Did she leave a will ?

[FippertyGibbett]

Is it possible to find out if my mum left a will 25 years ago ?
Mum’s friends are adamant that she ‘took care of things’ but I was never asked to attend a will reading and her house has been sold by her husband. I assume probate was settled.
The only thing I can assume is that she wrote a post office one and he disposed of it.
I know it was a long time ago but it just keeps coming back to me.

I think a relative disposed of another family member's will a number of years ago. She was the sort of person who would have arranged her affairs. If Solicitors were involved, they post in a solicitors gazette to try and establish if any hold a will for someone who dies intestate, but that doesn't help if it was a DIY type.
It's not a pleasant feeling Fibberty

Probate registry can check for you, but if it was 25 years ago it might be on Ancestry or Find MyPast.

I’ve just been on probate registry and it’s not there.

@FippertyGibbett

I’ve just been on probate registry and it’s not there.

Was the probate there? If so and there was no will with it then there was no will or if there was, it wasn't "used" which would be shocking but you'd never be able to find out. Sorry.

I did the advanced search and it’s showing no one with her name.
If someone dies without a will, isn’t probate used to dispose of houses/money etc ?
Do you have probate if there is a will ? I’m wondering if he could have forged a post office type will ?

Is it listed under her maiden name perhaps? Did you check the (several) years after her death? Had she definitely made a new will after marrying him?
Or worse, could her husband still be pretending she is alive and claiming her pension?

It's also possible the property was transferred to her husband without probate if that was the only asset and that she just left everything to him as is often the case.

My father died before my mum and everything went to her. We would have inherited from her when she died, except she'd spent it all (good on her!).

Sorry I can't be more encouraging.

I am my mother’s only child.
She did not tell me that she had made a will, but we never had those sort of conversations as she died young.
I never asked her husband about a will as I expected I would be told if I had been left anything, I assumed she died without making a will.
I have recently been in contact with my mum’s friends again and they are shocked that I got nothing, they are adamant that she said many times that she had made provision for me.
I have found out things after her death that show that her husband was not as nice as I thought he was, when she was alive. It wouldn’t surprise me if he had done something devious to inherit.
I just wondered if I could find out if there was a will or not, and if I could see a copy if there was ?

There was the house she owned with him, half a house from her mother and any money in accounts. I know she had at least one of her own accounts.

Both of those houses have since been sold.
I know it was long time ago and I can’t change anything now, but I just need to know the truth.

If she owned the house with her husband as joint tenants it would automatically have become his when she died. It would not form part of her estate.

Similarly, if the half a house she inherited from her mother was owned as joint tenants it would automatically have become the property of the other owner.

Given that the houses have been sold without anyone getting probate that is the most likely scenario.

Do you have probate if there is a will

No, you don't. However, if your mother owned a property outright or as tenants in common, probate would have been required.

So I’ve looked at everyone with her surname, and maiden name, in the year she died and she’s not on the probate register.
I was never asked to the reading of a will.
I know that her husband took ownership of my mum’s half of her mum’s house.
So what are the possible scenarios ?
She died without leaving a will - how would I know ?
He forged a will - can I see a copy of that will, will it be filed somewhere ?
Is there any way I can find out what happened ?

is there any way you can find out if the house/s were in her name ? You might start there

My mum and her sister inherited a half each of their mum’s house so I assume that half was in her name. They kept the house and rented it out, and after she died her sister and husband continued to rent it out until it was sold.

There are no "reading the will" events in the UK. It is only a plot device in films.

If she left a will and property of money needed to be transferred from her sole ownership to someone else, there will be a record at the probate registry.

If anyone forged a will, they would have needed to get probate, or letters of administration. Either way, there would be a record in the probate registry if this had been been been the case.

I know that her husband took ownership of my mum’s half of her mum’s house

Are you sure? Probate would have been needed for this to happen. A more likely scenario is that your mother and her sister owned the house as joint tenants. If that was the case, when your mother died the house would automatically have belonged to your aunt. She would have been able to sell it without needing probate.

We NEED a 'National Wills Register', where copies of wills can/should be deposited, and subsequently located. Has no-one ever proposed this ? My step-father made a will, but left the only copy with a solicitor - which solicitor (years later), he couldn't remember ! It took a lot of effort to sort out the subsequent imbroglio. As they say.....'die tidily'.

Depends on her estate when she died.
The house could have been transferred straight to her husband if joint owned same with shared finances such as joint bank account. There is a limit for probate. If her estate was below the limit at which probate was required, then no probate would be registered. The limit would depend on when she died.

@oldmotherriley

We NEED a 'National Wills Register', where copies of wills can/should be deposited, and subsequently located. Has no-one ever proposed this ? My step-father made a will, but left the only copy with a solicitor - which solicitor (years later), he couldn't remember ! It took a lot of effort to sort out the subsequent imbroglio. As they say.....'die tidily'.

Yes we do.. ! The current system is shocking and open to abuse.

My mil had a modest lottery win just prior to he death. DH sister forged a will leaving her money to this daughter and nothing to other children. We didn't have the means to challenge it. The sister bought a house outright and cut all contact... Wills should be deposited in a central depository by the Will maker.

@oldmotherriley

We NEED a 'National Wills Register', where copies of wills can/should be deposited, and subsequently located. Has no-one ever proposed this ? My step-father made a will, but left the only copy with a solicitor - which solicitor (years later), he couldn't remember ! It took a lot of effort to sort out the subsequent imbroglio. As they say.....'die tidily'.

Amen to this.

By law. A register that publicly shows the date of the latest one and where it's stored. That's all anyone needs to know.

There are several places that you can deposit wills already

My parents had their will with NationalWillSafe
When they had there wills done a few years ago the solicitor did this for them and gave them a card with all the details on where the will was kept and the unique reference number that was for my parents will.
My parents showed me it and I took a screen shot with all the details on the card which I kept .
When my mum passed away it’s was just a case of ringing the company sending a copy of the death certificate and I got my mums will back within days