Solicitor completely effed up!

If you read OP’s responses, they didn’t accept the copy. The copy was queried, the correct Will sent, accepted and probate granted, then someone at the Registey uploaded the copy online instead of the one they’d granted probate on.

Please try not to worry, she has absolutely no grounds to contest - contesting wills rarely succeeds, even with actual grounds - it also costs a lot.

Just ignore her, remember your dear dad and try and move on.

It will come to nothing, I guarantee.

This response nailed it.

Yes your solicitor made an error, but, there is no real chance of the ex beneficiary challenging - just ignore them and move on.

Too late for you now, but for anyone else named executor, as I have been - stop, take a breath and allow yourself time to grieve - you don't have to do everything fast, no one official will chase you for a long time - set the task to one side for a couple of months to get a clear head.

You are grieving and worrying and so it is going round and round in your head.

The other person involved doesn’t have a hope in contesting the will, your dad wasn’t even married to their mum, the relationship was over a long time ago. She might have thought of him as her ‘dad’ as she had no other male dad figures in her life, she is probably hurt she was left out of the will but hurt feeling don’t contest wills.

She will contact a solicitor, who will tell her she has no case. I would be surprised anyone would take her on. It is expensive to challenge a will with no prospect of getting anything from it, where would she get the fees from?

I suspect that you will get some more angry/upset messages but that will be it. All bark - no bite.

I’m sorry for your loss.

Try to stop worrying about this, concentrate on yourself and the memories with you dad. Block her now, if you do want a final message just say please do not contact me again and if she has any questions she must contact the solicitor.

I'm more concerned that the probate registry accepted a copy, copies are not acceptable except in extenuating circumstances and will only be accepted after the probate office have asked a lot of questions.

At least that is what we are told.

The will was changed close to 10 years ago. She has no grounds to contest it. Try to stop worrying and don’t engage with her

HMRC doesn’t grant probate, the Probate Registry does

That’s what I mean- just refuse to engage and refer her to the solicitors if she needs anything explaining.

In reality the only person who knows why the will was changed is your father. The solicitors who drew up the new one might know but even then that’s unlikely.

Just repeat “I am acting as advised by the executors, Y and Co solicitors- raise any queries with them.” If the old beneficiary keeps messaging, block them and tell them you’ll contact the police if they keep harassing you.

I would just ignore her, if she wants to waste her time and energy contesting what sounds like a legitimate will, let her crack on!
As she’s not a blood relative I assume you don’t have to have any contact with her/risk of bumping into her at family events so block her, the solicitor has explained to her why/what has happened.
I wouldn’t send the letter to the solicitor, they rectified the mistake as soon as the were made aware of it.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

Although you’re clearly distressed, I think you need to hold fire for now as the ex beneficiary doesn't appear to have any real chance of succeeding with contesting the will. Feeling aggrieved that they’d been left out of the revised will isn’t grounds by itself to contest a will, especially given that they weren’t even financially dependent on the deceased at the time of his death.

A solicitors firm might agree to take on their case after advising them of the futility of their claim but only because they expect to be paid by this person regardless of the outcome of any court case. It doesn’t mean the solicitors think the person actually has a good case!

Some people throw £££££ into legal fees on completely hopeless litigation hoping that by being pushy, they’ll get something out of it. They’re complete chancers!

If this person is repeatedly bothering you directly and asking for money, ignore them or write to them and tell them that you’ll report them to the police for harassment. You do not need to engage with them at all.

Do you understand the scope of your instruction is what they were supposed to do? They did it. They made an error that you contributed to. They've rectified it and didn't charge you extra. The matter is closed.

If a third party wants to challenge the will, that's an entirely separate matter and it could happen for a myriad of reasons at any time. Totally unrelated to your solicitors or instruction. There is no liability at all on their part in that regard.

But your solicitors will not be liable if so in any event, it's ridiculous to think that.

How come a copy of the previous will got sent to the Probate Registry at all? I mean, if they uploaded it on to their website, they must have had a copy. It's completely daft for the solicitors to have sent them a revoked will, or even a copy of it, at all.

If any of this is true, I hope they were really cheap solicitors.

I don't understand this at all.

You sent two wills for no reason. You should've only sent them the current one. You've caused unnecessary confusion.

They made an error, but they've rectified it.

Presumably you were charged fixed fee?

If somebody challenges the will, that's between that person and you. Your solicitors have nothing to do with it. That person coud challenge in any event, it's a completely separate matter.

What are you trying to achieve?

OP, you say, “I’m shocked she thought somebody would actually get away with withholding funds from her.”. Sadly, this does happen. My stepson and daughter were left money by an uncle, which my DH (his brother and their father) only discovered a couple of years later when he happened to look up the will. The money was eventually paid - but only after an exchange of letters and pointing out that it was a legal duty of the executor to ensure that legacies were distributed in accordance with the deceased’s wishes.