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Entered an appearance - next steps?
My grandfather passed away in October. We were subsequently told that my grandad had updated his will in 2018 to remove my late father. Myself and my younger sister were concerned by this as it would have broken his heart to remove my dad from the will.
We requested a copy of the will and at first my uncle (the executor) refused. He eventually relented and upon seeing the will it became apparent that there were many problems concerning its validity. The will (dated 2018) removed my father who died in 2012 but had not removed my grandmother who died in 2017. I have been left out completely but my younger sister is still included. A friend of the family is on there for no reason we can understand. There are countless spelling mistakes and wrong addresses. The most troubling part was the witnesses. No one knew who they were.
I entered a caveat and myself and my sister contacted the witnesses. One we still haven’t been able to contact. The other was horrified to see his signature on the document. He said while it was his signature he had never met or heard of my grandfather. It turned out he has worked with my aunt’s husband and that is how someone had access to his signature. He only knew my aunt by her married name.
He has written a signed statement and allowed us to record him stating he has no knowledge of how his signature came to be on the will of a man he has never met.
Last week my uncle filed a warning and I responded with an appearance briefly stating why I felt the caveat should be become permanent. I am now at a loss of what happens next and a big concern is that neither myself nor my sister can afford a solicitor.
Could I write to my uncle setting out the above and ask that the rules of intestacy apply and settle it privately?
We requested a copy of the will and at first my uncle (the executor) refused. He eventually relented and upon seeing the will it became apparent that there were many problems concerning its validity. The will (dated 2018) removed my father who died in 2012 but had not removed my grandmother who died in 2017. I have been left out completely but my younger sister is still included. A friend of the family is on there for no reason we can understand. There are countless spelling mistakes and wrong addresses. The most troubling part was the witnesses. No one knew who they were.
I entered a caveat and myself and my sister contacted the witnesses. One we still haven’t been able to contact. The other was horrified to see his signature on the document. He said while it was his signature he had never met or heard of my grandfather. It turned out he has worked with my aunt’s husband and that is how someone had access to his signature. He only knew my aunt by her married name.
He has written a signed statement and allowed us to record him stating he has no knowledge of how his signature came to be on the will of a man he has never met.
Last week my uncle filed a warning and I responded with an appearance briefly stating why I felt the caveat should be become permanent. I am now at a loss of what happens next and a big concern is that neither myself nor my sister can afford a solicitor.
Could I write to my uncle setting out the above and ask that the rules of intestacy apply and settle it privately?
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