Will and estate help

[Cornishm]

Hoping to see if anyone could give some advice, not for myself but for my sister.

Her grandad passed away recently, she didn’t find out until months after as her aunt and uncle for some reason kept it from her. For context her dad passed away back in 2018 after a short illness, but she has still remained in contact with them both, mainly her uncle (who she saw on 3 occasions between her grandads death and finding out).

After she found out she reached out to her auntie, offered her condolences but asked why she hadn’t been told. There was no real reason given and the whole situation seemed a bit shady, like they purposely didn’t want her to know. Her grandads estate was worth over £1,000,000, and the only reason she could think of was that potentially she would be entitled to some of this (as her dad was no longer alive and she was his only child).

She contacted her auntie again to ask to see his will, her auntie ignored this message and then blocked her. Through various people my sister had heard lots of different things regarding the will, mainly that there was no will that they had found so far. She recently contacted a solicitor who had been in contact with her auntie, who all of a sudden provided 2 separate wills for her grandad.

Will 1 was dated back in 2004, listing all 3 of his children as beneficiaries to his estate.

Will 2 was dated in 2023, which lists her aunt, uncle and their children (his grandchildren) as beneficiaries. No mention of my sister at all. (This will was completed by a solicitor in the town where her auntie lives, which is 84 miles from where her grandad lived and witnessed by his neighbours).

After speaking with my sister yesterday, she said that before her dad passed away (sometime in 2017) he made a comment that he had been to see his dad and a new will had been done at that time, no copy of this will has been produced since his death, and with her dad no longer being alive she has no details to what it contained or who would have witnessed it.

She doesn’t feel like she can contest or go any further forward as she has no evidence to prove that another will was ever produced. Why her auntie didn’t just provide the 2023 will when she asked, which didn’t list her or her dad as beneficiaries in the first instance we will never know.

It just doesn’t sit right with me, it all seems to secretive to be above board. She doesn’t want the money, she was never interested in the money, but after seeing that the other grandchildren have been listed and she’s purposely been left out is finding it quite hard to process. I personally know that if her dad was still alive he would never of allowed it that she wasn’t named in the will, alongside the others.

Thank you for reading, any advice would be really appreciated.

[PallasAthena]

Even if a new Will had been written in 2017 it would have been revoked by a valid 2023 Will. When a new Will is signed it is common to destroy old Wills so there is nothing significant about the purported 2017 Will not being found. It is irrelevant what a 2004 Will said. The 2023 Will couldn't have listed your sister's father as a beneficiary as he was no longer alive in 2023 (died in 2017).

You can check whether a valid Will was presented for Probate by looking up the grandfather's Probate records on the gov.uk Probate site Search probate records for documents and wills (England and Wales) - GOV.UK Finding whether grandfather is listed and the date Probate was issued is free but to download a copy of the Will costs £16. But apparently your sister already has a copy of the 2023 Will. However if she wished to she could pay out £16 to be certain that the Will on which Probate was granted is the same as the one she has a copy of.

As your sister is not a beneficiary of the 2023 Will her Aunt had no legal obligation to provide a copy of it to your sister although once Probate had been granted a Will becomes a public document and your sister could have obtained a copy from the government probate search site on the link above.

From what you have posted there is nothing to suggest your sister has legal grounds to challenge the 2023 Will or to bring a claim against the Estate as a dependent. I'm afraid members of families often fall out over Wills and being secretive about things is part of that. You haven't suggested that your sister was being supported by her grandfather or was financially dependent on him nor that her grandfather lacked legal mental capacity to make a new Will in 2023.

Unless there is more evidence to question the validity of the 2023 Will there is nothing your sister can do except accept the situation and move on.

I've assumed you are in England.

[atticus]

I can add a little to the above.

If for any reason the later will is not valid, the under the earlier will or intestacy your sister will inherit a share of the estate.

But if it is valid, nothing in what you say suggests that she may have a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975.