Why would a will go to high court? 7 September 2022 at 11:49AM in Deaths, funerals & probate 11 replies 1K views

wannaberich41

Hi
hope some one could please kindly explain. 

My mother in law has just informed she went to the solicitors yesterday and was told that the will is going to high court.  

What would the reasons be for this please?
They don’t own their property it’s rented from the council.  So property involved. 

Is it because someone has contested? 

When my late father passed we didn’t have any of this and he passed away leaving my mum quite a bit of money with pensions etc. 
she did go with her daughter I’d assume to the solicitors and my concern is she plays a lot of coercive games/behaviour. 
many thanks in advance. 

shiraz99

It's possible that they've applied for a grant of probate to deal with the cash assets.

macman

It might help if you told us whose will this is?
And, if they don't own property, how is property involved?
Perhaps start again at the beginning?

p00hsticks

Some background here, I think

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6377348/power-of-attorney-executors-legalities-of-removal-of-items/p1

wannaberich41

macman said:

It might help if you told us whose will this is?
And, if they don't own property, how is property involved?
Perhaps start again at the beginning?

So the will is father in law. His wife still alive. The property is a rental council property.  Property won’t be involved 

Marcon

wannaberich41 said:

Hi
hope some one could please kindly explain. 

My mother in law has just informed she went to the solicitors yesterday and was told that the will is going to high court.  

What would the reasons be for this please?
They don’t own their property it’s rented from the council.  So property involved. 

Is it because someone has contested? 

When my late father passed we didn’t have any of this and he passed away leaving my mum quite a bit of money with pensions etc. 
she did go with her daughter I’d assume to the solicitors and my concern is she plays a lot of coercive games/behaviour. 
many thanks in advance. 

Any chance someone has claimed they were the recipient of a 'deathbed' gift?

Flugelhorn

Don't all grants have "in the High Court of Justice" on them?

Tigsteroonie

Flugelhorn said:

Don't all grants have "in the High Court of Justice" on them?

I think you've got it - I just checked a downloaded probate from some years ago (family tree), and that does have "In the High Court of Justice" printed right at the top. I suspect OP's MIL has seen those words and presumed it means the will is going to the High Court, when in actuality it is simply going to Probate. Why it's going to probate, I don't know, could simply be a solicitor going above and beyond to earn some money.

shiraz99

Tigsteroonie said:

Flugelhorn said:

Don't all grants have "in the High Court of Justice" on them?

I think you've got it - I just checked a downloaded probate from some years ago (family tree), and that does have "In the High Court of Justice" printed right at the top. I suspect OP's MIL has seen those words and presumed it means the will is going to the High Court, when in actuality it is simply going to Probate. Why it's going to probate, I don't know, could simply be a solicitor going above and beyond to earn some money.

I think we got it on the very first reply 😉

Marcon

shiraz99 said:

Tigsteroonie said:

Flugelhorn said:

Don't all grants have "in the High Court of Justice" on them?

I think you've got it - I just checked a downloaded probate from some years ago (family tree), and that does have "In the High Court of Justice" printed right at the top. I suspect OP's MIL has seen those words and presumed it means the will is going to the High Court, when in actuality it is simply going to Probate. Why it's going to probate, I don't know, could simply be a solicitor going above and beyond to earn some money.

I think we got it on the very first reply 😉

Surely asking the solicitor who told the mother that would be the sensible thing to do? Hardly likely to get a huge bill for a 15 second question and answer!

p00hsticks

Marcon said:

shiraz99 said:

Tigsteroonie said:

Flugelhorn said:

Don't all grants have "in the High Court of Justice" on them?

I think you've got it - I just checked a downloaded probate from some years ago (family tree), and that does have "In the High Court of Justice" printed right at the top. I suspect OP's MIL has seen those words and presumed it means the will is going to the High Court, when in actuality it is simply going to Probate. Why it's going to probate, I don't know, could simply be a solicitor going above and beyond to earn some money.

I think we got it on the very first reply 😉

Surely asking the solicitor who told the mother that would be the sensible thing to do? Hardly likely to get a huge bill for a 15 second question and answer!

As the OP is not the solicitor's client (or the executor of the will) then I wouldn't expect the solictor to be answering any of their questions. Even if they engaged them themselves I wouldn't expect them to answer questions concerning another clients affairs. 

It sounds like the OP (or rather the OP's husband), whilst the son of the deceased, isn't the executor and probably not even a beneficiary, as the wife is still living, and so, however frustrating it is for them, there really is very little they can do (unless they wanted to issue a caveat against any probate application, which would be very extreme and have little real justifcation)

If the estate is going to probate, at least they will eventually get to see a copy of the will after probate has been granted.