Power of attorney and wills

[fatbottomgirl67]

My FIL has very sadly just passed away. We attended the funeral yesterday and my SIL said she had to zoom the solicitors to sign for power of attorney for step MIL. We have no experience of dealing with family deaths but were surprised at this. Step MIL is early 70's and very with it. Is there any reason why this would happen normally?Fil told us last year they had re written their wills so everything was up to date. Now he has passed will the will be read or does it all just pass to step MIL? How do we find out? We cant ask Step MIL for various reasons. We are not after money in any shape or form just a bit puzzled by it all.
TIA

had to zoom the solicitors to sign for power of attorney This doesn't make any sense. Do you mean she rang the solicitor to ask about if there was a will? If there is a will then the executor will have the right to get it from the solicitor.

All we have been told is she had a zoom meeting with solicitors to arrange power of attorney
We think Fil said they had mirror wills. If that is the case what happens? Does the estate all just pass to mil. Are executors needed? Sil is an executor as is bil.

A power of autorney can be put into place at any point but will not come into effect untill the person is classed as haveing no capasity. There are also 2 kinds one is for finance to make decisions re money property ect and one is for welfare ie to make medical decisions on the persons behalf. The person who is giving your Sil poa needs to agree to this and sign the documents when they have capasity and fully understant what it meeans.
It may be just taking care of the future.

Maybe mil decided now was a good time to put her future plans in place by writing up a poa which is sensible. With the Will whoever has it will open it and carry out his wishes. Do you know where his Will is. It is up to the Executors to go through the Will, pay any debts, tax, distribute any money or items.

A mirror will is essentially where they each have the same will written for them. So they leave their estate in exactly the same way eg to the surviving spouse and on that person's death to be divided equally between their two children.

Sounds fine except that either person can change their own will at any time. So your step- MIL could now write a new will and leave her estate to her sister or her child from a previous marriage without including her child from the marriage to your FIL.

If your step-MIL is in good health, a POA can only be put in place with her consent. You can have more than one person named as equal POA which might be a good idea. POA come in two forms, one for financial decisions and one for medical/care/personal.

Wills are not read but once probate has been granted are public documents on the government website.

Who are the executors of their wills?

The Executors of the Will can read it before Probate, if needed, is granted.

So if they were mirrored wills would you still need to go through probate? (Sorry for all the questions just no clue at all)
If that was the case how do we view the will online? We cannot ask executors. We have little doubt Step mil will write new will and exclude My husband. Not an issue. It's expected. We're just curious to see how it has all been left by fil

You can find a lot of info online via the Gov.UK site. Probate is not always needed depending on the amount of assets. He might of just left everything to mil and the house and bank accounts might all be in joint names anyway so it would pass to her. The Will might say he also leaves xxxx to xxxx which the Executors have to arrange. His Will cannot be altered in any way. If mil inherits all his share then she is free to arrange a codicil which is an updated Will. You should be able to buy a copy of his Will and I think also any Probate info from Gov.UK site. We had to wait about a year but just look on their site. If he has specifically left anything to your dh now or when she dies then you can challenge that thru a solicitor.

HappyHammy thank you . That's really helpful

I am not a legal expert but just have had to sort out quite a few Wills in my own family. I will see if I can find info.
www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-may-aug-2018/who-is-entitled-to-read-a-will-after-death/

sorry that link didn't work
www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate

www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/if-youre-an-executor

www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/family/death-and-wills/wills/#h-getting-a-copy-of-the-will-when-probate-has-been-granted

Thank you x

In case anyone reading this is in Scotland the position there is different with children ,whatever age,having a claim on the moveable estate