Will Deed of Variation or making an Inheritance Act claim

red_panda5

Hi

In my father’s will he left equal shares to myself and my siblings, but he suddenly remarried a couple of years ago and never updated his will. Therefore he died intestate and we inherit as per the Intestacy Rules.

During his final days he asked his wife to divide the estate in a particular way, so that we receive more than what we are legally entitled. She has always said that she will do this and has told us that she has instructed the solicitor handling probate to divide his estate as per his wishes.

We don’t know her very well and due to a language barrier we don’t know whether she has signed a Deed of Variation to this effect. I have asked the solicitor handling the estate if we need to sign the deed. She has replied “this would be a matter for her and not something I can discuss with you. Only the parties detrimentally affected by the Deed would need to sign.”

The issue we have is that we only have 6 months from the date Probate was granted, to make an Inheritance Act claim if we wish to take it any further. I have now discovered that Probate was granted in January, so time is running out. 

My question is, is there a way of finding out what is on a Deed of Variation before the estate is settled? If not, is our only option to instruct our own solicitor, with all the expense involved, to begin an Inheritance Act claim when it may not be necessary at all? 

The estate will probably not be finalised until early 2026, as the solicitor is waiting to see if anyone else is going to put a claim in, before proceeding any further. By this time it will be far too late to make a claim.

Thanks for any advice.

Keep_pedalling

A deed of variation needs to be completed within 2 years of your father’s death, and is a totally different thing to a claim under the inheritance act. If she is actually going to do one that is totally under her control and she can just let the clock run down and do nothing. 

If you actually want to make a claim you will have to take action yourselves, but be warned it is likely to be expensive and there is a good chance you won’t win.

red_panda5

Thank you for your response.
Yes that's what I thought. I was hoping there may have been something I'd overlooked. It's all in her hands then.