Suggestions and advice please about my late fathers will.

[Lorelailovesluke]

My df died i n April and his wife and an old friend are executors. However I still do not know what his Will said. When I ask it is all very vague and promises of soon.

Now I do not think I am being cheated, I do not even think there will be any money as it will all be left to his wife, but the fact is I do not know.

Also there are still some items belonging to my late mother that I would like.

I know that once probate is granted it will be in the public domain, but I do not think we have probate yet.

I want to remain on good terms but am at a loss of what to do, any ideas?

I think probate has to legally be done within 6 months. You can register for a copy with the local office that is doing it. They will then send you a copy. I can't remember how much it costs. My sister did thus recently as my fathers wife stopped responding to our emails.

The probate office don't tell anyone so they would never know.

Thanks reup, I will look into that.

That is exactly what I want to find out but no one to know that I have.

Could you not say to his wife that you would appreciate having those items that belonged to your Mother?

The 6 month time constraint for applying for probate is only applicable if the values of the estate minus its debts is above the inheritance tax threshold. If it falls below this figure then the 6 month limit is not applicable.
(Have recently been involved in a family members probate application and it took 15 months from the date of death and the estate value was below the inheritance tax threshold).

Are they using a solicitor? If so, if you could get the details then you could write to them and ask for a copy of the Will. If you are a beneficiary, then they should let you have a copy. If you wait until probate is granted, you can apply to the principal registry for a copy of the probate and will. It costs £5, I think. You can get details from the gov.uk website. I think you might even be able to supply DF's details to the court and even is a grant of probate hasn't been taken out yet, they will send a copy of the probate once they've issued it.

There is no obligation to seek a grant of probate, the obligation would only extend to making a return for Inheritance Tax purposes - which is a separate process and must be done before the grant can be applied for. Last time I looked at this the period was 12 months, but it may have changed recently. 6 months seems a short time when there may be professional valuations etc to gather before completing the return.

You can enter a standing search (which lasts 6 months I think) with the probate registry so that you would be notified if a grant is issued. The executors would not be informed of this so nobody would know.

You can apply for a standing search so that you will be notified as soon as probate is granted. You can receive a copy of the grant of probate and the will. The cost is £6.

See link

www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/courts/probate/pa10.pdf