Probate Office - problem validating will

CuddlesTC

Marcon said:

CuddlesTC said:

Thanks again everyone, to quickly summarise:

His biological daughter from his first marriage (who would be about 50 now) was later adopted by her mother's second husband, and we think she also got married (at least once, probably more given her family track record ), so we have no idea of her current name or whereabouts.

Then the daughter will have lost her right to inherit from her biological father

Ah, thank you - we weren't sure about that.

tooldle

Looking at this more carefully, is there a spelling error i.e. Testaor's signature. I'm also curious to know if the date part should be below the testators signature and not above it, as it relates to the witness signatures? 

Re-reading what the probate registry have said, the attestation clause (the bit with the date) is above your relative's signature, or his signature is below the attestation clause.

Marcon

tooldle said:

Looking at this more carefully, is there a spelling error i.e. Testaor's signature. I'm also curious to know if the date part should be below the testators signature and not above it, as it relates to the witness signatures? 

The spelling error doesn't matter. The date would normally be below the testator/testatrix's signature, but the intentions of the parties seem to be pretty clear.

tooldle

Marcon said:

tooldle said:

Looking at this more carefully, is there a spelling error i.e. Testaor's signature. I'm also curious to know if the date part should be below the testators signature and not above it, as it relates to the witness signatures? 

The spelling error doesn't matter. The date would normally be below the testator/testatrix's signature, but the intentions of the parties seem to be pretty clear.

I don't disagree the intention is clear. If the date section is taken as the attestation clause, then PR are not incorrect in their comment.

For comparison, I've just looked at my mum's will. Her's was drawn up by a solicitor.The only signatures below the attestation clause are those of the witnesses. the said clause is considerablly more extensive that the one in the OP's document.

74jax

I know you said it was a DIY kit, was it from the UK do you know?

It has a spelling error and a UK Will has the testator's signature, then the Attestation Clause, followed by witnesses (who attests the testator signature).  The layout is all wrong, so that and the spelling error makes me wonder if Probate is considering it's not a legal UK will... Maybe....

If its not and there isn't a legal Will registered, then under intestacy rules his sister will still inherit anyway. 

When you are adopted, you loose the rights of intestacy with your biological parent and gain them with your adoptive parent. 

CuddlesTC

74jax said:

I know you said it was a DIY kit, was it from the UK do you know?

To be honest, I assumed it was a kit because I remember buying one myself and him asking me about it, but he might have just downloaded something from the internet and printed it on fancy paper (although it was nearly 20 years ago and I don't know how competent he was online).

Now I know about the aodption situation, it sounds like this is all being a massive waste of time and stress anyway.

Marcon

CuddlesTC said:

74jax said:

I know you said it was a DIY kit, was it from the UK do you know?

To be honest, I assumed it was a kit because I remember buying one myself and him asking me about it, but he might have just downloaded something from the internet and printed it on fancy paper (although it was nearly 20 years ago and I don't know how competent he was online).

Now I know about the aodption situation, it sounds like this is all being a massive waste of time and stress anyway.

Quite! I think you and your mum can relax and no need to go on posting/answering questions about the form etc.

74jax

CuddlesTC said:

74jax said:

I know you said it was a DIY kit, was it from the UK do you know?

To be honest, I assumed it was a kit because I remember buying one myself and him asking me about it, but he might have just downloaded something from the internet and printed it on fancy paper (although it was nearly 20 years ago and I don't know how competent he was online).

Now I know about the aodption situation, it sounds like this is all being a massive waste of time and stress anyway.

True, but you didn't know it at the time and so you were doing everything right.  Sometimes it's hard to get the facts when you are the one in the middle of it all. 

BooJewels

I can reassure about the adoption thing too - a family member recently saw a solicitor about a similar situation and was told what has been posted already here - once properly adopted by someone else, that child loses any legal claims with the original blood family.  Good luck getting it sorted.

poppystar

In case the Probate Office are not aware of the situation re the daughter - and no reason they should - then appraise them of the fact that your mother is the person who would benefit under intestacy. They asked me to sign a Statement of Truth drawn up by them to confirm the will reflected what would happen under intestacy in my case and that was the end of it. Probate granted in only took 48 hours! It helped that by that stage there was actually a human who had finally taken charge after months of the application going between offices.