Applying for probate - Executor middle name issues

Shedman

I'm an Executor for MiL and am just about to apply for probate.  My name on her will has my middle name spelt Philip (one L).  This is the spelling on my birth certificate (also on my marriage certificate, LPA, Will and some other legal docs)

However, I have always (well for over 50 years anyway since some teenage thing about having 7 letters in each name....) spelt it as Phillip (2 Ls) and all my other ID such as passport and driving licence and all my bank accounts etc use this spelling (no idea how my passport got issued with that spelling seeing as I would have had to submit birth certificate?).

The bank account I have opened to act as Executor account uses the double L spelling.

If I put Phillip as my middle name in the Executor section of Probate application (so that grant is issued using that name and hence matches the bank account) then I have to state it doesn't match that on the will and give a reason.  The Other reason box only has a limited number of characters so I was just going to put "Middle name spelt slightly wrong on will".

(BTW my address as per the will is correct and is still my current address so it should be pretty clear I am one and the same person regardless of spelling of middle name).

Is this likely to cause a delay in probate application being processed?  Do Probate office require ID of any kind for an Executor and, if so, will it be Passport or Driving Licence rather than Birth Certificate (I didn't think they normally requested ID...but would they if names don't match?)

Or am I better putting my name as Philip in Executor section and then I won't have to say it's different from that in the will.  I'm assuming that bank(s) won't have an issue with this slight misspelling (especially as confirmation of payee for example only needs Forename and Surname for a match).

Thanks 

Flugelhorn

Sent you a PM re this - TBH I find with that name most people just don't notice the number of Ls 

BooJewels

I don't know what the correct answer is to this - in what they check against. But my MIL died last year and for various reasons, I downloaded the Will and Probate Grant and was astonished that the Will had actually been proved - there were so many mistakes in it.  Initially, she said that went to her solicitor to get a new one drawn up after my husband died, but I suspect that she either got the draft will to approve, then got her friend to re-type it up with some changes or just changed the earlier one herself and it ended up with names spelt in different ways in different places, a sentence stops mid-word, there are odd gaps in sentences as though words have been whited out and addresses were incomplete or appeared different in 2 places.  The witnesses were just friends of hers, suggesting that it was not signed at the solicitors office.  Yet it went through Probate without query and in about 5 weeks.

I also saw my uncles Will that also went through probate in 2014 and that's a 25 word hand written one he just did himself.

So the short answer is, I don't think they are likely to be as worried about it as you are - in fact, I doubt they'll notice, when it's clear that everything else tallies.  Perhaps the answer to consider is, how do you want it to appear on the Grant itself, as you will need that alongside your ID docs (especially if there's a property to sell) - so the two Ls as per your passport, DL and bank accounts will perhaps cause least issues going forwards.  It's perhaps easier to explain that your MIL didn't truly know how your middle name was spelled when instructing her solicitor, than why it's different on your passport.

Shedman

Thanks both.  Probably been overthinking it so I reckon I'll go with my first option with the 2 Ls and give reason as misspelt on will.  Luckily no property to sell, only bank accounts and a small life assurance policy

BooJewels

That would be the option that I personally would go with, if it were me.  When I drew up my will, the solicitor asked for the middle names of 2 friends of my son's who we left small bequests to - which proved more problematic than we expected, as we didn't want to alert them as to why we wanted it.  She just explained that it was just another level of security to ensure you had just the right person - a throwback perhaps to a time when sons and fathers often had the same name and lived at the same family seat.

Shedman

The problems we cause ourselves....still at least I didn't make it as complicated as changing my name to 

Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim bus stop F'tang F'tang Olé Biscuit barrel

the Very Silly Party candidate as per the Monty Python Election Night sketch 😂

BooJewels

Ooh, imagine how difficult that would be spelling that out on the phone! 

I think my name is dead straight forward (although I have 4 of them), but people have their own ideas on how they should be spelled and still prefer their own version after I've spelled it out.

Flugelhorn

BooJewels said:

Ooh, imagine how difficult that would be spelling that out on the phone! 

I think my name is dead straight forward (although I have 4 of them), but people have their own ideas on how they should be spelled and still prefer their own version after I've spelled it out.

Oh my goodness yes - my parents got my name wrong in their wills.... "you had one job..."

Flugelhorn

Shedman said:

The problems we cause ourselves....still at least I didn't make it as complicated as changing my name to 

Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim bus stop F'tang F'tang Olé Biscuit barrel

the Very Silly Party candidate as per the Monty Python Election Night sketch 😂

I love that name - was that the "standing at the back looking silly party" or was that a different candidate?

polar_pig

My birth certificate says my name is A B C, but I was always known as B A C and my driving license, passport, bank etc all have it as B A C. Unfortunately my parents named me A B C in their Wills. This was a problem as the Will was at odds with all my sources of ID. When applying for probate I gave my name as B A C and I ticked the name is different because I changed it by "deed poll". It went through with no problem. You can easily formalise a change of name by deed poll:

https://www.gov.uk/change-name-deed-poll/make-an-adult-deed-poll

artyboy

Flugelhorn said:

Shedman said:

The problems we cause ourselves....still at least I didn't make it as complicated as changing my name to 

Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim bus stop F'tang F'tang Olé Biscuit barrel

the Very Silly Party candidate as per the Monty Python Election Night sketch 😂

I love that name - was that the "standing at the back looking silly party" or was that a different candidate?

The geek in me is forced to correct the previous poster here. That was the 'silly party' candidate's name. Whereas the 'very silly party' candidate was called...

Malcolm Peter Brian Telescope Adrian Umbrella Stand Jasper Wednesday (pops mouth twice) Stoatgobbler John Raw Vegetable (whinnying) Arthur Norman Michael (blows squeaker) Featherstone Smith (whistle) Northcott Edwards Harris (fires pistol, then 'whoop') Mason (chuff-chuff-chuff-chuff) Frampton Jones Fruitbat Gilbert (sings) 'We'll keep a welcome in the' (three shots) Williams If I Could Walk That WayJenkin (squeaker) Tiger-drawers Pratt Thompson (sings) 'Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head' Darcy Carter (horn) Pussycat (sings) 'Don't Sleep In The Subway' Barton Mainwaring (hoot, 'whoop') Smith

(Don't you love Wikipedia, I'm amazed they even gave it a go, given all the sound effects included...)