Subpoena for copy of will

uknick

poppystar said:

Whilst it seems unlikely given the value of estate you note,  it is presumably not impossible that her assets have been put into accounts that do not require probate in which case the caveat won’t solve the problem you have sadly. 

Unlikely as my brother also obtained a LPA, but he has not lodged it with any banks etc. at the time of her death.  Or so he says.  

uknick

Marcon said:

uknick said:

Thanks for the replies.

I was never an executor in the previous 5 will she'd made (4 of these were made in a period of 18 months between December 2017 and May 2019 in which my brother put himself as the executor in all 4.  For fullness, her original will was made in the early 1970s by a solicitor when all her children were under the age of majority)
 
I have entered a caveat, upon the advice of a solicitor after a free initial consultation.  The executor is not aware of this at present.

I was also advised waiting for probate to be granted and then challenge the will was a bad thing to do as this could well involve court time; always expensive.

Yes, I have no legal right to see the will prior to grant of probate, hence my original question.  But, I believe there are strong grounds to challenge the will. 

Why is he refusing to show me a copy of the will? Excellent question.  Because of his refusal, I'm not sure what exactly is in her final will, if it even exists at all.  Hence, why I'm looking at a way to force him to disclose it to me before probate is granted.

With regard to him living so far away, it was his choice despite my documented objections as to how he would cope by himself.  There is a lot more to this, but I don't think it relevant to my initial question about a subpoena.

Probably wise to seek some (paid for) advice from the same source, as the solicitor is now in possession of the facts - always a handy thing to have when giving advice.

I agree.  The advice came from the legal helpline included as part of my house insurance policy.  At present they're assessing my case to see if there is more then a 51% chance of winning and then they'll fund my legal fees.  They also said they'd ideally like a copy of the will to help with their assessment.

But, until they decide on my case, which could take some weeks, they wanted about £2k in fees to get a copy of the will.  No doubt refundable if they take my case on.  I thought I'd do a little research myself before committing to the £2k.