Will not being adhered to

[ProfessorHannigan]

An great-uncle of mine recently died and had said previously on many occiasions that I would be named in his will. He asked my Mum for my details (address etc) a couple of years ago. My Mum, who was very close to him would also have been mentioned. His son, who is... unreliable and.... unconvential often up to no good I presumably the executor of the will. Neither myself or my Mum have heard anything about the Will. His son, however plans to move to France now
Is there a way if getting hold of a Will? How would I know if he's destroyed it as he is the next of kin. I'm not bothered about the money (as uncle wasn't a particularly wealthy man) but the principle is annoying me...

If there is a will, the executors generally have to apply for probate (unless there is less money than probate limit, which is quite low).

You can check the probate register, and when estate is registered, the will is public property and you can access it for a fee (£10 I think).

Until then however, you have no way of knowing if there is a will, apart from asking the son, or ringing around local solicitors, but as you are not next of kin, that may look odd.

When did GU die? It can take time for probate and until then the executors cannot give any money out. It is possible you are in the will and just haven't had a payout. Equally, your GU may have been great for saying things to people, but not actioning them. Maybe he never updated an old will, or even had a will?

A cousin of mine died a couple of years ago. Everytime he visited his solicitors (almost annually it seems) he would visit another cousin locally and she heard many versions of where his money was going, including all to friends, and all to cousins' DC. The latter was what was in the actual will, written about 4yrs before he died!

I've used this website: probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills which is probably the one that Kath is referring to, but it can take a while for any record to show up.

Of the two cases I've got the will/probate records for from that site, it takes about two months from the date of death to the issuing of probate. But that might vary from one district to another.

I haven't been able to find a definitive limit for when probate isn't required but some info says £5,000.

When I ordered the wills/probates on that gov website for cases I was interested in, I got an email that those documents were available and logged in to download them in pdf format. I downloaded them and then decided for myself when to look at them, which was better than a brown envelope arriving through the letter box.

I only wanted to see for myself how the estates were to be distributed. It wasn't about any money.