What if a will is found years after estate was distributed?

[EcclefechanTart]

Does anyone know the answer to this? It was assumed the person had died intestate (I suspect a now-deceased relative found and deliberately destroyed a will), but if the copy lodged with the solicitors is now found, what would happen? It's in England in case that makes a difference.

Thank you!

I don't know the answer but interested to find out.

I believe you can re-open the estate just as if a lot of new assets were found etc. Although if people have had and spent the money may be you cannot get the money back?

Thank you for the replies. The person who actually gained from it (who I suspect destroyed the will) has herself recently died leaving quite a large amount - so the money is definitely there. I'm just not very sure how to go about re-opening the original estate, or if it would be worth it.

I guess the first stage would be trying to find which solicitor was used (although they may no longer be in business!) and if they still hold a copy of the will. Is that likely if it was 15+ years ago?

I do realise I need to get proper legal advice. I just wanted to know first if it is (a) possible and (b) feasible, before I commit time and money to this.

I have a follow-up question, if anyone can help? I have looked on the official probate search website, and I can't find any record of this death/estate at all. How is that possible? I am certain of the name and the year.

I don't know enough about the area. All wills except royal family should be public but only a while after probate is granted so it might depend on timing.

Solicitors will find wills. Just after my father died his solicitor from his 1970 will wrote to us (!!) to say their firm was ceasing and they had the will. He had in fact made later wills with the solicitor he;d used since the 80s so we received that old original one back and destroyed it but that shows plenty of solicitors will keep them for a long time. Not everyone uses a solicitor to keep them. Mine is at home.

I do recommend people send copies too to all family members. My father always did that if he changed is will so we all knew exactly where we stood.

When would probate not have to be granted? This person didn't own a house at the time of death, but did have a lot of money in the bank. I thought probate was always necessary if the estate wasn't a tiny sum.

The death was in the 1990s, and I've searched several years on either side. Nothing is turning up though. I can't understand what has happened.

when my df died he left a will but we never needed to get probate.

There was no house only savings/insurance and all the banks/building societies/insurance involved were happy to just accept the death certificate and then paid the monies to the executor account (which was just a joint account my db and df had created when df was unable to get out of the house).

Seems to depend on the amounts involved as to whether or not you need probate to claim the money. This means there is no record of my dfs will on official search site.

Thanks - that's helpful. So my relative could just have destroyed the will and contacted banks/building societies etc to release the funds to him without ever going through probate?

If so, I guess this means there is no way to find out how much money she left. So it's probably not worth trying to find any remaining copies of the will. How depressing. The person who died was absolutely insistent she didn't want her money to go to him - and yet he got his hands on all of it.

Roughly how much was it? If a lot might be worth persisting, if not probably not worth the costs and bother.

The statute of limitations which will determine whether you can contest the distribution of an estate after so many years. I suspect 15 years is outside the limitation period but it would be worth your asking a solicitor this question before trying to find any will.

I think it was about £20-30k - not a vast sum but a lot in the 1990s. This is why I'm confused that probate/administration doesn't ever seem to have been granted.

The relative who (probably) destroyed the will has himself just died, leaving quite a large estate. The money will now pass to his children I guess.

I saw that there was a limited period in which one could contest distribution of an estate, but apparently in cases of will fraud there is no time limit. Does this count as will fraud?

And does anyone have any suggestions how to work out which solicitor drew up the will?

I think the Limitation Act 1980 may well not make this statute barred though if there were fraud, bit like HMRC can go back as long as they like if there is fraud.

So was there no will at death that was found but now one has turned up?

If you have the missing will then I would make sure you wrote to the executors of the fraudster by special delivery ASAP warning them and telling them not to make any distribution of this fraudster's assets pending this new investigation.

I am the executor of the fraudster!!

Oh my goodness.

And no, I don't have the missing will, but I have long suspected that something dodgy had happened. In the last few days I have discovered that 4 other people also think that the fraudster destroyed the will. The woman who died in the 1990s told 5 of us that had made a will which disinherited the fraudster, and apparently the fraudster hinted to one of them that he had done something he shouldn't have re. the inheritance.

Sorry, that should have read "told 5 of us that she had made a will which disinherited..."

The fraudster got into her house first and told us all there was no will. But I am now wondering if the woman's solicitor (if still in business) would still have a copy.

I thought that wills had to be registered somewhere centrally in England? So there would be evidence that it had existed?

Most people back then would have done a Will through local solicitors. It's worth writing to them all and asking of they wrote a Will & see if they have a copy.

I was shocked to find out that there is no real national/central registry. There is a private company which now offers to register wills in a central database, but this is new and wouldn't have been an option in the 1990s.

There is no official register of wills and the vast majority are never registered anywhere.

Solicitors every week put paid adverts in the legal press saying - Do you hold the will of Jane Mary Smith died XYZ lived at ABC.... That is used regularly to try to find which local solicitor might hold the original will or a copy.

If you are the executor of the alleged fraudster and a potential beneficiary under the first estate or the fraudster's estate you might be subject to a bit of conflict of interest and you might even want someone else to wind the estate up so no one blames you later for getting it wrong or preferring yourself or whatever.