Named in a will where does my Mum stand??

pink.1970

Morning all....
Ok here goes this may take a bit of explaining....I really hope someone can help me please.

My Mum was caring for a friend who had Prostate cancer, he died yesterday in a hospice as he became to ill to be at home.

He had named my Mum in his will stating that she should get half of the estate for all she had done for him, the other half is to go to his brother....his brother is Executor for the will.

Mum said that her friend also wanted to be cremated but this is not in the will, what can be done about this?

Can his brother contest anything in the will?
The original will is at the solicitors but my Mum was given a copy as her friend didnt trust his brother.

While Mum was at friends bedside yesterday his brother started saying things to her about the will, asking for the copy and also personal belonging that were given to my Mum by the nurses at the hospice according to her friends wishes.

All my Mum wants to know is, where does she stand?
I'm certain that if she is named in the will it goes without saying...

Thanks for any help given...

fascinated

I think the only way the Will can be contested by the brother is if he tries to prove that the friend wasn't of sound mind at the time he made the Will, or that your mother had put undue influence on him to leave half of the residue to her.

It doesn't sound from what you have written (and this is all I have to go by) that either of the above would be true.

I would say at first sight that if your mother has been left half of the residue in the Willl, then that was the deceased's decision, and his brother will just have to accept that.

HTH.

BlondeHeadOn

I hope your mum didn't give the brother her copy of the will? Or any of the personal possessions her friend wanted her to have?

If her friend didn't trust his brother then I wouldn't do either.....

pink.1970

fascinated wrote: »

I think the only way the Will can be contested by the brother is if he tries to prove that the friend wasn't of sound mind at the time he made the Will, or that your mother had put undue influence on him to leave half of the residue to her.

It doesn't sound from what you have written (and this is all I have to go by) that either of the above would be true.

I would say at first sight that if your mother has been left half of the residue in the Willl, then that was the deceased's decision, and his brother will just have to accept that.

HTH.

The will was made over a year ago and Mum said even till the very end he still had all his marbles, so i dont think they have a leg to stand on really...told mum not to worry they are just trying it on in my opinion.

pink.1970

BlondeHeadOn wrote: »

I hope your mum didn't give the brother her copy of the will? Or any of the personal possessions her friend wanted her to have?

If her friend didn't trust his brother then I wouldn't do either.....

No she didnt give anything back...i told her as long as she has witnesses to prove her friend gave her items then they are hers to do with as she pleases.

Thank you all for your help.

waggys

I hope everything goes ok for your mum; why is that people get so nasty when it comes to sorting out a deceased's estate? We had a situation whereby my grandmother had died and left her 3 rings to my mother and all money was split evenly between my mother and her brother. When my mother died some 18 months later and left my grandmothers 3 rings to myself and my two sisters, my cousins turned up to my mothers funeral demanding that they received some share of my grandmothers rings! I was so disgusted that they should come to my mothers funeral in order to gold dig.

Nicki

Whilst not denying (at all) that family can get nasty over wills, that isn't necessarily what happened here.

The brother is the executor of the will, not OP's mum. He seems not to have had a copy of the will, and the man died yesterday (a bank holiday) so could not have got it yesterday from the deceased's solicitors. He may have wanted to see the will to see if there were any funeral requests in it, which he would want to know about sooner rather than later to make the arrangements.

As for the personal items of property, if these form part of the estate, then they should be gathered up at the death and distributed properly in accordance with the will. If the deceased died with debts which exceeded the money in the bank, then his property would be sold to meet the debts first, and the remainder would be distributed only when the debts were all paid.

The deceased left half his estate to his brother and made him executor which suggests he was as fond of his brother as of OP's mother. It might be assumed therefore that this feeling was reciprocated, and that therefore brother might not have been on top form in the hours after the death. Therefore it is as all right for the brother to be clumsy as for OP's mum to take the huff surely?

To be honest, I think it is just as tacky for OP's mum to be asking for advice on her rights under the will before her friend has been buried, as it is for the brother to be fulfilling his legal obligations as executor in a slightly tactless way. I would suggest that OP and her mum calm down and give the executor the benefit of the doubt before they jump to the conclusion that he is trying to diddle them. Feelings will be running high at this time, but its no reason to automatically assume the worst of everyone.

elaine373

Nicki wrote: »

As for the personal items of property, if these form part of the estate, then they should be gathered up at the death and distributed properly in accordance with the will. If the deceased died with debts which exceeded the money in the bank, then his property would be sold to meet the debts first, and the remainder would be distributed only when the debts were all paid.

quote]

Surely if the items were given away as gifts before the persons death,then these are not part of the estate ??

pink.1970

Nicki wrote: »

Whilst not denying (at all) that family can get nasty over wills, that isn't necessarily what happened here.

The brother is the executor of the will, not OP's mum. He seems not to have had a copy of the will, and the man died yesterday (a bank holiday) so could not have got it yesterday from the deceased's solicitors. He may have wanted to see the will to see if there were any funeral requests in it, which he would want to know about sooner rather than later to make the arrangements.


As for the personal items of property, if these form part of the estate, then they should be gathered up at the death and distributed properly in accordance with the will. If the deceased died with debts which exceeded the money in the bank, then his property would be sold to meet the debts first, and the remainder would be distributed only when the debts were all paid.


The deceased left half his estate to his brother and made him executor which suggests he was as fond of his brother as of OP's mother. It might be assumed therefore that this feeling was reciprocated, and that therefore brother might not have been on top form in the hours after the death. Therefore it is as all right for the brother to be clumsy as for OP's mum to take the huff surely?

To be honest, I think it is just as tacky for OP's mum to be asking for advice on her rights under the will before her friend has been buried, as it is for the brother to be fulfilling his legal obligations as executor in a slightly tactless way. I would suggest that OP and her mum calm down and give the executor the benefit of the doubt before they jump to the conclusion that he is trying to diddle them. Feelings will be running high at this time, but its no reason to automatically assume the worst of everyone.[/quote

I am calm... as is my Mum (upset at losing her friend who she cared for), but nobody said anything about being diddled.

If you had read through first post i already stated the her friend did not trust his brother to have the will, but made him executor as if he didnt do this it would of caused more trouble for my Mum.

Nicki

[quote=elaine373;10724367
Surely if the items were given away as gifts before the persons death,then these are not part of the estate ??

[/QUOTE]
It doesn't sound from the OP that this is what happened though. It sounds like the deceased asked the nurses to hand the property over to OP's mum after he died, but kept it in his possession up to then. If that's the case, then it is part of his estate. If he gave it away (out of his possession) while he was still living, that's a slightly different matter.