my brothers contesting my mothers will i have a question

[masterofdoomv1]

he has claimed that i bullied our mother to leave me the house and claims that there was a previous will saying he was to get half the house and me half but i wasnt told anything about this even if true he claims this will was made in the late 1990s and since then he had no relationship with our mother until two years ago when he became ill due to drinking and needed a liver transplant he was kept informed before this of our mothers and fathers falling healing due to illnessess they both had but didnt bother.

his lawyer is asking for details of gp social work and carers so they can check records and i wondered if this takes weeks or if it takes months as i feel like a nervous wreck being there for our our parents for the last two years of theyre life which was difficuilt and not getting any support from family members now theres money involved theyre interested all of a sudden and im tired of the whole thing it seems to be constant

I imagine it could take ages because it sounds a complex situation.

Is he rich? My Mum contested my Grandfather’s will (super long story but it was quiet dodgy). After 18 months and £21k she got exactly nowhere. Contesting a will is long and expensive, sit tight and try not to worry.

Your brother wore you down leaving you to care for your parents.
He’s trying to wear you down again now.

He can go to hell.

Hold on OP.

sorry, no advice and it's horrible that you're in this situation but why is it that these family members bugger off during the years preceding death and then all of a sudden come out the woodwork when parents die and EXPECT their fair share of any estate proceeds?! it beggars belief. If I had NC with my parents, I wouldn't expect a single penny from their estate or dream of enquiring as to whether I was a beneficiary because I imagine I would have had a reason to go NC ergo, lost entitlement to anything?!

honeybee not complex at all theres a brother who sat back did nothing for his parents who had parkisons and copd he was kept informed of what was going on chose not to get in touch on top of that our father had a heart attack and mother had a stroke again this brother was told didnt bother going to see them in hospital then later lied claimed he wasnt told then never bother going to his fathers funeral the only reason he went to our mothers funeral was because he knew she had house at this point and savings from our father as everything went to her when our father passed away the sad thing is out mother had £30000 in savings after fees the money was to be divided equally but this brother has decided to be greedy and as far as i know him and his partner have well paid jobs they rent a 4 bedroom bungalow in edinburgh which cant be cheap and do a lot of travelling

and onlyhuman my point exactly since our parents have died its sad that thats when peoples mask slip and show theyre true colours anyway ill bbl i have an appointment

Sorry for your loss
Contesting a will costs £££ and takes quite a while (depending on where you live, as scottish inheritance law is different to english & welsh). Depending on the value of your DM estate he may well end up out of pocket!

Did he get left anything at all? My understanding is that if a sum is left for all children, no matter how unequal, it's harder to contest. If they've left him out entirely he may have an easier time of it.

Has he contested it legally? Or is he just saying this? I’m sure it will be fine in the end, OP. Many people make wills and then rewrite them as the years go by. So long as the latest one you have is legal, there’s nothing to worry about.

Are you in Scotland, OP? I believe there are some significant differences in the law around wills between Scotland and the rest of the UK. Anyway, your solicitor will set you straight. Good luck.

Depends on jurisdiction. Who is the executor? Might be an idea to delay any distribution of the cash? I see he lives in Scotland but if the deceased lived in England then might be an idea to let them incur expenses in any claim and sit tight. The executor should take advice from their legal advisor/solicitor. Not obstruct but not facilitate enquiries about capacity. If the current will was properly created then the existence of any previous will might be broadly irrelevant.

Good luck.

Did your parents live in Scotland?

Hi OP. This is my area of work. GP/hospital/medical notes have to be supplied within 40 days of the request for them (not all Trusts keep to this deadline, but that's the legal deadline).

If you make a Will it automatically revokes any previous Will made so unless it's a mirror Will made in the past with say a deceased spouse, the new Will stands regardless.

Contesting Wills is very expensive and has a very low success rate. Your brother would have to prove that he was financially dependant on your mother or she provided other services that are quantifiable.

Oh - yes this is English law, not Scottish. That's very different for probate matters

His lawyer is presumably looking for evidence to prove that she no longer had the capacity to understand what she was doing when she named you as beneficiary. Either that or she was vulnerable enough to be coerced or browbeaten into it by you.

You need legal advice as soon as possible, and don't hand over any information until you have proper advice.

Try not to worry OP. Overturning a will is very very difficult indeed and rightly so. It would cost him an eyewatering sum to do so too. He is probably truing to bully you into handing over half - don't and don't provide him with any documentation unless forced to.

I had all this with my sister. My Dad left her a sum of money though so although the will was unbalanced, it wasn't totally so. She hadn't been near him in fifteen years and expected half of a house I had paid to keep up together!

Hi OP, if you are asking how long the GP/SW will take to process this - it won't be painstakingly long. For access to the written notes/files there is a set amount of time to respond however if the solicitor wished to make contact with the SW by telephone, he could be provided with a verbal overview of the circumstances there and then.

The only difficulty you may run into is if your parents had any memory problems/cognitive decline before re-writing the will. Makes it a little trickier if their mental capacity at time of making will can be brought into question.
This information would be recorded by both SW and GP.

@Justcallmebebes

Hi OP. This is my area of work. GP/hospital/medical notes have to be supplied within 40 days of the request for them (not all Trusts keep to this deadline, but that's the legal deadline).

If you make a Will it automatically revokes any previous Will made so unless it's a mirror Will made in the past with say a deceased spouse, the new Will stands regardless.

Contesting Wills is very expensive and has a very low success rate. Your brother would have to prove that he was financially dependant on your mother or she provided other services that are quantifiable.

Who has the authority to obtain the deceased's records?

I presume the Trust is not going to be sending out multiple copies of the file to all family members who request a copy?

If I were the OP I would buy a file and hole punch, stick the correspondence on it and ignore it.

We are currently in the position of challenging a will and coming up to mediation. Provided your mother was in her right mind when she wrote the Will and it is legal (signature witnessed by 2 other people), preferably drawn up by a solicitor, you brother can just do one. He hasn't a cat in hells chance of contesting this will. He is self sufficient and is not/was not financially dependent on your mother.

Your mother's wishes top his claim.

His lack of care for your parents and whether he can afford to go travelling now aren’t relevant.
How old is the will that you’ve got, was it drawn up by a solicitor / will writer, and was your mum of sound mind when she wrote it?

I daresay the 1990s will could be true. Afterall, before you’d provided extensive care, why wouldn’t they have split it equally? But it doesn’t matter if the newer will is valid.

Will they need the executor's assistance or explicit permission before securing any information from the GP/hospital/SW so they will need more than details. Might be an idea to take a breath and have a chat with the lawyer and see what's best rather than have the executor do more than the minimum required in advance of any proceedings.

I find your posts confusing, so I name searched to see if I could answer my own questions.

So, it is a proper will. Drawn up by a lawyer. 4 years old so far from last minute. Same lawyer you’ve engaged now. And that lawyer brought 2 independent witnesses at the time of signing, to confirm she was in sound mind.

Given all that, I don’t think anyone on here can reassure your any more than your professional can. And it sounds pretty reassuring!

And none of your other 5 brothers are contesting this?

I believe if your parents lived in Scotland, they can't disinherit one of their children. But that's just based on what I've read on MN and some googling. So if they lived in Scotland, I would imagine whether he was left anything at all is going to be key.

Wills and a sniff of money bring out people’s true colours like nothing else. Hold fast OP, let him waste his time, energy and money.