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My brother has found a fake will in his house purportedly made by him. He did not sign the Will but it is signed by somebody else trying to copy his signature, a very bad signature which bears no relation to his signature. The Will is witnessed by two people. Clearly whoever signed the Will and the two witnesses are guilty. What's his best course of action and what might happen to those guilty if he choses to pursue this?
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Your brother should go to a solicitor. He should explain the situation and make a new will, even if this repeats what he considers to be his will. The point is to have a document that bears a later date than this fake will. The new will should expressly revoke all previous wills.
The police may be interested in an attempted fraud, if that is what it is.Lawyer (solicitor) - retired from practice, now supervising solicitor in a university law clinic. I do not advise by private message.
Litigants in Person should download and read this: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/..._in_Person.pdf -
Yes it’s attempted fraud. He’s already made a new Will. The perpetrator is a family member. If my brother goes all the way with the police then where would that leave those who were complicit in signing the Will and witnessing it. First my brother knew anything about it was when he found it. I think I know who signed it and the witnesses. This is theft on a grand scale.Comment
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He shouldn't jump to too many conclusions about who is 'guilty'.
He does need to do something. Calling for an explanation might be a start.Comment
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He knows who the witnesses are. Not brothers signature nor was he in room. He just stumbled across thisComment
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If I were your brother I'd take a photocopy of the forgery and confront the person who forged my signature with the photocopy and ask what they were playing at. (#3 says the perpetrator is a family member).
I'd tell them that I'd lodged the original document with my solicitor with instructions to take it to the police if anything "suspicious" happened to me.
Depending on the forger's explanation I might or might not take it further with the police...
[Edit: Actually lodging the forgery with his solicitor is optional. But the person your brother is confronting won't know if it's true or not]Comment
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What sort of punishment would a court issue to those proved complicit, the two witnesses and the one that forged the signature?
Who knows, the witnesses may have genuinely thought the testator that signed the will was my brother.Comment
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Have they been investigated, arrested, charged and convicted yet?Lawyer (solicitor) - retired from practice, now supervising solicitor in a university law clinic. I do not advise by private message.
Litigants in Person should download and read this: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/..._in_Person.pdfComment
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No. I was just looking ahead to see what the outcome might be should he decide to take it further.Comment
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Right now, no one knows everything that will come out, for and against, that will be known to a judge when passing sentence. Imprisonment is a possibility, but not a certainty.Lawyer (solicitor) - retired from practice, now supervising solicitor in a university law clinic. I do not advise by private message.
Litigants in Person should download and read this: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/..._in_Person.pdfComment
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He's actually quite hurt by the whole thing and has said he wouldn't want those guilty imprisoned. I would think a conviction would be bad enough and hinder any career prospectsComment
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Depends on so much but the Fraud guildelines are here https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk...rt/item/fraud/Comment
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That takes some reading! Difficult to interpret what category this case falls into.Originally posted by islandgirl View PostComment
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You get used to using them! But a lot depends on value and circumstancesComment
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