Advice on inheritance disputes

[Ilovechinese]

Hi I'm just wondering if anyone on here has been to court to contest a will and if so how long did it take to get to court and what the process is. I'm going through this at the minute (well not got to court yet) but have a caveat in place to stop probate.

@YesThatsATurdOnTheRug but someone would be unlikely to admit it if they were being forced and were scared would they? Like people being bullied hardly ever tell because they are scared what will happen if they do

@alifelived I live in England. @lockheart what if the person was on strong drugs for being terminally I'll at the time of the will being made?

Then if their solicitor was any good there will be a letter of wishes with the will explaining why they did/didn't make provision for a certain person, if the Will was likely to be contested, and they will have a letter from the doctor confirming he's done checks and the person was of sound mind.

Bear in mind these things can drag on for years, and the only people who will see any money for a very long time will be the lawyers and counsel, both of which charge hundreds by the hour.

I don't have any advice but you have my sympathy. As a parent I think this is one of the worse things you could do to a child. As pp have said I'd be cautious of the solicitor giving you false hope in order to earn more month for themselves. Can you see anyway of you and your sibling coming to an arrangement outside of court? Also if you do suspect foul play and abuse is it worth phoning police non emergency to see whether it's something they would investigate, that might provide you with a solid reason for contesting.

And bear in mind that the court could order you to pay ALL of the costs - both sides - not just your own - and the will could still stand meaning the estate is liable for nothing.

If you have legal cover on your car or contents insurance, this could help you.

You would also need to consider when the will was made.
Was it a while ago or are you suggesting it was a recent thing?

The solicitor might have retained a copy of the old will depending on the circumstances.

@SnoozyLou there is a letter of wishes which is basically lies and what my brother manipulated her into saying. There was no letter from a dictirvir capacity tests done.

I’m so sorry but nothing you are saying would raise any alarm bells to contest this will.

You risk literally bankrupting yourself if you go ahead with this. You say yourself you’re a single mum, can you out your child/ren at risk of losing their home etc?

Also the same solicitor who done my mothers will is also the same solicitor my brother is using. So is it not a conflict if interests that they acted on behalf of the deceased and now the sole beneficiary and executor?

I wouldn’t have thought it would be a problem, no.

If she didn't have a PM she must have been seen by a doctor recently when she died then. Doctors are pretty switched on about elder abuse, particularly when someone can't speak, and where there's been a recent injury. I know it's upsetting to have unresolved concerns, but I think you should try to let that part of it go. As for the legal action, it doesn't seem straightforward. I think you really need something that can be demonstrated in court, such as a doctor documenting lack of decision-making capacity at the same time the will was made. (You're unlikely to get that from the solicitor who drew it up as by definition they shouldn't have if they had concerns.) Even if you find that kind of paper trail, it isn't clear that you have a strong enough legal case to take the financial risk of pursuing it, but I think in your shoes I would find it cathartic to do the administrative legwork and it might then help me make a balanced decision about whether to take things any further after all.

The will was made only a month before they died and they was in seriously ill health very underweight, incapable of doing anything for themselves and unable to leave if they were being pressured and on lots of drugs.

As I understand it, their client now is the beneficiary.

Do check you policies. You may already be covered for legal costs on one of them.

Ilovechinese, can you prove any of this stuff?

I know you are hurting, but you will need to prove that your mother did not have capacity, was put under undue influence (not just persuaded) etc.

We can sympathize, but whether the people of MN think it is dodgy or not is not enough, you have to prove that the will is invalid.

It is fine that the solicitor who prepared the will is now defending the will. Remember you are not challenging the other beneficiary, you are challenging the will itself.

You might have a case, no one on MN can tell you you don't. But you need to be aware of the possible fallout from this, mostly financial fallout.

If you lose can you afford to pay both sets of legal fees?

It does sound like capacity wasn't covered. I'd be very careful though and keep an eye on costs mounting up.

But surely it is a conflict of interests if the person set to inherit is using the same solicitors who made the will? Also if I haven't got the money how can they take it? I may have to pay it off in installments for the rest of my life but they cant get what I haven't got can they?

They simply won’t represent you if you can’t pay. Do you rent your home?

Obviously I intend to pay but will have to be in installments which my solocitor has said I can do.

I presume you aren't going to get a no win no fee type of solicitor for this case so I imagine you would have to prove you can pay before one takes up the case for you.

But what installments are you talking about. Is it as they do each piece of work?. There is no way they are going to do a whole case then say here is your bill for 60k pay it off in £50 a month installments.

You will need to raise it with your solicitors. But remember the solicitor is now defending the estate of your mother, they are not exactly defending the beneficiary (though they kind of are if the beneficiary is also the executor). Without know all of the facts in detail no one can tell you there is a conflict, but it simply being the same solicitor is not automatically a problem.

If you have no money, you will struggle to pay your lawyer's initial fees (and you may therefore struggle to find representation). I am not a practicing UK solicitor but it is possible that that you will be required to give an undertaking as to costs as well.

No one here can tell you what you should do, all I can say is that unless the estate is worth a lot and your evidence as to capacity/undue influence is strong it is very likely you will lose more than you will gain.

Do you really want this dragging on for the rest of your life? Really?

Fight by all means, but just go in with your eyes open.

She is dead, gone, the relationship cannot be repaired, all you can do is either move on, or stay stuck in the same horrible circle.

Is it worth it?

It sounds shit. But given what you have said about your DM it's not surprising that she did this.

Please don't waste your time and money on challenging it. Try and live your best life and let this go. Maybe speak to your doctor about it, and look to counselling?

My late GM contested her sisters will...she had dementia and made a new one leaving all to her brother who looked after her. There was a letter from a doctor stating she was of sound mind...she wasn't !..after a year the solicitor advised dropping the case. We settled for a few thousand and some jewellery. My grandmother lost the house left to her in original will and I lost 2 garages. Never had any more contact with that side of family since then. My GM was quite well off so just left the issue as was advised it would drag for years and be very costly.

If they think you don't have the money, they might ask for fees in advance. Otherwise they should interim bill you and keep you aware of costs incurred to date, but if it gets to a point where you're not keeping up, they won't usually act.

Can I just ask - the parent who recently died leaving the estate to your half sibling - was this a biological parent? It's just that when you say your loving parent died, it sounds like ownership passed to their spouse. Even if your loving parent left a Will saying their spouse had to make provision for you, this is incredibly difficult to enforce. Ownership passed to them in full, so they can leave it as they wish. It's whether you reasonably could expect them to make provision for you. If you weren't their biological child, and weren't adopted by the surviving parent, they don't have to leave you anything. Even if you are biologically related, they still don't have to leave you anything if they don't want to, but that's where proof of capacity and the letter of wishes comes in - to prove they knew what they were doing.