Will/estate question

[Linnet]

Father in law died in March, his wife(step mother to dh) is the executor of his Will. There is a property abroad involved in the estate as well as property in the UK, we understand this could make it all a bit more complicated. She has also cut off all contact with the entire family on FIL’s side, nobody can message or email or phone her as she doesn’t respond.

So far she has instructed two solicitors to administrate the estate and has then fired/cancelled them both. We’re now waiting to hear from whoever she chooses next to be the solicitors administrating the estate.

The last/most recent solicitor sent dh a letter telling him what he was due to inherit from the Will although they could only advise on assets within the UK and not the property abroad. Dh asked the solicitor if he could have a copy of the Will and the next thing we know the solicitor says they’re no longer dealing with the estate.
Funnily enough this is the same thing that happened with the first solicitor, we asked a question next thing she’s fired/cancelled them and will be finding someone else.

We are contacting a solicitor ourselves tomorrow to make an appointment to get some legal advice, but does anyone know if we ask a solicitor to send a letter to the wife/stepmother asking to see the Will can she refuse to let dh see it? Is a solicitor asking on dh’s behalf likely to make a difference to whether or not she shows us the Will?

When it says that an executor has 12 months until they have to distribute the estate does that mean they should be organising things in those 12 months gathering info, bank accounts etc, to then start distributing it for example next March (assuming it’s straightforward)? Or does it mean they have 12 months, up until March, before they even start getting organised to see about distributing it?

I’m checking the government probate page every day but he hasn’t appeared on it yet. With cancelling/ firing this last lot of solicitors we don’t know how far through probate the estate has gone, it may not even have been submitted to the court yet.

Your poor step MIL, she lost her partner only 4 months ago and you're hassling her about the Will via her solicitors? I feel for her.

There is no right to see the Will unless you are an Executor until Probate is complete. You can pay a fee to be informed if Grant of Representation has been filed over a period of time. Then you will be able to see the Will and you will have 6 months to raise a challenge if you think the estate is not being distributed correctly.

Most estates with property take time to administer. It has only been 4 months since your dfil died. If there is inheritance tax to pay, that has to be acted on inside of 6 months. But if not there is no time limit in England or Wales.

Probate are currently taking about 12 weeks to process due to covid, so even if she sends in the application it could be ages.

Most of your questions can be answered by a simple Google search. Instead of hassling your dmil via her solicitors while she is in the earliest stages of her grief, maybe you can try to reach and comfort her. Even of you don't like her, remember she just lost her partner and has a MOUNTAIN of work to do to sort out his affairs. A solicitor doesnt do much except ask a million questions and bits of paper at first. The early stages are very upsetting and stressful IME. Your DFIL entrusted her to be his executor and you dont have a legal right to interfere unless you are certain of dishonesty or loss to the estate (eg she isnt looking after the properties adequately) - in that case you could apply to court to get her removed as Executor.

Four months isn't long at all; barely time for your MIL to start thinking about her role as Executor.

My mum is Executor for an estate with multiple properties and an overseas element. She was in a position to make a first payment to beneficiaries just over two years after the person died, and the final payment will be at nearly three years. This may have been a bit slower due to covid, but she certainly hasn't held things up. She does also have a life to live outside of this though, so there isn't massive progress every month.

I'm sorry for the loss of your FIL. Stop pressurising your MIL as there's nothing you can do to speed things up unless you have solid proof that she is acting against the wishes expressed in the Will.

Thank you for both your replies. First of all we haven’t hassled or pressured the wife about anything. We can’t reach out to her to offer support as she has cut off FIL’s entire side of the family. Blocked us all on what’s app, Unfriended people on Facebook, won’t answer calls or texts to see how she’s doing etc. we have no way of contacting her. She has form for this sort of thing and there is a back story which Im not going to go into here.

I have googled and have seen that only the executor is allowed to see the Will, but it also says that if you ask the executor they may let you see it. Since we can’t contact her, see above, that is the reason we asked the solicitor that she had instructed to deal with the estate. Our thinking being that since they must have a copy they could maybe send dh a copy. The letter the solicitor sent dh said to contact them if he had any questions, which he did, then he got notice she is changing solicitors again.

If your MIL has been granted probate, the will is a public document and you can apply to the probate registry for a copy. I costs £1.50.

DH contacted a solicitor yesterday to see if we could go and discuss the situation and get legal advice on what he's been told about his inheritance. But as we are in Scotland and FIL lived in England he was told we'll need to speak to an English Solicitor.

I think, if she knew she was executor 4 months is long enough to get started. How on earth you fulfil this role of you won’t speak to anyone is a mystery to me. Also FIL might have left his entire estate to her. It’s fairly normal to do that to minimise IHT. Are you sure FIL left your DH anything?!

Yes, dh and his brother have both been named in the Will. The last solicitor sent them both a letter which outlines what they have been left. The first solicitor didn’t even get that far before the wife changed her mind about using them. At least the second one lasted long enough to make contact and tell them what they’ll inherit.

However they have a lot of questions about what they will inherit and we think a lot of it may hinge on exactly what it says in the Will which is why he asked if he could have a copy.

I also think it doesn’t matter that she doesn’t speak to any of us because all communication can be through the solicitor.

@Linnet
So they know what they have inherited. Just a case of waiting then. I guess you wait for a third solicitor if there’s no other form of communication. Is it money or property? That can make a huge difference. Also is IHT due?

@Tizerorfizz it is mainly property. We don’t know if IHT is due, I thought that it would be but the wife has a lifetime interest in at least one of the properties so it could be that there isn’t any IHT to pay.

I think you will need to see a copy of the will and be told what has been left to you directly snd what has a lifetime interest. I don’t know how IHT works in complex cases but I would look at how this might impact the estate when you know the details.

I think you need to be patient and give her a chance to sort it out within the normal timescales (more than 4m). Why the hurry?

I used to deal with the administration of high value estates. Complex ones can easily take 2 years to sort. I know it’s frustrating but whether there is IHT to pay is a matter for the time executor - the exact figure your DH will inherit will probably still need to be determined and he will have to be patient.

I agree four months isn't long, but the stepmother's decision to block the entire family and sack two solicitors is bound to be alarming. If there's a history of strained relationships it's not surprising that OP's husband and BIL are keen to make sure SM knows they are keeping an eye on things. I certainly would in the circumstances.

When my husband died I, as executor, didn’t have the energy or mental strength to even start thinking about dealing with the estate until after a good 6 or 8 months. I wasn’t aware there was a 12 month ‘rule’, and in any event sure many estate are too complex to be dealt with in that time frame, especially if property is involved, never mind overseas property. Way before distributing the estate she’ll need to get probate, which could easily take over a year with foreign property involved, and settle any taxes due with HMRC and potentially overseas as well.

My husband died young, but we’d been together for the best part of 25 years. His parents and siblings were absolutely fine with the delay, we kept in touch over the odd coffee, but there was never any pressure from them to hurry up. The word horrified is horribly overused on the site I think, but if they had hassled me then I think I would have been genuinely very upset indeed. They didn’t, I wasn’t and now 3 years later we still meet up for coffee/lunch every once in a while to catch up and remember him. I think you need to be far more patient.

It’s not always wise to make a spouse executor either. For all the reasons above. We’ve left everything to each other so not so much sorting out to do. No siblings or parents involved because it’s tax efficient to do it that way. DD1 is executor for both of us. More complex eventually but both DDs get the same share. I don’t really know anyone young who has left money to loads of family members. Spouse usually needs it!

If a solicitor has written to you Informing you of what you are to inherit, I'd be inclined to accept that. A solicitor reading a will and understanding it's contents would be enough for me.

It sounds like you may disagree?

Thanks for your comments. Just to clarify at no point did I say that we were expecting the whole thing to have been wrapped up and distributed by now. We know that probate takes months and that it can also take years to sort everything out.

My question was about whether or not we would be more likely to get to see a copy of the Will now if we asked a solicitor to send her a letter since dh asking the solicitors she has instructed in the past have got him nowhere and she keeps firing them.

@Chewbecca There is no hurry like I say we know it can take a long time to sort out, my question was about seeing the Will.

@Fleur405 in regards to receiving the inheritance we are being patient as we know it’s complicated and could take many months or possibly longer. The figure my dh will inherit is not the issue, we know what he’ll inherit but have questions regarding it that can only be answered by seeing the terms of the Will.

@Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g Thank you for understanding. Yes, because she has blocked everyone and the relationship now being very strained we are all keen to keep an eye on things.

@Tryingtokeepgoing I’m very sorry for your loss and I completely understand that it can take people months to be in the right frame of mind to deal with an estate. I’m also glad that you have good relations with your husbands family and can still meet them and talk about him.

Fils wife moved quickly to instruct a solicitor, which I was slightly surprised at as I thought she might have taken a few months to gather herself then start sorting things out but no we heard from the first solicitor in May. We are being patient and we are not trying to hurry her up in any way as we know it will take as long as it takes to be sorted out. But the letter from the solicitor did say that if dh had any questions to get in touch and ask. When he does the wife then seems to fire the solicitor.

@TizerorFizz Fil’s brother was originally the executor of his Will. But the Will was redone a few years ago now and the brother was removed as executor and the wife named instead.

@dolphinsarentcommon Dh does accept that the solicitor has correctly told him what he will inherit, he’s asking to see the Will as we have questions about the terms of the inheritance and they can only be answered by seeing the exact wording in the Will. Since they did say to contact them if he had any questions he did so and then the wife seems to fire them.