Will being contested

chloeH95

I’ll try and keep this as short but detailed as possible 

I have 1 brother, 2 sisters. My mum passed away in jan 2023 and my dad passed away in feb 2024. 

My mum and dad left the entire estate to me, my youngest sister got in trouble with the law and drugs, the other two were never interested, never visited them and mum and dad gave them more than enough money growing up, they are very well off and live very comfortable lives. I visited them every other day, cared for them when I could. Was on stand by for every time my phone went off because they had a call. I pretty much lost 8-10 years of my life and they both had disabilities that meant needing caring for. I was the one who had to deal with them not making it to the toilet on time. It was mum and dad’s clear wishes that I receive the house and money. 

My mum and dad both wrote a will, myself and my wife took them to a will writers which is what my dad wanted, he felt he could trust them. I was sat in the waiting room whilst they were in a room with the will writer, they asked my wife to come in and sign the will, happy to help she signed it as a witness. 

Probate went through more than 6 months ago. 1 sister has sent me some horrible messages demanding that I give her money. 

I’ve now found out they are involved with a solicitor and are going to contest the will as they think it’s invalid because the will writer asked my wife to sign it. 

Surely the will writer would have known the will would be invalid if my wife signed it? 

I am trying to seek legal advice but any help would be appreciated 

Voyager2002

Yes: a will should be witnessed by someone who is not a beneficiary. You can probably seek redress against the will-writer for making such an elementary blunder. 

Your siblings would indeed be able to bring some action to contest the will. Probably they would lose, but the costs to both sides could amount to thousands.

Keep_pedalling

This is why you should use a solicitor to write you will not a will writer. Anyone can set up as a will writer, no qualifications needed and no regulation so no comeback if they have gone out of business by the time you find out they have screwed up.

Even so I would have thought they would be aware of who can and who cannot sign a will.

If indeed the will is invalid then intestacy rules kick in and your father’s will needs to be divided eaqually 4 ways, although if you are on good terms with the other two siblings that might agree to do a deed of variation passing their share to you in which case you would still get 3/4 of the estate. I would suggest you need to your own legal advice on how to proceed.

Do you know if the will writer is still in business? Who was the other witness? 

Baldytyke88

chloeH95 said:

My mum and dad left the entire estate to me.

My mum and dad both wrote a will, myself and my wife took them to a will writers which is what my dad wanted, he felt he could trust them. I was sat in the waiting room whilst they were in a room with the will writer, they asked my wife to come in and sign the will, happy to help she signed it as a witness. 

Probate went through more than 6 months ago. 1 sister has sent me some horrible messages demanding that I give her money. 

I’ve now found out they are involved with a solicitor and are going to contest the will as they think it’s invalid because the will writer asked my wife to sign it. 

If your wife is not named in the will, that could be ok. Contesting the will could be an empty threat; you need to seek legal advice. I would assume that you have a solicitor dealing with the estate?

Notepad_Phil

Baldytyke88 said:

chloeH95 said:

My mum and dad left the entire estate to me.

My mum and dad both wrote a will, myself and my wife took them to a will writers which is what my dad wanted, he felt he could trust them. I was sat in the waiting room whilst they were in a room with the will writer, they asked my wife to come in and sign the will, happy to help she signed it as a witness. 

Probate went through more than 6 months ago. 1 sister has sent me some horrible messages demanding that I give her money. 

I’ve now found out they are involved with a solicitor and are going to contest the will as they think it’s invalid because the will writer asked my wife to sign it. 

If your wife is not named in the will, that could be ok. Contesting the will could be an empty threat; you need to seek legal advice. I would assume that you have a solicitor dealing with the estate?

Everything I can find says that if a spouse of a beneficiary witnesses a will then although it is still legal the beneficiary forfeits their share of the estate from the will. Now I'm not sure what that means if they were the only beneficiary - does it mean that the will simply moves to full blown intestacy as nobody else is mentioned, or does it mean that it goes to intestacy but the other relatives get everything? Hopefully at worst case it just becomes full blown intestacy.

Alderbank

The will has been witnessed. It's not invalid.

But, and it's a big but, the Wills Act of 1837 says that if your wife signs as a witness that any bequest to you in the will is void (you get nowt).

She was the one person in the world who, as the will writer knew, must never sign because that single act meant that your parents' wishes would never be fulfilled.

Who is the executor of your dad's will?
The executor must by law carry out all the provisions of the will except for any payments to you or your wife which must be treated as though they do not exist.

What does the will say about the situation if the OP pre-deceased their father? I assume the will writer did not screw that up as well?

Have you told the will writer about your disappointment?

Keep_pedalling

If the OP is the only named beneficiary then I think everything falls back intestacy, but this is a highly unusual situation and the OP to the executor if that is someone else needs professional advice as a matter of urgency. . 

Baldytyke88

Probate is a legal process that grants someone (usually an executor, named in a will) the authority to manage a deceased person's estate, including their assets and debts. It involves validating the will, if there is one, and ensuring the estate is distributed according to its instructions or, if there is no will, according to the law. 

Is this a serious thread, because it's not believable.

GDB2222

Baldytyke88 said:

Probate is a legal process that grants someone (usually an executor, named in a will) the authority to manage a deceased person's estate, including their assets and debts. It involves validating the will, if there is one, and ensuring the estate is distributed according to its instructions or, if there is no will, according to the law. 

Is this a serious thread, because it's not believable.

I fear that the thread really is serious. 

Flugelhorn

Baldytyke88 said:

Probate is a legal process that grants someone (usually an executor, named in a will) the authority to manage a deceased person's estate, including their assets and debts. It involves validating the will, if there is one, and ensuring the estate is distributed according to its instructions or, if there is no will, according to the law. 

Is this a serious thread, because it's not believable.

Surely no will writer would have made this mistake.. would they?

Keep_pedalling

Flugelhorn said:

Baldytyke88 said:

Probate is a legal process that grants someone (usually an executor, named in a will) the authority to manage a deceased person's estate, including their assets and debts. It involves validating the will, if there is one, and ensuring the estate is distributed according to its instructions or, if there is no will, according to the law. 

Is this a serious thread, because it's not believable.

Surely no will writer would have made this mistake.. would they?

As any fool can set up as a will writer it is certainly possible.