers were signed. It's surprising what you can get released with just the death cert.

Barclays was over the limit so we had to wait for probate.  Nat West were just downright awkward, unprofessional & frankly, rubbish, & they ended up £££ compensating the bank a/c of the deceased. Can't speak for any other bank though, each probably have their own rules.

I executor has the deceased's money, stage payments will be up to him, I've done it but only when 100% sure about income/expenditure, but it's going to be tricky (if not impossible) if they don't get on.

I know what you mean about Natwest. It seemed all straightforward to set up but I'm still waiting for the funds from my late Dad's accounts to be released despite them telling me that they have all the documentation and I should have it within 3 working days. That was over 6 weeks ago, and they keep telling me the same thing.

Malthusian

shiraz99 said:

I know what you mean about Natwest. It seemed all straightforward to set up but I'm still waiting for the funds from my late Dad's accounts to be released despite them telling me that they have all the documentation and I should have it within 3 working days. That was over 6 weeks ago, and they keep telling me the same thing.

Make a formal complaint. Otherwise there's nothing to stop them fobbing you off indefinitely.