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Will related. What do I do now?

8 replies

Blueberryhill123 · 18/01/2019 13:33

Posted here for traffic really.

A while back I posted about my late Grandfather's Will. I wasn't sure if it was credible as, after recently downloading a copy, my mum said it wasn't the original will she'd seen. Mum had initially been shown a typed will and the the recently downloaded one was handwritten.

My mum's sister had been left everything in my GF's Will (my mum nothing) when he passed away in 2000. Sorry, I don't know how to link to my previous thread.

I decided to contact the witnesses to the downloaded will, (previous Will mum saw didn't show any names) just to see if they would confirm their signatures were genuine.
Long story short, I contacted the first witness last week (both addresses were on the Will), and explained why I was there.

The lady was lovely, invited me in, and I showed her the Will, but on seeing it she says she has no recollection of signing any will and cannot recall being present in any house/building and witnessing my gf signing his will.
The lady did say her memory isn't what it was, and she said the signature did look like her writing, but nothing about the circumstances of my gf's will jogged her memory. The lady knew my aunt (mum's sister and executor and beneficiary of the Will) very well and recalled many memories of her, but was adamant she could not remember witnessing anybody ever signing a will.

Yesterday, I managed to contact witness two (who my mum knows to be a closer friend of my aunt's) and explained why I had gone to see her.
I showed this lady just the part where her signature is at first, to which she commented that it looked 'dubious', but she did go on to say that she had gone to my GF's house purposely to sign a will.

Witness 'two', on finding out who the other witness was, said that she couldn't remember if witness 'one' had also been present when my GF's Will was signed. She did remember there was a few people there, but couldn't remember who.

When I said to witness two that witness one couldn't remember witnessing anybody's will, witness two just said "well she wouldn't as her memory is shot to pieces".

I should add that this WIll was apparently written around 30 years ago, which is obviously a long time ago, but I'm just wondering where to go from here.

Realistically there doesn't seem much point in pursuing matters further, as one witness is adamant that she signed the Will, and I'm unsure whether witness one has just simply forgotten about witnessing the will.

The thing that's making me undecided is, Witness one has offered to write a short letter stating that she has absolutely no recollection of ever witnessing my GF's Will (should I want her to) and I'm wondering if witness two may just be saying she witnessed the will because she is a) a close friend of my aunt's and/or b) she doesn't want to be involved in any possible correspondence etc, should I decide to go further.
Further more, if witness two can't remember witness one being present at the signing of the Will, then how can she be certain that witness one has herself forgotten about whether she was present or not?
In short, could there be a possibility that witness one wasn't present when my gf signed his will (and she may have signed this document later under the pretence it was for something else maybe?), I really don't know what to think or do!

OP posts:
Mulberryandthyme · 18/01/2019 14:17

If this was nearly 19: years ago, I think it may be too late now to contest or investigate. Why wasn't the will queried in 2000?

Blueberryhill123 · 18/01/2019 14:21

Mulberry, my Mum didn't contest the Will in 2000 as the Will she saw was typed and completely different to the one I downloaded from the probate records recently.

She'd trusted that the will she saw originally was all above board. It's only raised our suspicions since seeing this different will.

OP posts:
MissConductUS · 18/01/2019 14:26

I think it's worth talking to a solicitor about if there is a different will floating in existence.

Blueberryhill123 · 18/01/2019 14:54

MissConduct
I doubt there'd be any more wills laying around as my aunt would've gone through all my GF's personal possessions.

OP posts:
Pachyderm1 · 18/01/2019 15:07

It’s so difficult OP. Things seem very murky, but that is an issue for you because if you do contest it, the burden of proof will be on you to show that the will wasn’t valid. I’m not sure (so don’t take this as fact) but I believe that because forgery is a type of fraud, the standard of proof required is high. One witness saying she can’t remember signing it isn’t going to be enough, especially as this is stuff that happened 30 years ago.

If you have any real intention of challenging this you need to speak to a solicitor sooner rather than later. But I think you will really struggle to put a valid case together on the information you have.

Theoscargoesto · 18/01/2019 15:28

I think that you need a solicitor partly at least because there is a possibility that any claim would be time barred (though I think this doesn't apply to criminal proceedings (fraud, for example).

Blueberryhill123 · 18/01/2019 17:50

Thanks for the comments, I agree it would be really difficult, I imagine, to get anywhere if my mum and I do try and pursue this further.
There is a definite time frame for contesting wills, unless a will has been forged, where there's no time limit.

Trouble is, if the signature's are genuine then the only hope would be if witness 'two' does back us up with an insistence that she doesn't believe she witnessed my GF's will at the time he supposedly signed it. But then that leaves the question, how did her signature get on the will?

If witness two did actually sign it, but elsewhere at another time, then the will would be invalid. But as too much time has passed, nothing could be done about it I suppose.
Unless, maybe we could challenge the fact that a totally different will was produced by my aunt initially?

OP posts:
Blueberryhill123 · 18/01/2019 20:43

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OP posts:
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