To be suspicious about the validity of this Will?

[Blueberryhill123]

I probably should've posted in Legal but posted here for traffic.
My Mum and I were discussing Wills recently, when the subject of my Grandfather's Will came up. (My GF passed away in 2000, and my Mum was excluded from his Will). She'd never received a copy of the Will and only briefly glanced at a typed copy of GF's Will just after his funeral, when my Aunt quickly showed it to her.
Out of curiosity I recently decided to download a copy of my GF's Will, but now I've done so it's playing on mind that something doesn't seem right with it.
GF's Will is home made and handwritten (done in 1987) and the Executor and sole Beneficiary (apart from us six Grandchildren) was my Aunt, which we already knew. I was, however, surprised to learn there was no mention at all of my mum in the Will, not even to say why she'd been excluded.

Long story short, there'd been a family rift where mum didn't see her dad for a few years prior to and after the Will was written, although in the last few years of GF's life the rift was healed. My mum never spoke of Wills with my GF (her mum had passed away years before) and accepted the terms of the Will when my GF passed away. After all, the Will had been done and not altered.

Six of us Grandchildren (my sis and I and my Aunt's four dc's) each received £2,000 from our GF's Will. My Aunt was bequeathed GF's house, boat, caravan, car and 'all the rest of the property he owned'.
The Will may very well be perfectly legal, but, I'm suspicious that the witness signature's look extremely similar by the style of writing, punctuations, same pen pressure, slant etc.
The witnesses are also my Aunt"s friends.

I showed a copy of the Will to my Mum, who recognised the wording of the Will as my Aunt's, which I'm presuming is allowed, as long as my Grandfather signed it. My mum is also quite suspicious of the witness signature's. Mum also couldn't imagine my GF wanting to have my Aunt's friends as witnesses.
Maybe I'm reading too much into this, but my Aunt has benefited hugely (I believe my GF also had a substantial amount of money in his accounts from receiving a great pension and never really going anywhere to spend it, which my Aunt also had) and I can't help wondering if something is amiss. Mum is equally suspicious.
Any advice appreciated.

Any advice as to what to do (if anything) or where to go from here appreciated I meant to add!

You will really struggle with this after 18 years. There is no time limit on contesting a will on the grounds of fraud, but you will find it nearly impossible to gather evidence after so long.

You’re right that it doesn’t matter who actually wrote the will as long as your GF was in sound mind and signed it freely. There is also nothing wrong with the witnesses being your aunt’s friends. As long as they were over 18, they are valid witnesses.

If you think the will is frudulent your best bet would be to speak to a solicitor, but after this many years you should have very low expectations of being able to discover anything meaningful.

Blanche, I'll suggest it to my mum regarding the solicitor. I know it's late in the day, but now my mum and I have seen the signatures (which look very questionable) I don't think we can sit back and do nothing

Be aware that contesting wills can be very expensive. My mum was defrauded out of money by her brother, but was advised that it was not worth contesting in court as the costs would wipe away all the money anyway. Obviously depends just how large the inheritance is.

But what if there's a chance the witness signature's could have been forged?

Do you know the witnesses (the aunt’s friends)?

I would speak to a solicitor before doing anything but I would guess your best bet is if those witnesses are likely to be honest if they didn’t sign it.

Ellisandra
Yes we do know who they are, and I did consider trying to contact at least one of them, but I thought it best not to.

I agree best not to contact them yourself!

What’s the end game here? You getting some money from the Aunt (is anything left? Will it be more than your inevitable legal fees?). You get the will declared invalid so GF is deemed intestate? What would the division be then?

I cannot fathom why this is still such an issue after 18 years. You know this will not end well under any scenario and will cost a fortune. Why not just leave it be and enjoy the life you have and not hanker over your interpretation of what might have been

Vancleef

It hasn't 'been an issue for eighteen years' as you put it. It's only because I recently downloaded the will and now believe something seems amiss, as does my mum, that I've posted on here

If my GF's will has been done legally, fair enough.
If it's not been done legally, then obviously my mum has every right to question it, has she not?

Oh and my GF's house is still in my Aunt's name, she's renting it out.

I am strugglng to see where this would go. You could contest the will as fraudulent but you seem to be saying you think your grandfather did sign it and he was in sound mind at that time. So it is the witness signatures you think may have been forged?
Even if that is true, you are saying your grandfather signed the will and was in sound mind and was not speaking to your mother at that time in his life. In which case the will reflects his wishes.
I am wondering why he did not make a different will when he was back on speaking terms with your mother. Was he capable of doing so at that time if he had wished to?

Is the only evidence of fraud you have that the witness signatures look similar? I would worry it’s not enough to go on (but maybe worth you seeing a solicitor for peace of mind).

Presumably your Aunt and mother have no relationship given she kept all the inheritance?

It's the witness signature's my mum and I are questioning really. Also, it's odd that my mum insists she only saw a typed copy of the will (she doesn't think there were any signature's on that), yet the copy I've downloaded is handwritten.
My GF was in sound mind right up until his death.

So the Will was written while your GF was no longer speaking to your mum, but they made up afterwards?

I think it's unusual to cut off children. My friend was one of four and two of the children were no longer in contact with their dad, but the Will was still split in four. My friend was told that's what normally happens.

Derelictwreck
They still had a relationship, my mum was upset at being excluded but she got on with it.
They have no relationship now however, because of something my Aunt did a few years ago.
I suppose learning over the years that my Aunt is not a person with any moral compass, is one reason why I'm more suspicious of her.

Yes it was Hollow talk

Totally off topic, but where did you download it from?

I think it’s pretty shocking that someone can fraudulently claim everything in a will but it’s too expensive to pursue! It’s like totally getting away with a crime!

I got it from the public records. Anything which has gone through probate I think is accessible to the public

I echo what most of the posters here are saying about you very likely being on a hiding to nothing, especially after the lengthy passage of time. BUT, and it is a very big BUT, I would just love to see what the "witnesses" said about the veracity of their signatures and witnessing of the will all those years ago. Assuming they are both still alive they could take you by complete surprise if they knew absolutely nothing whatsoever about this event and it transpired that their signatures were intact forgeries. I wouldn't speak to them myself though - I'd be taking legal advice first.

I actually said an issue AFTER 18 years, not FOR 18 years which is very different.

You have opened a can of worms. What positive outcome for your mother can come of any investigation, especially when as you said she didn’t have a relationship with her father at the time he died in any event.

I cannot fathom why this is still such an issue after 18 years ERM I think it's clear what you said and meant Van cleef.

My mum DID have a realtionship with her dad when he died Vancleef.

You are on a hiding to nothing 18 years after the event. And nothing wrong with a handwritten will or with the witnesses being friends of the beneficiary (as long as the witnesses themselves aren't beneficiaries under the will). Fraud requires a high burden of proof and your suspicions do not come near to even alleging fraud