Unsigned Will

Bibi_Belle

Hi I would like to know if it’s possible to make a petition to a court to have an unsigned Will declared valid. In this case, the deceased was effectively blocked from completing his Will shortly before he died. The Probate Registry doesn’t seem to know if this is possible. Thankyou.

Keep_pedalling

The probate office do not advise on contentious probate, you would have to take legal advice on the chances of succeeding but it is highly unlikely you would succeed. The case of Waghorn vs Waghorn in the following link might be of interest.

https://anthonygold.co.uk/latest/blog/what-can-you-do-with-an-unsigned-will/

Bibi_Belle

Keep_pedalling said:

The probate office do not advise on contentious probate, you would have to take legal advice on the chances of succeeding but it is highly unlikely you would succeed. The case of Waghorn vs Waghorn in the following link might be of interest.

Interesting, Thankyou for replying. I realise it would be relatively long shot, in this case the deceased was deliberately denied access to documents needed to complete the Will, by a solicitor (of which there is proof). He died shortly after. Every solicitor I speak to says nothing can be done. There’s more to the story, the chance to have it even considered by a court would make me feel I’ve done my best for this person and their wishes. I’ve thought about approaching a court directly, I'm not sure if that is appropriate.

tacpot12

What is to stop you acting in accordance with the Will? If the beneficiaries agree, then the estate can be distributed as per the Will if a Deed of Variation is made. A Deed of Variation can still be made if the 'testator' died intestate. Keep_peddling's link mentions this.

Bibi_Belle

tacpot12 said:

What is to stop you acting in accordance with the Will? If the beneficiaries agree, then the estate can be distributed as per the Will if a Deed of Variation is made. A Deed of Variation can still be made if the 'testator' died intestate. Keep_peddling's link mentions this.

Ok so the deceased was my brother, he was married (his ex had initiated a divorce). My brother made our mum the main beneficiary. The ex’s solicitor refused my brother access to the joint house documents to stop him completing the Will. The ex inherits under the rules of intestacy, which my brother tried to stop happening.

Keep_pedalling

Unless they were legally separated then I think there is nothing more you can do. Not having access to the unsigned will did not stop him making another one, even if it was a simple handwritten DIY one.

Savvy_Sue

Forgive me if I'm being dense, but why did your brother need access to the house documents? Which house documents? The 'deeds' can be downloaded for a small fee, by anyone. 

Was he using a solicitor to draft his will?

user1977

Bibi_Belle said:

Keep_pedalling said:

The probate office do not advise on contentious probate, you would have to take legal advice on the chances of succeeding but it is highly unlikely you would succeed. The case of Waghorn vs Waghorn in the following link might be of interest.

Interesting, Thankyou for replying. I realise it would be relatively long shot, in this case the deceased was deliberately denied access to documents needed to complete the Will, by a solicitor (of which there is proof). He died shortly after. Every solicitor I speak to says nothing can be done. There’s more to the story, the chance to have it even considered by a court would make me feel I’ve done my best for this person and their wishes. I’ve thought about approaching a court directly, I'm not sure if that is appropriate.

It would seem a waste of time and money if you can't put together a legal case. Do you think the (several) solicitors who have already given you their opinion are all wrong?

Are you saying he had a Will ready to be signed, but for some reason didn't sign it? Not signing something would tend to indicate that it didn't reflect the deceased's intentions.

Marcon

Bibi_Belle said:

tacpot12 said:

What is to stop you acting in accordance with the Will? If the beneficiaries agree, then the estate can be distributed as per the Will if a Deed of Variation is made. A Deed of Variation can still be made if the 'testator' died intestate. Keep_peddling's link mentions this.

Ok so the deceased was my brother, he was married (his ex had initiated a divorce). My brother made our mum the main beneficiary. The ex’s solicitor refused my brother access to the joint house documents to stop him completing the Will. The ex inherits under the rules of intestacy, which my brother tried to stop happening.

That doesn't make sense. Your brother could have signed a will making your mum the main beneficiary, as any solicitor would have advised him (I suspect this might have been a DIY will?).

It's possible his wife would still have had a claim against the estate, though probably rather less than they'll inherit under the rules of intestacy.

I'm sorry this isn't what you want to hear, especially as you and your mother have just lost a loved one.

Alderbank

'All to Mother', duly signed and witnessed, would have done.

The court of probate ruled that this will, the shortest ever, by C Thome in 1905, was sufficient and valid.

Bibi_Belle

Savvy_Sue said:

Forgive me if I'm being dense, but why did your brother need access to the house documents? Which house documents? The 'deeds' can be downloaded for a small fee, by anyone. 

Was he using a solicitor to draft his will?

Hi, he needed to know whether they were ‘tenants in common’. He also needed a deed of trust in which my parents put some money towards the house. Since he died we found a solicitor who managed to get the deeds and answer the question, it wasn’t clear from the deeds if they were tenants in common, but the solicitor explained it. He used his Union to draft the Will.