grant of probate

[jen92]

Can I submit my father's will for probate, though he made new one later, leaving all to my sister, which I beleive to have been made due to coercian, and undue influence from my sister. She hasn't submited it and it has been five months since father passed away. The original will which I have, is for four of us, equal shares, including my sister, myself, my husband and my daughter. I have tried to mediate with her but she keeps putting me off. This is delaying the renting of my parents empty house. By sitting empty it's wasting valuable rental income of £600.00 per week. Half of the house has already had grant of probate done 6 years ago, when mother died, but we didn't do anything about it because father continued to live there till he passed away.

[woofgang]

You can submit the will to probate but there is no point at all as it will be nullified by the more recent will whatever you think of it. If you submit a will knowing that there is a later will then it might get you into trouble...At any rate when the later will is submitted, the executor of the will you have would be personally liable for handing over the whole estate to the executor of the second will including the value of anything that had already been disbursed. I think you need to get some proper legal advice here

[dzug2]

If you submit it to probate you are either going to have to lie about the existence of the later will (in which case you will be in real trouble when that is eventualy submitted for probate) or admit its existence (in which case you will be denied probate)

You can't do this without a lawyer.

How are you going to prove coercion? What witnesses do you have to that assertion? Your belief on its own is of zero worth.

[bednobs]

do you know who the executors of the later will are?

[jen92]

Hi all, Thank you for being so helpfull. I dont mind mentioning that there is a newer will, when submitting this older one. I dont mind giving them a whole account of what lead to this happening. I do have a lot of evidence. I can prove that there has been a long history of closeness in my family, excluding my sister, who only entered into my parents life to make them change their wills. My mother died during the time she started coercing, 6 years ago. Father always maintained that he would never change his will but was happy to have my sister back in his life. She never worked and claims benefits and has her rent paid, by wesminster council for her wonderful flat in central london. She asked for her name not to be mentioned in the wills but that her share be put in my name for her. This I didn't mind but what I did mind was the continuence asking for all of my fathers inheritence. She would want to meet him in secret. So my sister and I fell out. There were many arguments and my family stopped seeing my sister and father. I have recordings of my father telling me that he would never change hs will. A couple of years ago he gave in to her constant demands and saw a solicitor. My sister hand wrote the letters for him to copy. I have spoken to the solicitor who is happy that it was what he wanted. But he didn't know our history and that my sister only came back into their lives for money. I have recordings and letters to prove this. She ruined his last few years and he was always ill. She made him loose all his friends. It was all very sad.

[woofgang]

If you say that you know that there is a newer will, the probate office will not be interested in yours. If the solicitor who drew up the final will was happy that there was no coercion, this will be a huge problem. You need proper legal advice on this.

[dzug2]

To reiterate, you need proper legal advice and assistance. You are going to have to get a solicitor to put the evidence you have in front of a court for a ruling. You will have to find his fees and the court fees up front and expect to pay your sister's expenses/fees if you lose.

For what it's worth you haven't convinced me that at the end of the day there was coercion. That there might have been, yes, but not that there actually was when the will finally came to be made.

If you don't want to go to a solicitor straightaway it might be worth visiting the Probate Office for advice on the value of your "evidence" and how to submit it.