How long after a death is the will read?

[MummypigDaddypig]

NC.

But how long after somebody has died until a will is read? And how does it work? It’s currently with a solicitor but no one has heard anything from them.

When my grandfather died (mother and I were the executors) the solicitors were notified of the death and the solicitor sorted everything out. Regrettably my stepfather persuaded my mother to go to the solicitor and tried to muscle in within days of the death telling the solicitor's para legal she need not involve me and she agreed. I ended up having a very uncomfortable conversation at a very difficult time informing one of the firm's partners that if my grandfather had wanted my stepfather involved, he'd have been appointed as an executor and it was not within the gift of the partner's staff to decide and advise an executor didn't need to be involved.

When my father died my stepmother and I were joint executors and matters were dealt with with a little more dignity and we visited the solicitor after the funeral as neither of us were desperate to get our hands on his money.

My step father gave my brother a copy of his Will when DB agreed to be SF's Executor so DB already knew what was in the Will and the name of Solicitor's office that had the original copy.

About a week after SF's death my brother got the original Will from the solicitor. DB had to show Solicitor a certified copy of Death Certificate and photographic identification. Once he had the Will and Death Certificate, DB was able to close SF's bank accounts, pay any debts, advise SFs pension providers etc in order to liquidate SF's assets. When he had collected the original Will from the solicitor DB told those being left legacies that they were mentioned in the Will - some of the legacies were gifts of SF's personal possessions and some were monetary. Gifts were dispersed almost straight away to those they were bequeathed to, but those receiving money had to wait for all the assets to be liquidated and paid to Executor before DB could disperse this to recipients.

Thanks all.

There is definitely a will.

Does the solicitor just send a letter? How do they have every bodies address?

X

Will reading is something only in films. It doesn't happen

@MummypigDaddypig

Thanks all.

There is definitely a will.

Does the solicitor just send a letter? How do they have every bodies address?

X

The executor will tell the solicitor the names and addresses of the beneficiaries. Where this is unknown the solicitor can employ a tracing agent.

@PivotPivotPivottt

My mum and I went round to see my gran in the morning he was already there with my aunt (mum's sister). We walked in the door and sat down and he told my mum to come through to the other room to look over the will . My mum was too upset and shocked at the time she never said anything but I remember thinking ffs her dad has been dead for 12 hours.

That’s Grim PPP ..... your poor Mum

@MummypigDaddypig

Thanks all.

There is definitely a will.

Does the solicitor just send a letter? How do they have every bodies address?

X

My Mum just got an inheritance from my great aunts who died 18 months ago..... she got a letter in the post with a copy of the will....and a breakdown of how much money she and everybody else was getting....she was asked to contact the solicitors to ask how she wanted her money eg bank transfer..... she heard nothing until this point

@shinynewapple2021

I'm not sure why that would be such a shock Pivot ? I would think it would be quite normal for a person making a will to share with relatives what was in the will and where it could be found . My dad showed me where his will and funeral details were kept and the will itself he has shown me some years before when he and mum had written it.

Sorting out a person's financial affairs is sadly something which needs to be started quite quickly after death and very often the executors are relatives rather than a solicitor . The relatives can then engage a solicitor for sorting probate if they do wish .

I think the OP's idea of a formal will reading is something of films .

Because the person was not even a blood member of the family just a CF in law .... and it was the first time OPs MUm had seen her own mother since her father passed..... so not appropriate to be all gung ho about the will within 5 minutes of her Mum walking through the door..... you sound heartless

My mum was in shock amd upset at the sudden death of her father, his will was the last thing on her mind. She just wanted wanted to be with her family and get some comfort she couldn't care less what was being left. I don't really know much about wills but as far as I understand nothing comes from the will until my gran passes so I don't know what the rush to read it was anyway.

Spot on KitKat there's a huge backstory with this side of the family. Obsessed with money (the complete opposite of my mum she would rather have her parents forever), openly talk about the will in front of my gran to the point she ended up obsessed with it and would talk about it anytime we visited her, have controlled her finances and stopped her spending money as "its their inheritance". Gran went into a care home a couple of months ago and within days they were trying to discuss selling her house with my mum.

Sorry don't mean to hijack the thread

@MummypigDaddypig

Thanks all.

There is definitely a will.

Does the solicitor just send a letter? How do they have every bodies address?

X

Do you know who the executor of the will is?

Our wills have the addresses of the beneficiaries in them, so I guess that might be standard.

Wills often have info on funeral wishes in them (eg buried or cremated) so they do need to be looked at relatively soon before arrangements are made.

Different people deal with grief in different ways. Some people focus on emotions, some people focus on practicalities as a way of coping.

There is no will reading anymore. The Executors will have the will quite quickly after death and the beneficiaries will be informed in due course.

Eventually anyone can apply for a copy of the will via the probate office for a fee.

@MummypigDaddypig

Thanks all.

There is definitely a will.

Does the solicitor just send a letter? How do they have every bodies address?

X

If they don’t have them they’ll ask the next of kin (his daughter) to supply, or use electoral register, or similar services etc.

The executor can’t contact the beneficiaries until everything is wrapped up and the money is ready to be distributed, and this can take months. Funeral costs and debts paid, any properties sold, tax paid, solicitor fees etc. If it was a family member handling probate as executor you might informally get notified (“Mum left you a bequest in her will, it will probably be around £X00”) but a solicitor doing it will wait until they’re ready to actually send the money - if there is any left after settling the estate.

So if the death is recent, I wouldn’t expect to hear for well over 9 months, possibly longer depending on what needs to happen and how complicated the deceased’s affairs are.

Op are you aware that as soon as probate is granted, the will becomes public and you can view it for a small fee?

probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

Depending on when the deceased passed away, you may wish to search the probate registry regularly.

I think probate applications are slower with Covid, but we got it within 2.5mths of mums death, and it was about 5mths for my cousins death, dealt with by his solicitor.

Even if the solicitor act as executor, they will usually need the next of kin, eg daughter, to help them with information on bank accounts etc.

Op are you aware that as soon as probate is granted, the will becomes public and you can view it for a small fee?

probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills

Depending on when the deceased passed away, you may wish to search the probate registry regularly.

I think probate applications are slower with Covid, but we got it within 2.5mths of mums death, and it was about 5mths for my cousins death, dealt with by his solicitor.

Even if the solicitor act as executor, they will usually need the next of kin, eg daughter, to help them with information on bank accounts etc. Can you check that the daughter has been in touch with the solicitor, else how would they even know the deceased has died?

Oops, sorry for posting same text twice, I didn’t think first post has gone through

@CMOTDibbler

Theres no such thing as reading a will in the UK. Is the will lodged at a solicitor, or are they an executor?

There can be but it's very unusual. Think dh, who is a solicitor specialising in this area of law, has done about 2 formal readings in his 25+ years career to date.

Many people will have a copy of the will at home so can 'read; it immediately. Some have them lodged with their solicitor.

How long it all takes will depend in a number of factors in the estate and if there are specifically complications with the will, estate, etc.

@MummypigDaddypig

Thanks all.

There is definitely a will.

Does the solicitor just send a letter? How do they have every bodies address?

X

It's usually in the will itself, provided by the person when making the will or through updates.

But otherwise the solicitor will speak with the executors to get up to date addresses. Where the addresses or people aren't known the so,i cities firms have a duty to find all beneficiaries and have a range of methods to do so.

My mum insisted I read hers before she died (she knew she was dying)! She wanted someone to know where it was and what it said. There's a copy at the solicitors too but she just named her husband and children executors and we are also the beneficiaries so that's straightforward and we dealt with probate ourselves.

My nan left an envelope 'in the event of my death' with a copy of the will, funeral wishes and instructions on her pensions and savings etc. She always was a terribly organised lady.
She'd actually written it ten years before she died.

Your case sounds a bit more complicated. If you were likely to be named do you not think you'd have been told? People being secretive about this stuff makes it a lot harder? Do you have any reason to suppose you would be a beneficiary? I assume the daughter will pass on your address to the solicitor if you are. Or do you have some reason to think she won't?

You can either ring up the solicitor and ask or sit tight and wait but the wait will be many months.

My hideous sister demanded to see the Will and death certificate within hours of my DF’s death.
And has been stripping my parents house of anything of value.
It’s dreadful that someone thinks that’s the way to behave.

My father in law calls to remind us where his will is every time he goes on holiday! He seems to have a morbid idea that he and stepMIL will die in a plane crash and a need to warn us. The odd thing is he hardly ever calls at other times apart from birthday and Christmas so when he calls in the summer we know it's 'the will call'

We recently had a family bereavement. DSis has not spoken to the deceased in 12 years but when I rang to tell her her first words were about what we thought she would get. She then rang a few days later to ask me (Executor) how long probate would take.

It was a shock when the will skipped a generation and gave everything to grandchildren. She was hopping.

If the executor is a relative or friend, who should have a copy of the will, as soon as anybody wants to.
Traditionally it’s been seen as more seemly (or less vulture-ish) to wait until after the funeral, but there can be a long wait for these lately.

In the several cases I’ve known of lately where dh has been an executor, one friend and 3 elderly relatives, we knew anyway what the will said.

IMO everyone who’s made a will (which ought to be everyone) should make sure than someone close knows where to find it.

Also if a will is done through a solicitor they ought to as standard register it on a national database. Not the will itself, but it's existence. It means that you can go to any solicitor in the UK and they will be able to identify the will exists and what solicitor's firm is holding it.

This was really useful in my deceased relative's case as she had a much older will (which people knew about) but had more recently made a new will. So it mean there was no doubt about which was the correct and most recent will.