Will Query

[WowIlikereallyhateyou]

Hi Folks,
My father died and knew he was dying. His wife, not my mother contacted me two weeks after his death to tell me he had died. Apparently he got his house in order, and did all the legal stuff beforehand.
Long story,but he was an appalling father, absent all my life,providing no financial support to me or my mum whatsoever.
My question is, if he decided to leave me anything in his will, how long would if be before I was contacted? Is there anyway I can find out who he left things to, if i dont know who his solictor was? His wife is not approachable.
Many thanks

Death was in Scotland

Wills are public documents once someoneis dead. Obviously they are private during the lifetime of the person but once they die and the will is accepted as legally valid (a process called probate or confirmation) - you will be able to apply to the courts to see a copy.

www.livbrown.co.uk/private-client/wills/legal-rights-of-children-of-the-deceased-in-scotland it's quite difficult to completely disinherit a child in Scotland. Even if the will doesn't mention you, you may still have a claim.

In Scotland you get one third of movable assets no matter what he writes in his will.

Many thanks that is very interesting.
My mother was awarded maintenance for me 40 yrs ago, and we never saw a penny of it,as my father moved from uk to scotland. So, you never know!

Thanks, My father was such a b***d he probably gave everything away to his wife to avoid doing that!

Sorry, not wishing to drip feed,but i have a sister who is the golden child so she will have been specifically mentioned to receive monies over me. And from what i read there can be trusts specially setup for this in scotland?

In Scotland, a third of the moveable assets are shared amongst all children no matter if a specific mention of just one. So, for example, if he left 20K to your sister and there was nothing left over, you would both get 10K each.

The "movable assets" may not be much though. The definition specifically excludes property/land (so that eg the family farm can be keft in its entirety to one child without it having to be subdivided) so it depends on how much of the assets are invested in ways that meets that definition.