Caveat & Warning

[MILES25]

Hi all, I am a new member of the forum although I have been an avid follower for a while now. I am currently in a dispute about the validity of my late husband's Will (a family member lodged a caveat). I am defending the Will. The dispute is approaching 4 years and although I had a solicitor in the beginning (to assist with writing a letter of response and communications with the other side), due to high costs, I have not been able to continue with representation. I feel now is the time to push back at the caveator but with no legal assistance, I feel a little overwhelmed and unsure as to what my best option is as a next step. I have a few questions regarding caveats & warnings which I think will help assist me. Any comments/information would be greatly appreciated. Here goes.....
1. After receiving an initial letter of claim (challenging the validity of the Will), my response to the letter of claim and subsequent communications (including rejected offers between parties), communication has ceased (the past 2 years or so). In one of the last communications the caveator threatened that they would leave the caveat on indefinitely unless I agreed to their demands (I have this in writing from them). True to their word, this has been the case (7 caveat renewals so far). It appears that the caveator is not actively doing anything to progress/conclude the dispute and is using the strategy of waiting/indefinitely renewing the caveat until they get what they want (they want me to agree to an unfair/unreasonable settlement written to their advantage). Is this a misuse/abuse of the caveat process? Could I bring this up with the probate registry for their comments/investigation or would I have to consider serving a warning instead?

2. If a caveator keeps continually renewing a caveat (the caveat has been lodged for over 3.5 years to date) will the probate registry eventually question the caveator as to why the caveat is still lodged and ask them to justify what they are doing to progress/conclude the dispute?

3. If a caveat has been sealed following the entry of an appearance and at a later date the parties consent to removing the caveat (after a settlement has been agreed, for example), I have read that a summons will need to be prepared and filed with the court along with a consent order. Is this a complicated and expensive procedure or a fairly simple thing to do?

4. As an alternative to issuing a warning (which comes with potential cost consequences for both sides), and due to the long period of time that the caveat has been lodged (3.5 years to date), could I instead consider applying to the probate registry for a "put up or shut up order" (requiring the caveator to issue a claim by a certain date, failing which I could continue to administer the estate)? Or is this a riskier option as I am essentially pushing the caveator to issue a claim? Although the solicitor that helped at the start of the dispute said that the letter of claim has little merit, he also said that nothing is ever guaranteed when it comes to disputes/court cases so this is always in the back of my mind.

Thanks in advance for any comments/information.

[twohoots]

It can get very expensive using a solicitor. This could go on and on for years with this person just renewing the caveats and these cost them just £3 a time which is ludicrous! Personally issuing a Warning worked for me but the choice is yours. Prior to doing this I tried everything to get them to remove the caveat but they said they would never remove it. I told them I would be going ahead with the Warning and they would be liable for solicitors fees incurred. After the Warning was issued it was approx 8 months before we heard from the Probate Registry and they just said the Application was approved. So I assume they came to the conclusion that the caveator was giving them a load of BS. Best of luck!

[MILES25]

Thanks for sharing your story TWOHOOTS.
I am hoping that more members might also respond too, especially in response to one or more of my questions. Thanks once again in advance.

[twohoots]

Thanks for sharing your story TWOHOOTS.
I am hoping that more members might also respond too, especially in response to one or more of my questions. Thanks once again in advance.

I’m sure they will. There are some really helpful and knowledgeable people on here! I have no legal qualifications by the way!

[Hagalout]

Without wishing to be the Harbinger of doom, I wouldn't expect too much assistance from the Probate office if my experience is anything to go by. They certainly wont get involved by trying to find out why the caveat keeps being renewed. The same man entered 4 Caveats to stop me getting probate, 2 of which were made permanent by the appearances being entered. Even after they received Affadavits etc, and it was clear that the caveats were in appropriate to say the least, they didnt even consider questioning why they were there in the 1st place.

[atticus]

Warning off the caveat - with all the cost and risk the OP mentions - is the way of telling the person who has lodged the caveat to 'put up or shut up'. It is the process by which the dispute, whatever it may be, gets into court.

[MILES25]

Thanks HAGALOUT and ATTICUS.

Once a caveat has been sealed (after a warning and entry of an appearance), if at a later point the parties eventually agree to a settlement and consent to removing the caveat, how is this normally done? I remember reading that a summons would need to be prepared and filed with the court along with a consent order. Is this correct? Is it a fairly simple procedure? Any idea of costs?

[Hagalout]

Yes, as Atticus says issuing a warning is basically saying put up or shut up and I dont think there is any other way other than agreeing a settlement between yourselves. You need to assess whether you think the Caveator has a claim or not initially. In my case the Caveator had no claim whatsoever but that didnt stop him entering an appearance to the warnings, two in fact, on the Caveats entered in his and his daughters names. He was simply out to force me to incur legal costs and the Probate office have been no help whatsoever, he was hiring and firing his solicitor willy nilly, self litigating in between, then after 2 years, he rehired the solicitor who presumably advised him to remove the caveats, via mutual consent summons, however I refused to consent as i was £8600 pounds out of pocket by then, they refused to pay stating Pre - action costs.
Fast forward 4 years and it is almost sorted, the Probate Registrar says he has to pay some of my costs but only up to August 2020 which puts me way out of pocket, and lo and behold he has dispensed with the solicitor again saying he was wrongly advised, and he is back self litigating, writing stupid letters to my solicitor repeating crap that he has been saying from day one, and I am paying out all the time for my Solicitor to receive and reply to these letters, its a never ending nightmare to be honest.

[MILES25]

What a shame HAGALOUT. The same happened to me too (my Solictor receiving continual letters from the other side and wanting to reply to them all, even though most of the letters were just repeating the same untrue allegations). In the end, I had to stop using the Solicitor to represent me further in order to prevent costs getting even more out of control than they already were! The Solicitor seemed happy to just keep responding to these communications but we never really got anywhere with regard to progressing the dispute. Currently there is just a caveat lodged, no warning/appearance or sealed caveat. As we are dealing with an unreasonable/greedy caveator and there is no easy resolution in sight, my children have suggested that I should perhaps leave the dispute as is and just enjoy the rest of my life. I am approaching 80 years old and this has been going on for 4 years so far. They said they will pick up the pieces and deal with it down the road upon my death. Has anyone else chosen this path? Perhaps after having to wait a number of years, the caveator will be more open to negotiate with my children. Also, upon my death, he (caveator) is entitled to his share of the trust money, but this will not be released until he removes the caveat so he might be more motivated to be reasonable at that point. Any comments anyone?

[twohoots]

What a shame HAGALOUT. The same happened to me too (my Solictor receiving continual letters from the other side and wanting to reply to them all, even though most of the letters were just repeating the same untrue allegations). In the end, I had to stop using the Solicitor to represent me further in order to prevent costs getting even more out of control than they already were! The Solicitor seemed happy to just keep responding to these communications but we never really got anywhere with regard to progressing the dispute. Currently there is just a caveat lodged, no warning/appearance or sealed caveat. As we are dealing with an unreasonable/greedy caveator and there is no easy resolution in sight, my children have suggested that I should perhaps leave the dispute as is and just enjoy the rest of my life. I am approaching 80 years old and this has been going on for 4 years so far. They said they will pick up the pieces and deal with it down the road upon my death. Has anyone else chosen this path? Perhaps after having to wait a number of years, the caveator will be more open to negotiate with my children. Also, upon my death, he (caveator) is entitled to his share of the trust money, but this will not be released until he removes the caveat so he might be more motivated to be reasonable at that point. Any comments anyone?

You must do what you think Miles but I would never give up …. That’s just how I am! I knew the caveator in my case was doing this out of spite and possibly hurt feelings but that is no reason to keep putting caveats on and I hoped the courts would see this too! It is a misuse of the procedure.

[JJW]

Hangalout

When the warnings were issued and the caveator made an appearance, what were their reasons or as you say he had no claim, what did the probate office registrar do about it?

Thank you

[Hagalout]

He said that he was the grandson of the deceased and that he was contesting the will on the grounds of lack of testementary capacity, the 2nd one in his daughters name was identical word for word except it said grandaughter. But he is the grandson of my mothers partner who had been dead for 4 years by then. They weren't married and they are 2 seperate estates. Basically he has lied in both of those appearances. Even when the Registrar had all the Evidence, not once do they appear to have questioned why there had been 4 caveats entered in total or the reasons behind them, they aren't interested at all in the ones where no appearance was entered, or even the ones where they were it seems, they simply made a costs order in my favour(eventually) which leaves me thousands out of pocket.

[JJW]

So apart from the time taking probate office of 8 mths after appearance, in your case, they did award you the Grant and the caveator had nothing changed and the registrar decided so no court case.

[JJW]

MILES25

The balls in your court now to issue a warning, to be sealed by the probate office, returned to you, then you have to prove you issued it to the caveator, otherwise the registrar will do nothing.

Once you’ve received their claim/reasons then you can agree or disagree then you can explain your back up to the registrar, you’ve got to keep on and on at them until you get through to the registrar because they mislead, I involved my MP.

At least you will find out, then if you decide to settle, caveator agrees, he just has to withdraw his caveat, then they will issue grant.

[Hagalout]

Its been 6 years in total. When the Registrar gave them the chance to hive a good reason why the Caveats should not be removed(last November) no response was forthcoming so My solicitor then asked the Probate Registrar if the Caveats are automatically removed and is Probate now granted or do we need to reapply? The Registrar then said that we needed to send in a "Statement of Facts" to prove that the summons etc had been served on them, I have heard nothing since so No The Grant of Probate has not yet been issued.