How to find a will if there was no probate

[camdenlock]

It seems to me that a family member has failed to declare their parent's death which occurred abroad in order to benefit from their UK assets, whilst pretending to everyone else that there was no will, everything was done above board and she inherited everything under the rules of intestacy, in spite of the deceased previously having made verbal statements that her property would pass to other family members on her death.

This has only come to my attention as I was contacted by a neighbour about a problem with the property, when I attempted to contact the council in order to get it resolved and they told me that under GDPR they are unable to discuss it with me without the registered owner's permission, and gave the deceased's name - she would have to be 117 if still alive today. Further investigations and digging have revealed that this person died abroad and the death was properly registered with the authorities there at the time, however there is probably no mechanism for that country to inform the country of nationality that the person is deceased.

This opens a further can of worms because the family member in question also had two spinster great aunts allegedly left her everything, despite nobody ever having seen a will, although they died in the UK, which makes me wonder, how would the solicitor who drew up their will know that the last surviving great aunt had died unless they were told by a family member?

I understand that I am only entitled to read a will if I am named in the document, but how to find the existence of a will in the first place? Everything I have found online is all about reading wills after probate has been granted, not about finding wills that exist before probate has been granted. I would imagine that I could contact likely local solicitors, but they would probably respond along the lines of 'I'm sorry, but I can't tell you if X was a client of ours or not because of GDPR'

How would I go about finding this information?

[dslippy]

It is difficult to know where to start. There are several misconceptions in your post.

People very regularly mis-state what the arrangements are or will be after their death. Report your suspicions to the police. I doubt they will be interested, but that is your remedy.

For how long has this house been empty?

A will is private to the executor (and court) until probate is granted. Then anyone can et a full copy.
The existing mechanisms for finding a will are wihout any virtue.

I am not at all sure why you are concerned with the estates of the great aunts of a woman who if alive now would be 117 years old.

[camdenlock]

It is difficult to know where to start. There are several misconceptions in your post.

People very regularly mis-state what the arrangements are or will be after their death. Report your suspicions to the police. I doubt they will be interested, but that is your remedy.

Thank you for your concern, I am merely interested in finding out if there was a will that mentioned me. If I am not mentioned, or there was indeed no will, then so be it, final wishes are final wishes.

For how long has this house been empty?

It hasn't been left empty. It is being used by the family member in question as we are told by them that they inherited it.

A will is private to the executor (and court) until probate is granted. Then anyone can et a full copy.
The existing mechanisms for finding a will are wihout any virtue.

That is as I understand it. There was no grant of probate in the name of any of the deceased. However I accept that this may be because the search criteria I provided did not match the details of a genuine grant.

I am not at all sure why you are concerned with the estates of the great aunts of a woman who if alive now would be 117 years old.

Here you misunderstand, sorry because I was not clear. The person claiming the inheritance of their parent under intestacy rules also has two great aunts who like their mother also apparently did not leave wills and there was also no result to my grant of probate search.