Missing will, believed to have been "misappropriated" by disgruntled family member: How to proceed?

northernlass29876

Update on this:

• The existence and provenance of the will is now no longer up for debate. The excluded beneficiary has now accepted this
• The will is now being contested by the excluded beneficiary along the lines of the "deceased wasn't of sound mind". 
• The executor's solicitor has expressed mild concern about the lack of attendance note, but he has also stated that the fact the will was written by a solicitor (irrespective of attendance note) makes it slightly more tricky to contest on the aforementioned grounds.

Does anyone have any thoughts or similar experiences (with specific reference to the lack of attendance note)?

northernlass29876

Bump as surprisingly there were no responses

user1977

Apologies if I've missed it, but what does the firm who drafted the Will have, if not an attendance note? Have they confirmed they appear to have drafted the Will but don't have a file at all?

What's the evidence of her not being of sound mind? I wouldn't consider it normal for the solicitor to put anything to that effect on file unless it's a situation where it might have been questionable. It's probably more something which is implicit in the fact the solicitor continued to act (after all, it's a consideration in any sort of advice). The executor should follow the advice of their solicitor.

northernlass29876

user1977 said:

Apologies if I've missed it, but what does the firm who drafted the Will have, if not an attendance note? Have they confirmed they appear to have drafted the Will but don't have a file at all?

What's the evidence of her not being of sound mind? I wouldn't consider it normal for the solicitor to put anything to that effect on file unless it's a situation where it might have been questionable. It's probably more something which is implicit in the fact the solicitor continued to act (after all, it's a consideration in any sort of advice). The executor should follow the advice of their solicitor.

1) The "concern" about the "lack of an attendance note" is a line that appeared in a letter I read from the executor's solicitor. However, I am told by the executor's son that an attendance note DOES exist, but it just has minimal information. Let's assume the latter is true for these purposes.

2) There is no evidence of her not being in sound mind. She lived until a very old age, and LPA was only sought (by the executor) six years after this will was written. The deceased was also never diagnosed with any degenerative illness like dementia.

What seems most likely is that the person contesting the will is merely contesting it on the only grounds that their solicitor has suggested they might have an outside chance of "winning". Despite that chance *appearing* very slim.