Made a will or Thinking of making a will

Hendricks_wilsy0102

I was oblivious to the important factors when we die, having made a will and leave an inheritance until I became a sole beneficiary. My sister had made me a co executor along with a solicitor to say this experience has been stressful is an understatement he has (sorry if this rude) milked the estate for every penny, speaking to people who were family members but included in the will against my sisters wishes and billing the estate for this. He has now said that I have to wait a further 4 months after the end of the 6 month rule in case a claim was received although the Inheritance Act 1975 Sec 20 (1) gives statutory protection after the end of the 6 month rule to distribute the estate. There is no process in place to check in that 4 months as to whether a claim was made on the last day of the 6 month rule. This to me is ethically wrong as I can’t have closure after 20 months of this. I feel they do this to prolong the process even further. My advice do not use a solicitor as a co executor or executor in your will, if you do  you will be putting your loved ones through immense stress at a terrible time and they will charge tens of thousands in the process what I have learned is that I could have dealt with the process myself. I think this information should be made public to save people being ripped off at the most vulnerable time of their lives. 

Emmia

When I was the executor for my father's will I used a solicitor to help wind up certain aspects of the estate, personally I found them helpful at quite a stressful time.

Hendricks_wilsy0102 said:

I was oblivious to the important factors when we die, having made a will and leave an inheritance until I became a sole beneficiary. My sister had made me a co executor along with a solicitor to say this experience has been stressful is an understatement he has (sorry if this rude) milked the estate for every penny, speaking to people who were family members but included in the will against my sisters wishes and billing the estate for this. He has now said that I have to wait a further 4 months after the end of the 6 month rule in case a claim was received although the Inheritance Act 1975 Sec 20 (1) gives statutory protection after the end of the 6 month rule to distribute the estate. There is no process in place to check in that 4 months as to whether a claim was made on the last day of the 6 month rule. This to me is ethically wrong as I can’t have closure after 20 months of this. I feel they do this to prolong the process even further. My advice do not use a solicitor as a co executor or executor in your will, if you do  you will be putting your loved ones through immense stress at a terrible time and they will charge tens of thousands in the process what I have learned is that I could have dealt with the process myself. I think this information should be made public to save people being ripped off at the most vulnerable time of their lives. 

On your question though .. do you mean he spoke to people not included in the will, or that he's somehow varied the will to include people cut out? Or that the will your sister made was different to her wishes. 

Where was she living at the time she died as there are different rules in Scotland for example.

p00hsticks

Hendricks_wilsy0102 said:

 speaking to people who were family members but included in the will against my sisters wishes and billing the estate for this. 

This doesn't make much sense and suggests that there is a bit more to this than meets the eye.  
A few thoughts.....

• How did your sister come to make a will that included people that she didn't want mentioned there ?
• Or did you mean to type 'family members but not included in the will..' ?
• Did she exclude people who could potentially claim that they were financially dependent on her ?
• Or as Emmia says, was she resident in somewhere like Scotland ( where I believe the law says you cannot exclude children from your will, for example....? 

For others reading, it is possible (at least in England) for a co-executor to ask another to renounce their executorship or to reserve powers so that they can take on the task by themselves, and solicitors are often happy to do this if they think the work is not going to be worth their while. 

Hendricks_wilsy0102

Sorry yes the solicitor/co executor had been speaking to her estranged son who my sister made very clear that he was not a beneficiary of her will and wrote an accompanying letter stated her reasons why she did not want him to benefit from her estate. The solicitor continued to talk with h8m after I asked him not to as I did not think it was appropriate and has billed the estate thousands for doing so. He made me wait the 6 months and I have no problem with that but to enforce people wait another 4 months when there is no process to check if a claim has been made is unbelievable and it isn’t about the money it is having  the ability of closure, this has gone on for 20 months. I am in Wales. After this experience I have made a will and my sons are executors I would never have a solicitor as a co executor. 

Hendricks_wilsy0102

The son was never financially dependent on her he is 50 years old, she had no dealings with him for over 15 years. My sister made a will in 2016 he was not a sole beneficiary and she made a second in 2021 he was not a beneficiary in the final will either.