How can I find someone's WILL and if any wrong doings have been done?

[MorningCuppa]

Hi, my friends father has passed away, it is very complicated, he passed from old age she think.
However friend had limited contact as she lives in a different country, father lived in England.
He wasn’t married at time of passing but he did live with a lady friend who he had lived with for many years.
For a week after her father died, the lady friend was texting my friend pretending to be her father until she eventually told my friend her father had died a week before and what she had done.
This lady will not speak to my friend or have any communication with regards to her fathers Will etc.
Is there a way you can find people’s WiLLS? This is a recent death only 2 months ago so can’t find it on the will and probable service online.

Should my friend go to the police? She is in England now and trying to get answers but no luck so far.

If it goes to probate then it becomes a public document and anyone can get a copy however if you have already looked and its not there... Maybe it hasn't passed through probate yet?

Are you sure he even left a will? If not or if he had nothing to leave and it doesn't need to go to probate, then there is nothing you can do. The Police won't be able to help.

Yes he definitely had a Will and did have assets, my friend has been in contact with her father and saw him a year ago but then his health went down hill.

Did he use a solicitor, who was executor on the one she saw?

You can do a standing search, so a copy comes to you when the Will goes to probate.

Yes he did use a solicitor but she can’t track the solicitor down, has been to 2 addresses that they were registered at but they are no longer there, his friend was an executor, but she won’t communicate since his passing.

How do you do a standing search please Mrs?

www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/searching-for-probate-records

Scroll down to the heading about getting a standing search.

Thank you Mrs, I will pass this on.

If the solicitor is no longer there eg retired and sold the business, whoever bought the business will become the new executor (if original solicitor was executor). Solicitors have a duty to transfer wills and other documents to another practice when they retire. A google search should reveal who bought the practice, failing that just walk into the nearest practice to the original one and ask if they know.

As far as I know, two months is a very short time in probate terms and it would be very unlikely indeed that an executor could get probate within two months from the death.

However, what your friend needs is to get in touch with the partner now, not wait till probate has been granted, as (a) that day might never come and (b) if she is concerned about securing her rights under the will she needs to make sure asap that there is a valid will, an executor who has agreed to act and that she is named in the will.

Even then, isn't is possible that if her late father had transferred all his assets into joint names or even outright to his partner, there is now nothing left to inherit.

Very complex. I think she needs legal advice, to be honest.

Probate can be granted within a couple of weeks. The estate can take months to settle.
As an interested party/possible claimant your friend could enter a caveat, which could stop the process of anyone else getting probate. I think you might need the death certificate though.
HMRC- probate are very helpful, she should phone them.
www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/stopping-a-grant-of-representation