Will being contested

GDB2222

Keep_pedalling said:

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. 

They may have set up as a limited company, without any liability insurance. Even if not, they may not have enough assets to be worth suing them.

poseidon1

Voyager2002 said:

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.

Wills Act is clear, if witnessed by a spouse of beneficary, that beneficiary is excluded from benefit and ordinarily the will remains valid but for the excluded beneficiary.

However, since the beneficiary is the sole beneficiary, and there is no one else the bequest can apply under the express terms of the Will,  the will fails for lack of beneficary object. In which case intestacy rules apply.

The OP should re-emerge as a beneficiary on this basis, but only to the extent of 1/4 of the estate so has potentially lost 3/4s which is the measure of loss they can presumably sue the will writing firm for.

However, unless the firm carries adequate indemnity insurance , chances of recovery could be questionable.

Interesting that the will got as far as probate without anyone picking up on the defect, but the angry sister certain has legal grounds for a successful challenge on the validity of the will itself. 

OP needs to engage a competent litigator ASAP, and ascertain if the Wiil Writing firm can be made to claim on their PI cover to compensate, assuming they even have such cover. Their negligence seems obvious.

SiliconChip

I'd suggest that if the Will is indeed now invalid as the consensus says and reverts to intestacy (which the OP should confirm by taking her own legal advice) then she should ask her solicitor to write to her siblings explaining the situation in order to head off any unnecessary legal action started by one or more of them, which as mentioned previously could become very expensive.

chloeH95

I really wish I wasn’t being serious 

Baldytyke88

chloeH95 said:

I really wish I wasn’t being serious 

Since it went through probate 6 months ago, did your solicitor spot who signed the will?

chloeH95

Keep_pedalling said:

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? 

Yes the will writer is still in business. 

chloeH95

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?

Yes it all went through the solicitors, they dealt with it all including probate 

chloeH95

Notepad_Phil said:

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.

Sorry I’m not sure what intestacy is? 

chloeH95

Alderbank said:

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?

I’m the only executor. Yes I did call the will writer last year but they were not helpful at all. 

chloeH95

GDB2222 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

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. 

They may have set up as a limited company, without any liability insurance. Even if not, they may not have enough assets to be worth suing them.

They are still in business, been around for years and that’s why my dad trusted them