My Late Father's Will

[BoxerDogBoy]

Approximately one year ago to the day I met up with my father who didn't recognise me .I must inform people now that I was the executor of his will along with my brother. I asked him 3 times if he knew who I was and he just stared at me .To cut along story short he was suffering from Alzeihmers and dementia and so much so that his partner had POA for everything , he wasn't capable of anything. Something strange happened that night ...the police phoned us to tell us to stay away , no criminality was committed but to stay away.
We did stay away but arousing suspicion we called his lawyer to ask if anything untoward was going on and he replied "No"
What did transpire shortly after he died was that his will had been changed two weeks later with 5 additional changes all in favour of my sister who was now the new executor , the very one that had called the police to tell us to stay away. His car had been gifted to someone and they cleaned out the house .Also while in hospital we were told we would only be allowed to see him if we had a solicitor or police present.
At the time of the change to the will we asked the question if my father's lawyer asked for a medical certification in terms of my fathers capacity ."No, I didn't need to was the reply". We retrieved the medical records after they prevented us from getting them and proved he had alzeihmers .They threatened to sue us if we didn't sell the house and openly offered us money as an appeasement after us hiring top lawyers. Now they want us to sign an agreement to accept the final residue /inheritance before they release the money , that way we cannot challenge further down the line. Is this right

[nemesis45]

Re: My Late Father's Will

Approximately one year ago to the day I met up with my father who didn't recognise me .I must inform people now that I was the executor of his will along with my brother. I asked him 3 times if he knew who I was and he just stared at me .To cut along story short he was suffering from Alzeihmers and dementia and so much so that his partner had POA for everything , he wasn't capable of anything. Something strange happened that night ...the police phoned us to tell us to stay away , no criminality was committed but to stay away.
We did stay away but arousing suspicion we called his lawyer to ask if anything untoward was going on and he replied "No"
What did transpire shortly after he died was that his will had been changed two weeks later with 5 additional changes all in favour of my sister who was now the new executor , the very one that had called the police to tell us to stay away. His car had been gifted to someone and they cleaned out the house .Also while in hospital we were told we would only be allowed to see him if we had a solicitor or police present.
At the time of the change to the will we asked the question if my father's lawyer asked for a medical certification in terms of my fathers capacity ."No, I didn't need to was the reply". We retrieved the medical records after they prevented us from getting them and proved he had alzeihmers .They threatened to sue us if we didn't sell the house and openly offered us money as an appeasement after us hiring top lawyers. Now they want us to sign an agreement to accept the final residue /inheritance before they release the money , that way we cannot challenge further down the line. Is this right

Hello welcome to LB,

A sad and confusing story and rather confusing.

I think you need qualified advice on this.

I'll ask someone to take a look for you.
[MENTION=85500]Peridot[/MENTION] can you help please.

nem

[Peridot]

Re: My Late Father's Will

Hi BoxerDogBoy,
What a horrible situation. I am confused as to which 'Will' was used in the end? You appear to suggest that the most recent Will may not have been used. Does this mean that the previous Will where you and your brother were executors was used to obtain Grant of Probate?

It looks like you have previously sought solicitor's advice what was this in respect of and have you returned to them for further advice if appropriate?
What is the agreement your sister has proposed? The exact wording of this will determine whether there could be any challenge in the future. However if the agreement proposed is reasonable then it may be appropriate to settle, bearing in mind the cost of going to contest probate.

Why is your sister threatening to sue you if you don't sell the property? Isn't she the executor if the more recent Will was used to obtain the Grant? I assume your father owned the property, so what is preventing it being sold?

I suspect that you will need to obtain some independent legal advice but make sure that you have the facts jotted down. It is hard identifying the important bits that need to be flagged to a solicitor. A starter would be:-
A copy of the Wills (if you have copies of both) and a brief explanation of the reason you believe the later will is invalid. I assume that you are alleging that your father did not have mental capacity to have a new Will prepared?
Confirmation of who has obtained the Grant of Probate, if it has been obtained;
If you know, confirmation of how both the Wills dealt with his estate;
What dad's assets are, if you know;
A copy of the agreement that has been put forward by your sister.
This information would at least be a starter for them.
Happy to try and assist further if you are able to provide more information.

[BoxerDogBoy]

Re: My Late Father's Will

Hi BoxerDogBoy,
What a horrible situation. I am confused as to which 'Will' was used in the end? You appear to suggest that the most recent Will may not have been used. Does this mean that the previous Will where you and your brother were executors was used to obtain Grant of Probate?

It looks like you have previously sought solicitor's advice what was this in respect of and have you returned to them for further advice if appropriate?
What is the agreement your sister has proposed? The exact wording of this will determine whether there could be any challenge in the future. However if the agreement proposed is reasonable then it may be appropriate to settle, bearing in mind the cost of going to contest probate.

Why is your sister threatening to sue you if you don't sell the property? Isn't she the executor if the more recent Will was used to obtain the Grant? I assume your father owned the property, so what is preventing it being sold?

I suspect that you will need to obtain some independent legal advice but make sure that you have the facts jotted down. It is hard identifying the important bits that need to be flagged to a solicitor. A starter would be:-
A copy of the Wills (if you have copies of both) and a brief explanation of the reason you believe the later will is invalid. I assume that you are alleging that your father did not have mental capacity to have a new Will prepared?
Confirmation of who has obtained the Grant of Probate, if it has been obtained;
If you know, confirmation of how both the Wills dealt with his estate;
What dad's assets are, if you know;
A copy of the agreement that has been put forward by your sister.
This information would at least be a starter for them.
Happy to try and assist further if you are able to provide more information.

My sister is the executor of the estate now after she manipulated my father to change the will before he died .There are more individuals involved in this but we can come to that later on. Prior to them changing the will some 18 months ago she was told to stay away by my father for the reason that he felt she was meddling in his business and he was scared and felt vulnerable. So much so , when she found out that my brother and I were the executors ,( my fathers request when he had capacity ) she went about her business threatening people and involving the police to get her way.
My father didn't recognise me prior to the change to the will .The Lawyer that allowed the change to the will allowed this knowing full well my father's partner had full powers.
Move on now till his death , some 8 weeks later and low and behold we find the will has been changed - something you cant do without assessing an individual who has been certified with Alzeihmers. The lawyer had previously been made aware that there was something not right but continued to allow this to happen. There had been 5 elements in the will that were changed all in favour of my sisters family and bearing in mind the will had remained the same for the previous 15 years...you can see the picture
The house was then emptied and put up for sale, we weren't allowed back near it or never saw my father again.
We hired a legal team as they tried to block us from obtaining the medical records but we got them and proved my father had no capacity. There are elements in them that highlight my sister had been phoning up as his doctor as acting POA when she wasn't.

We told them we would take them to court and challenge .During that time an offer came in for the house and they threatened to sue us if we didn't allow the house sale to go through . We let it go through as they had the power of the estate funds behind them .Now the estate is about to be wound up and the inheritance dished out they want a signature from us to say we will accept this as final closure or we wont get our inheritance

[Peridot]

Re: My Late Father's Will

Hi
The fact your father's partner had 'power of attorney' does not allow them to have your father's Will changed. If he no longer had capacity at that time then the Will can't be changed. People with dementia or other degenerative disease are not necessarily incapacitated at all times. However, the Solicitor taking instructions on the new Will should have assessed your father's capacity at that moment in time and also when the drafts had been prepared and due for signing. If there are any doubts then yes a medical certificate confirming capacity or not, should have been obtained. In addition they should have been looking for any undue influence for example was he seen alone by the solicitor and relevant questions asked to establish this?

Moving forward I can't understand why if solicitors were involved that this did not become contested probate and other executors appointed?
That said any claim against the estate has to be made within 6 months of the Grant of Probate unless there are exceptional circumstances. From what you say it would appear that this time limit has passed?

You mentioned that your sister impersonated a Dr, is anything happening about this? Would it be worth looking into whether you could have a potential professional negligence claim against the solicitors who prepared the Will?

With regard to the agreement that has been proposed does it mean that you and your brother receive substantially less than the previous Will would have allowed?
I appreciate how upsetting this must be for you and other members of the family and it is difficult to remove the emotion and be pragmatic about the settlement, but as you mentioned the cost of going to Court over this could be huge. I would suggest if the agreement proposed near enough puts you back in the position you would have been then you should seriously consider it. It can't remove the hurt or bad feeling within the family but may be the only way forward for you with regard to dividing the estate, finalising matters and enabling you to move on after your loss.

I would strongly recommend that you obtain some face to face legal advice on the agreement before signing, there may be room to negotiate further on the agreement. There may also be other possible routes open to you. You would need someone with expertise in Litigation, particularly contested Probate areas.

[enaid]

Re: My Late Father's Will

I would have a word with whoever witnessed the will, or was it the solicitor?