civil partnership and will

[mypussyiscalledCaramel]

My mum died last year. I'm fairly certain she left a will (she was a control freak), have heard nothing. The last time anything was discussed, there was a black book with various inheritance details in it. My ds1 was supposed to get one of the houses and he could either carry on renting or I could move in.
I don't have anything to do with either side of the family due to HUGE problems with mental health and triggers (on my part).
Their civil ceremony happened in 2006.
What do I need to do to find out about her will?
I have spoken to stepmum twice since mum died and she believes that oldest son inherets everything.
I don't want to deal with her, she has proven herself to be very manipulative.
Help!

Wills become public I think at grant of probate so you could probably try a google search for how you get hold of them. There are only very limited exception such as royal family wills. All others are public but not immediately on death just when the executor applies.Do you know your mother's lawyers. If so write to her solicitors and ask them.

A remarriage (not sure about civil partnership but probably the same) affects a pre existing will though.

I am not sure if this summary is accurate:

"How does Marriage / Divorce affect my Will?

Marriage revokes a will.

This means that if your will was written before you got married / entered into a civl partnership and you did not state in it that you were intending to the will will be null and void
You need to write a new one

Divorce does not revoke a will

Until you get the decree absolute you are legally still married/in a civil partnership. However, when this is received the rest of the will is valid but your ex-spouse/civil partner is deemed to have died on the day the decree absolute came into force
You do not need to write a new one but may feel you want to"

Thankyou

I have spoken to stepmum twice since mum died and she believes that oldest son inherets everything

Does she think this is the case if there is no will? That's not true at all if so. If there is a spouse then they will inherit and if not all the children will share the inheritance.

Not sure if civil partners automatically inherit if there is no will.

This is an interesting read:

www.civilpartnerships.org.uk/InheritingIfThereIsNoWill.htm

Not sure if civil partners automatically inherit if there is no will

A civil partner has the same rights to inherit as a spouse. They will definitely get some of the estate if there is no will. Whether or not they will get all of it depends on the size of the estate and whether or not the deceased has any surviving children, grandchildren, etc. There is a guide to who inherits what on the government website here.

Thank you again.
Assuming there is a will, because I can't believe mum would be that daft, would it be a good idea to ask the solicitors who I believe dealt with their legal stuff

I have just been on the direct.gov website and nothing comes up yet

If you followed my link it takes you to a calculator on the gov.uk website. Click on "Start now" and answer the questions to find out how the estate would be distributed if someone dies without making a will.

I think the civil partner would get the first £250k and the balance is divided half to the civil partner and half to various children and grandchildren from memory IF no will.

I would as you say check with the solicitors who did her legal stuff as they can probably tell you if a new will were made after the civil partnership was entered into.

SO it looks like the 2006 civil partnership would revoke the original will. If she did not make another then £250k and half the estate to civil partner and rest to children. However she may well have made a new will which left everything just to the children not the civil partner or a mixture so finding the new =will is crucial. There is no central register/compulsory registration of wills so tracking them down can be hard. Sometimes lawyers advertise - has your firm got the last will of XYZ who lived at abc street.