I have instructed a solicitor to contest the will and halt ptobate

[LadyGaGasPokerFace]

I started this thread last month:
www.mumsnet.com/talk/legal_matters/4658247-inheritance-i-feel-slighted
Anyway, I’m in communications with a solicitor who is going to look over the paperwork I have sent her and to question the solicitor about if my dm had capacity and understanding (seeing as her English was really bad). Did she know what she was signing. How could she pay for it when she needs help with debit card machines? Was a translator present seeing as she mentioned she didn’t understand these ‘big words’? What notes are there for the appointments and when were these appointments?

Not sure what I want from it, but I don’t care about being stabbed in the back, I do care that my dds are. Need to catch out the overgrown 50 year old baby that’s overstayed it’s welcome.

I have read the thread you linked to as well.

I am sorry OP but I think you are being disingenuous. I think you do know what you want from this course of action and that you care very much about being "stabbed in the back". I'm not saying you're wrong to feel like this; it is possible that you have been horrifically betrayed; and money buys opportunity, if not happiness.

I think you have embarked on a bitter road, though, that risks consuming your peace of mind, with no guarantee of anything to show for it at the end.

This is a perfectly simple, legitimate and normal process to follow in the circumstances you describe. (There is a name for the process but I can`t remember what it is offhand!).
Solicitors have to follow certain procedures when dealing with these issues and should be able to produce factual notes to prove they exercised due diligence.
This is a first step. Once you receive the information, you will be more informed as to what you want to do next.
I liked this line in your post - "Need to catch out the overgrown 50 year old baby that’s overstayed it’s welcome." Good luck and well done for being proactive and not letting them walk all over you and your children!

Thanks @20questions it hasn’t been taken lightly and I’ve swung back and forth and poor dh has had to hear my grievances and then me having a low point and thinking of consequences. I just need to question the solicitor in depth first and aim my ‘grievance’ at him for making a Will for someone who clearly didn’t understand what they were signing.
When df passed and we were sorting ptobate there was talk of transferring the deeds to myself and sibling, but 25% each to ward off care costs. It never happened, but over the past few years dm has kept going back on saying sibling made her sign over the house. I have a recorded video of saying such. Sibling sent it to me and I dug it out from a WhatsApp chat.

May be something here that you find useful www.wrighthassall.co.uk/knowledge-base/contesting-a-will-where-the-parent-was-suffering-from-dementia

Good luck OP. This happen often and usually goes uncontested because people are afraid of taking legal action.

wards.uk.com/online-services/legal-guides/what-are-the-grounds-for-contesting-a-will/

The case below is long but worth a read also.

www.serlecourt.co.uk/images/uploads/documents/Reeves_v_Drew__2022__EWHC_159_%28Ch%29_1.pdf

@LadyGaGasPokerFace I get the impression from your other thread your sibling is struggling (lazy?) with their role as executor and all the paperwork.

I think you have done the right thing to ask a different solicitor to ask questions etc. about the circumstances of your Mum making a new will.

Once you have the information you may want to consider mediation, as part of that you could offer to help out (do it all) with all the paperwork and probate in return for a Deed of Variation going back to the previous will. If you point out to sibling it would cost x to go to court to overturn the previous will and they will get no help from you doing the paperwork vs you doing the paperwork and getting 50% instead of 25%. If you can show the potential legal costs even if sibling won that might sway them.

You can get independent mediators and it will cost far less than contesting the will.

Some great advice here. Thank you all, it’s very much appreciated.
@Princessglittery lazy more than struggling would describe my sibling. Even my dm was constantly asking them to help with things around the house. Ballsed up some appointments as they hadn’t read the letter properly for my mum.

So far, I have done it all, from registering her death, the funeral, to bank accounts and pensions. Even booked the solicitor for reading the Will. He was there like a spare part.

Good idea about the deed of variation. Great shout out. I am going to aim it at the solicitor rather than my sibling, I’m sure their reaction will tell me everything.

Whether he carries on speaking to me is here nor there, my dfs family was like this when family members died, they all fell out with each other over Wills/probate etc. Though he has lots to lose as he won’t be seeing dds who he loves very much. They’re the centre of all this. My dm would’ve given her last crumb to dds, hence my inner ‘tiger mum’ (I hope that doesn’t sound cringe?).

@LadyGaGasPokerFace I thought you might be the one doing all the paperwork.

You are being sensible about this which means you will come over as reasonable to the solicitors. Good luck.

Being in the middle of sorting out my DMs estate, I’m amazed that banks and pension companies are willing to deal with you! They are supposed to have a copy of the will or probate, and if there isnt a will, then they would expect someone to have applied for letters of administration. Again, if you chose to organise the funeral rather than the executor, you could be held liable for the cost. Why was there a ‘will reading’? Only the executor is legally able to have a copy of the will following death - a solicitor should not have had anyone else there when handing it over.

Tbh, I hadn’t known I was not an executor (but a benefactor) at that point. We took the death certificate to the banks, I spoke to the pension people and sent the death certificate to whoever needed to know. They only need a death certificate to stop everything. The accounts were closed and nothing released. It’s all in the solicitors hands now and he’s dealing with the estate as such.
The Will reading was to go to the solicitor and he read the Will with sibling present, who knew exactly what it said. The absolute cheek of my sibling sitting there watching me pay for everything 😡 the whole thing is a pack of lies and backstabbing. I was really close to my sibling, I’ve had to pull back because of their behaviour in all this. It’s been abhorrent. The Will wasn’t ‘kept’ at the solicitors, it was a copy in my parents house. If you read my link from my previous thread above, you’ll get the jist.

Thanks for the supportive words @Princessglittery 💐 I have stopped my ‘help’ for now, as sibling was bitching about the solicitor saying they are making things complicated as they expected me to sort everything. I told them otherwise. They must really think I’m stupid.

Well, if someone wants a laugh. I got a message from the solicitor asking for my sibling’s phone number 🤦🏼‍♀️ well that clearly shows that he didn’t have contact with my dm as the home number has been the same since I was 8 years old. Also shows how incompetent the solicitor is. I’m not doing anything, I’m not an executor after all.

I think you mean you are a beneficiary, not a benefactor.

@LadyGaGasPokerFace one day you will look back and laugh at how incompetent they are being.

@Allthegoodnamesarechosen yes, beneficiary (auto correct).

@Princessglittery absolutely, cannot believe these complete clowns. One solicitor and his secretary (who does all the hard slog). Don’t even have the executors phone number. I’m going to leave doing anything before Christmas and do something in the new year. They asked in the message for his phone number because they need it to get an EA to value the house. I’ve not replied and will contact my solicitor after Christmas. I don’t think my sibling has interest in even honouring my dm wishes as they cannot fathom why they need a mortgage to buy me out.

slightly off-topic, but who thought name a firm of solicitors Wright Hassle was a good idea 😂

@Tryingtokeepgoing it’d be easier if they were called that 😂

We are currently in the thick of contesting a will and it's not for the faint hearted. It seems your only area to contest is that your mother was coerced into signing or was not of sound mind. If you have evidence of this it may be a possibility but it's dreadfully expensive, about £26K so far and more to come.

I don’t even think the sibling will honour that will as well. They won’t act in it as they haven’t acted on my uncles house that has been empty for 15 years.
The police were called to the house and mum kept saying she had nothing left, that sibling signed the house over to themselves, that she couldn’t leave anything to her granddaughters now they’ve done that. The call operator had to get a language translator on the phone as she wasn’t speaking English. Hopefully the police still have that recording. Who knows?
Slowly, slowly, catchy monkey.