where do we stand about the will

[TIGGERLIT]

hi can anyone help.
to cut a long story short i lost my mum last year in january, and at that point her mum was still alive. then in august she died ( my mums mum). my nan did a will years ago with all my family in it. but my mums sister has only just sent it to probate. but some people say that the only reason she would send it there as she wants something changed. she dosent want a soliciter to read it out to save money, but i know theres quite alot of money. my dad reckons shes had half of it before my nan died. but i know that if my mum was here she would be on the phone kicking up. any ideas??? many thanks

[katebrunsdon]

find out the names of the solicitors concerned and ask them.....
They cant lie as it is against the law!

[TIGGERLIT]

my mums sister says that no soliciters are involved. she says that she is doing it this way to save money as she says for one to read it out it will cost about �1500.
the thing is she dosent need the money, but my family do as im the oldest of 7 kids the youngest is 17. im now losing my home because i cant pay the mortage, my dad is struggling with the rent as his widow pension has just stopped, and its been a hard year as it is.

[Buenchico]

I can't see anything irregular here. An executor of a will can't get probate until he/she is in a position to provide the Probate Office with all of the relevant information. Collecting this together can take several months, so applying for a grant of probate in February, following a death in August is not at all unusual.

As far as having a formal reading of the will is concerned, your aunt is only following normal practice. (I used to write wills for a living and my cousin is a solicitor who deals with them all of the time. Neither of us have ever heard of anyone actually having a formal reading of a will, where the solicitor gathers everyone together to learn of their inheritance. It's a common scene in old movies but it just doesn't happen in real life).

It's not clear from your question whether your aunt has engaged the services of a solicitor to seek probate (rather than to hold a formal reading of the will). If she has not done so, she is to be congratulated. Obtaining probate is a simple process which anyone with half a brain cell can do. Far too many people waste money employing a solicitor. (Even my solicitor cousin would agree with that!).

However, if your aunt has employed a solicitor, Kate's advice is misleading. There is no obligation on the solicitor (who is acting as your aunt's agent) to reveal any information to any third party. Your right to know the contents of the will only commence from the time when the will has been 'proved' and probate obtained. At this point the will becomes a public document which can be consulted by anyone. (It's also at this point that the executor of the will, who would seem to be your aunt, takes on the duty of distributing the estate, according to the contents of the will).

All you can do is to be patient and wait until probate has been obtained.

Chris

[Buenchico]

Tiggerlit:

I was still typing my reply while you were posting, so I hadn't read your additional information when I posted.

The fact that your aunt has not employed a solicitor has two advantages:

Firstly, it should speed things up a bit. (The easiest way to slow any legal process down is to involve a solicitor!) ;

Secondly, it means that there will be �1500 extra money in the estate, to be be divided (according to the terms of the will) among the beneficiaries. That might well mean that there's more money for you..

The money from the estate of a deceased person is never divided on the basis of need (unless there are dependant relatives). It has to be allocated strictly in accordance with the terms of the will. If your grandmother revised her will to leave 50% to your aunt and 50% to the cats' home, there will nothing you can do about it.

Although the probate system is simple, it can be rather long-winded at times. It's not unusual for people to post questions on AB, stating that they've been waiting for well over a year to hear whether they've been included in a will. There's no formal action you can take to speed things up but it might help if you tried explaining your position to your aunt to see whether she can give you an idea of the amount of any inheritance you might receive and the probable time scale for this. If possible, ask her to put something in writing; it might prove useful when negotiating with the building society.

Chris