Lost / Draft Will

bappy

Is anyone able to advise on the following, please?

My elderly uncle recently suffered a serious health event and requested that his Will is written and LPA competed. He has nominated one beneficiary in his Will and asked for a specified member of the family to act as his attorney.

a solicitor was instructed to arrange this, he attended my uncle’s care home, asked the relevant questions and then had the Will and LPA forms signed and witnessed.

Three months later I have approached him to ask for an update only to discover that nothing at all has been done.

The solicitor is now claiming that the paperwork filled were just drafts and has requested that we begin again from scratch.

I have requested copies of the paperwork that was signed and he claims he cannot find this.

Is this normal?

msb1234

I would have expected the solicitor to take notes from the first visit, then prepare the draft will, return for a second visit to confirm and have the will signed and witnessed. So no, I wouldn’t expect this to be completed in one visit. 

Then again, neither would I expect the solicitor to discuss this with you unless your uncles had given them expressed permission to do so. 

Who do you believe to be the attorneys to the POA, or the witnesses and executors to his will?

poppystar

No. And neither is it normal to sign and witness drafts. Sounds like they have lost any record of it all. If you want to go ahead with the same solicitor (big if!) then put in a formal complaint and emphasise that time is of the essence with an elderly person! My father’s solicitor lost everything to do with his final Will - my father had gone in to do it as an emergency before an operation and it was done by one of the partners while my father waited - thankfully he got a copy of the signed and witnessed Will to take away. I wonder if such losses are more likely when their in house systems are unable to proceed as usual because, as in our case it was done in a hurry, or in your situation done outside of the office. Either way, no excuse!

bappy

Thanks, this is all a bit strange.

The solicitor was first instructed to proceed on this in November last year and did nothing for 8 weeks. After many calls to his office, he claimed to have been off work with Covid.

In January he finally attended the home and requested the presence of two witnesses. He gave every impression that this was to sign the Will and LPA application. These were signed on the day.

After this we heard nothing back.

Yesterday I called for an update and was told that there had been no further action taken, that nothing had been progressed.

Today I asked why this was and was told that we had only signed drafts and that we needed to go back and get the formal paperwork signed off.

Have asked for copies of the paperwork that was signed off on the day as I wanted to see what was signed and he has refused to provide this.

The man in question is very elderly and frail. He has mental capacity with regards to money and his estate, but struggles to read and is not mobile. He is paying for accommodation in three nursing homes, he is unable to book and attend medical appointments, etc, and has needs that are going unmet due to the fact that nobody can act as his agent.

The solicitor informed me that this will all take a further 8 months to complete which will cause my uncle significant distress, financial loss and probably his health.

i just don’t know what to do. Sack the current solicitor and just do it ourselves? 

bappy

msb1234 

Who do you believe to be the attorneys to the POA, or the witnesses and executors to his will?

That will be me, I am the only member of family who will have anything to do with him so he has nominated me as sole beneficiary of his will and requested that I am made his attorney.

teddysmum

 A friend of my husband, was very ill in hospital, but mentally competent and requested a visit from his solicitor, as he wanted to change his often discussed with beneficiaries will, as his current one left his estate to the 'children' of a deceased friend, who were now established adults. A nurse mentioned that the solicitor had been, but the lady went on holiday, during which my husband's friend died very suddenly, without his new will and everything went to the 'children', with all his good friends and a local dog rescue, losing out.

bappy

That’s shocking teddysmum.

my family have a bad history with solicitors. My grandfather had his entire will changed when he was drugged up and on his deathbed. The night before he died, he called my mother (his daughter) and pleaded for her to get another solicitor immediately as, in his words, “Strangers have come and made me sign a new Will, get another solicitor now!” He wanted to leave everything to my mother.

mum thought he was delirious and stroked him to sleep.

When the will was read out, it has been changed and his doctor and solicitor took everything. The estate was worth several million £.

The family got nothing.

p00hsticks

bappy said:

msb1234 

Who do you believe to be the attorneys to the POA, or the witnesses and executors to his will?

That will be me, I am the only member of family who will have anything to do with him so he has nominated me as sole beneficiary of his will and requested that I am made his attorney.

You can't be both a witness to the will and a beneficiary. 

PoA applications take around 3 months to process as the Office of the Public Guardian will write to all those named to ensure that they are happy with it and give them four weeks to object if not, so you should have received a communication from them if an application naming you had been submitted. 

You could do a PoA application in one sitting but as others have said it would be more usual for a will to require at least two visits, one to draft it and one to review and sign a final version, especially if te meeting is not at the solicitors office. Is it possible that the signings were just for the PoAs with the final version of the will still to be signed ?  

RAS

Why is a solicitor even involved in POA, unless you are in Scotland? It can be done on-line as long as your father has someone who can act as certificate provider. Cost £82 each.

bappy

Makes sense about being a witness and beneficiary.

Ive no idea what this guy is doing, he has proven very elusive, seldom responds to anything, doesn’t communicate and so I do not know where we are with things. It was only yesterday when I called him that he told me that nothing had been progressed as he had been too busy.

RAS

Who actually appointed the solicitor?  Who chose them?

Did uncle contact them or was it via a third party?