How long is a Will valid?

[Trainfromredhill]

DM made a will 25 years ago shortly after DF died suddenly and unexpectly. The 3 DC were teens at the time. It was done with a solicitor and guardians and trustees were established. The only thing I know about the will, aside from the name is one of the trustees, was that it stipulated that any assets would be divided equally between the 3 DC. The DC (of which I am one) are adults now.
does this will still stand after such a long time. DM hasn’t remarried or have any partner, if that makes a difference.

Yes it's still valid. The only way to revoke a Will is either Marriage or a new Will.

I'm not a lawyer, although I do have a (quite old now) law degree. As i understand it, the will remains valid unless it is replaced/superseded by another. I don't think they are in any way time limited, although it is good practice to update them if/when circumstances change.

Presumably the guardians become irrelevant once the dc all reached 18 - what about the trustees?

Yes guardianship clause lapses once all children tech 18

Trustees continue.

I made a will almost 15 years ago when I only had 1 dc, I have since had another dc who was not in my will as it was obvs made before they were born. I have not got around to making a new will but if anything happens to me before I do make a new will will dc 2 not get anything or could they contest it as it was made before they were born? I'd obviously like my assets to be equally split between both dc.

if the will used fairly standard language it would set up the trust until the youngest child reached 18 (or 21 or whatever). even if the trust still existed, the 3 beneficiaries can break it.

99redballoons, you should check your will. It is highly likely it says your estate will be "divided equally between my children" (and probably include a clause for if one of your children predeceases you leaving children) but well worth checking.

Your second DC could contest the will, may not succeed or your first DC could give them 50%, or refuse. The best thing would be to update your will. In your case I would put it on a To Do list to complete before September, fe.

OP yes, the will is still valid.

Thank you everyone. Second question, how would I find it? The one Trustee is a cousin who has probably forgotten she is a trustee. I have no idea what solicitor was involved. I can’t ask DM as any questions regarding getting her affairs in order are met with ‘it’s like you want me dead’.

@99redballoonsgobyy DH and I update our will every 5 years or so and have the will writer contact us to remind us. Once you’ve done the first one it only takes 1/2 hr.

Why do you want to see it? It’s not really any of your business.

Second question, how would I find it?

search and if you don’t find a will then you’d have to deal with the estate as if there was no will - as you can’t find one. Added to which if your DM will not talk about it then you can’t carry out her wishes when she’s gone.

perhaphs explaining that you don’t wish her dead you want to make sure you honour her wishes in life but will be unable to do so which will be incredibly sad for all of you. That you’ll try and work it out but without stuff in order it’ll be impossible

solicitors register them with the national will register these days, and keep the original whilst your mum may have a copy in the house.

A will is valid, however old it is. A copy of the will would be stored at the solicitor that drafted it, and can usually be found with the persons personal papers, insurance policies etc. Why are you concerned about it?

Why do you want to see it? It’s not really any of your business.

of course it’s op business she will be left trying to figure it all out. Probate doesn’t just miraculously sort itself out and executors may well be dead

@LittleBearPad i don’t want to see it. I want to know where to find it when she dies- it may be that it is stored at a solicitors and she has no copy at home. I have no idea who the solicitor would be.

But probate is relevant after death. It’s not needed pre-death when OP’s mum could make a new will anytime she likes.

But the op has the option of asking her mum now not, so is presumably weighing up wether it is worth the potential upset of pushing for information or if there will be other avenues to finding it when the time comes.

This has got me thinking. I have no idea where our will is now! We made our wills when we only hand two children - we now have five who are all adults - and we left the will with the solicitor for safekeeping. He was a sole practitioner. His practice is long gone (he was elderly and acted for my parents when they purchased their first property in the 60's!) So I have no idea where our wills would be now. Time to write new ones.

Does your DM know about you updating your will every 5 years, the will writer etc?
If not, you could ask her advice,
"What did you do when you made your will Mum, were the solicitors good? Where do they store it? Did they send a copy to the executors or did you do that? I'm worried they might not find the will if I die, what should I do?"
Might NOT work, but worth a punt...
Check out the laws of intestacy where you are, though - it may well be that the will makes bog-all difference (although it's still a pain knowing it's there and having to look for it). She may know this and that's partly why she DGAF.
You could ask the trustee cousin, as she might have been given a copy of at least know who the solicitors were.
The other reason it's worth checking is that she may have made a solicitor or bank an executor. This tends to make probate both slow and expensive, so if you find this out you can at least, well, lobby for DC (that is, you + sibling(s)) to be made executors instead, or at least resign yourselves to waiting ages for probate to be done while the solicitors take a big chunk of the estate (joy).

@LittleBearPad whats the issue with wanting to know where it’s stored or with which solicitor it’s registered? Surely that’s easier than going through all DMs personal belongings When she’s died trying to find a will that may or may not be there?

It will depend on the wording of your will.

A good solicitor would have not limited your children to just the one living child unless you specified them to I so. It would just mention any living children you have at the time of your death, so DC2 would inherit equally with your first child.

@Fenella123 yes. Several times. We had a huge fall out a few years ago because she wouldnt make a power of attorney- DH and I were doing ours. (again, ‘you want me dead’- I had to point out that POA only works when you are ALIVE). She agreed after her sister intervened.

But probate is relevant after death. It’s not needed pre-death when OP’s mum could make a new will anytime she likes.

no point in leaving a will if you’re not going to tell your off spring where the relevant will is located. Not like they can ask later when it does become their business to deal with

if I didn’t tell my D.C. and they didn’t find it, and they did administration instead, that’s be pointless me leaving a will and paying etc 🤷‍♀️

You can do a will search here: probatesearch.service.gov.uk/. If you find it online, there's a charge of £1.50 (and you have to create an account with Gov.uk) to get a copy emailed to you.

Here's the information about it from the Gov.uk site: probatesearch.service.gov.uk/help

Hope this is helpful.

@REP22 can you do that while they are still alive??? I wouldn’t have thought you can look up Anyones will and download a copy!

It will become the OP's business pretty rapidly when the DM dies and nobody knows where to find the will or how to confirm her final wishes.

Its just silly not to make sure your immediate family know where to access a will and who is expected to execute it, even if you don't want to share the contents.