Unsigned Will

[FrenchyFrank]

Hi
can anyone offer me some advice as I don't know where I stand.

My Dad and I only found eachother 12 years ago, after years of searching. We became very close.

A few weeks ago my Dad became unwell with a very aggressive form of cancer. He called a Solicitor out to the house he shared with my step mum and paid 800 ( or about) to change his will to leave me some money, as his old will was made before we met and left everything to his 2 children from another marriage and his current wife and her 2 children from her first marriage.

He knew money was very tight for me and said, as his first born, he wanted to provide a small amount when he's gone.

The Solicitor took all the details but my Dad died 12 days later sadly, and the Solicitor had not returned the will to be signed.

My step mum and family said they are going to go with the old will and I won't be left any of the money Dad wanted me to have. Obviously it's in their interests to do that as they get more money.

My step mum and brother are executors and beneficiaries and I dont even know where any of the wills are. Things have got very strained and not only am I grieving for losing my Dad that I'd been looking for for years, but they are treating me like I don't belong, I've been cut off. They are all financially secure whereas I have very little and they say Ive only been around 12 years and deserve nothing.

Morally, I know they should honour my Dad's wishes, he spoke to them himself and told them he wanted to leave me something, but legally I don't think I have a leg to stand on?

Is there anything I can do or do I just walk away?

Thankyou

[des8]

Condolences on the loss of your Father.

Not all is lost as you could make a claim against your father's estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 (commonly referred to as "the Inheritance Act). https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1975/63

There is a strict time limit of 6 months following a grant of probate in which to make a claim.

It will probably be worthwhile discussing the matter with a local solicitor ASAP, and I expect others will be commenting here over the weekend

[FrenchyFrank]

Thankyou for the welcome and the reply, I appreciate it
I feel very out of my depth with this so I look forward to the replies, I know I have to do something but it's all overwhelming.
Thankyou

[Pezza54]

Depending on your financial position you might be able to claim legal aid.

Speak to the solicitor that drafted the new will. He will advise you if you are entitled to legal aid and will be your best witness if your claim reaches court.

Once the beneficiaries become aware you intend to challenge the will legally, they will find out how much the legal cost is to fight your claim in court and will hopefully want to settle before legal proceedings start.

[Pezza54]

To lady forum users and readers I apologise profusely for making the sexist assumption the solicitor was a male "He"

[FrenchyFrank]

Hi
I've no idea about the solicitors, the family won't tell me anything, I don't even know if it's the same solicitors that did both wills.
I don't have any information at all, the family have closed ranks and have said it's nothing to do with me.
I'm not sure what I can do with no information at all, is there any point in me trying to see a Solicitor if I can't even give him the basic details like who has the will?

My brothers are telling me to leave it, that they don't want the stress of it all and that I should just walk away, so I've nobody on my side really and I feel very overwhelmed, maybe they are right and I should leave it, even though I do need the money, maybe it's not worth all the trouble it'll cause, I'm not well, but then a part of me feels I should fight.

I have nothing I can tell a Solicitor, I've no idea even where my Dad is at the moment or even if there's going to be a funeral? Nobody's telling me anything.

[Pezza54]

You could qualify for legal aid to challenge the will if your disposable income is less than about £750 per month.
If you are sure that your Dad paid a solicitor to change his will to include you as a beneficiary then it sounds like you have a strong case.
You could contact a solicitor that specialises in challenging wills, tell them what has happened, provide personal financial info and let them find out whether you qualify for legal aid.
I'm convinced a solicitor will be able to discover which solicitor (probably local) redrafted the will.
In the end it's your decision

[Pezza54]

Did your Dad tell you how much £s he intended to leave you in his will?

If it's only a nominal amount, a few hundred, it's probably not worth proceeding.

[des8]

Just contact a local solicitor to start with to discuss your options.
You should be able to get a free initial chat about the matter to see how you can proceed.

A lot will depend on the size of your father's estate (which will need to be ascertained),
For starters did he own the house he lived in?
If yes was it owned jointly with his wife (was he even married to your step mother?) and if so was it owned as joint tenants or tenants in common?

Were his bank accounts in joint names?

Those are the sorts of questions that need to be asked

[FrenchyFrank]

My Dad said it was 20,000, but my Brother said it was 15,000 so I don't really know the amount. I don't even care about the amount, if it's 500 it'll still help me big time, my Dad wanted me to have something otherwise he wouldn't have paid to have a new will done, I don't understand why they arnt honouring that. Maybe I'm naive but if it was me I'd honour it. It's causing me so much stress maybe I should just walk away like my brother said, but I'm in debt and this would've cleared that.
I likely don't have a case anyway but If I do and I don't try, I,ll never know. I run the risk of upsetting my brother though whose pleaded with me to walk away, he doesn't want the conflict.
I'm torn.

[atticus]

There may potentially be a claim in this against the solicitor, under cases like White v Jones. This is on the basis that they could and should have prepared the will much more quickly.

[Pezza54]

Your brother that is telling you to walk away, is he the brother that is an executive and beneficiary?

[Pezza54]

Has your family said that as your Dad was taking strong pain killing drugs he was not in a fit state of mind to change his will?
The visiting solicitor, suspecting this, may have carried out a test to check if your Dad had the mental capacity to make an important decision.
There is a chance that the solicitor decided your Dad was incapable of making this decision but carried on with your Dad's wishes to change his will not wanting to upset him.
The visiting solicitor needs to be found.

[FrenchyFrank]

Yes my Brother is the executor and one of the beneficiaries. He wants nothing to do with it though and said he's going to relinquish his executor role. He doesn't want to deal with the step Mums side of the family as they are aggressive and hard work so is prepared to walk away and wants me to do the same. He won't get any inheritance until our Step Mum passes on if he walks away now as he's in the original will, when he will get a share of the house etc. But he's so fed up of them he's prepared to forego any inheritance that he might be named in in the last unsigned Will so doesn't want to fight it.
Everyone else apart from me are also in the original will do it's only really me affected by them going with the original will. The new one was only made to add me.

To answer about if my Dad was in strong pain killers, he was only on then for the last 3 days, he wasn't on anything except an inhaler when he made his will. Moving around made him breathless so the Solicitor came to the house, but he was sharp as a tack and on no medication until the end .

How do I find out who the visiting solicitor was ? Nobody will tell me?

[FrenchyFrank]

In answer to DE58 ,
My Dad and step mum were married and both names were on the house, there is no mortgage.

They had a joint bank account but my Dad also had another bank account in his own name apparently. My step Mum says that's her money now?