Contesting a will

[Spendysis]

I will start by saying dm hasn’t passed away yet
i have posted before about my dsister who has sole poa helping herself to dm bank account and there is apparently an ongoing investigation with office of guidance i reported and they have said they are investigating but I never get any updates
i have also reported it to adult social services I did the initial call and I keep missing the call from the social worker due to work

anyway having recently seen dm and found paperwork for equity release on dm house that she initially said she knew nothing about the said it must be dsister i questioned if she has convinced her to change her will of which dm said she didn’t know then changed the subject

i presume I can’t do anything while dm is still alive and will have to wait until she passes to find out if it has been changed nc with dsister she has blocked me when I politely called a family meeting about money missing from dm bank account. So does anyone have an experience of contesting a will or do I just have to accept dsister who has already had tens of thousands of pounds lent to her but never paid back and now just freely spends dm money will get everything

Does mum have capacity, has she made a will and knows where it is. Your sister cannot change mums will. Any new will would need to have been witnessed, If you're worried she was lied to and coerced into rewriting a new will or adding a codicil you need to tell safeguarding. If you do decide eventually to contest the will you need to prove it was written under duress or mum lacked capacity.

mum is very repetitive and forgetful as to whether on not she has been deemed or diagnosed as not having capacity I don’t know dsister deals with her appointments and has health poa
i will inform safeguarding as dsis is very manipulative and controlling she always has been she’s convinced me bullied me into lending her money many times over the years and I do believe if dm has changed her will it will be down to dsis pressuring her and manipulating her

Dm had made a will many years ago I know which solicitors it’s with and i presume she has the paperwork somewhere at home but I think since this fall out dsister may have got it changed dm mum trust her so will sign anything and dsister works with many professional people who would witness it

I would get in touch with the original solicitor, her gp and safeguarding. If the opg are already investigating your sister then call them again, she may be removed as poa.

I have emailed the original solicitor advising them there is a poa investigation going on and I was seeking advice they didn’t reply to me
you can only report concerns with office of guardian over the phone once it is being investigated they only deal with it by email and apart from auto responses I am not getting any reply not helped by the fact the initial email address they provided me with on their confirmation email that they we’re investigating has now changed so I have had to forward the information again I only found that out when I tried to call for an update

will raise it with the gp didn’t think of that also advised dm bank there is an ongoing investigation and they didn’t reply either but they have been oblivious to dsister transferring money to her own account for over a year before she even registered the poa

Do you think you should report this to the police? To me this is fraud and a criminal offence.

You can inform the banks fraud dept but maybe they just assumed mum was trsnsferring money to your sisters account. You could also speak to Elder Abuse UK.

I would check the land registry to see if there are any charges on you mothers house (I.e if a secured loan is on it) it’s £3 to check the deeds if she hasn’t capacity I don’t think a loan should have been allowed by the equity release company

I periodically check the land register no secured loans on there at the moment but when I visited mum recently there was a quote and application form for equity release I contacted the sales rep and advised them there was an investigation on going with the office of public guardian and they said they won’t proceed they had provided a quote after a text from dsister originally claiming to be dm but that the funds were for dsister to tide her over until she gets money due to her. I presume she means her inheritance but hadn’t been round to go through it all nothing to stop her trying with another company though

@Fabvegetablegrower i don’t think I have it in me to report it to the police for some reason this is my only dsister we were all very close until a year ago I knew she was crap with money I knew she had borrowed tens of thousands from dm but we just all knew what she was like

i am very hurt she has cut us all of no idea why I feel any loyalty to her as she is potentially diddling me out of my share of inheritance which would make a huge difference to us as around £300k just from dm house and we could give dc house deposit

it took me months to raise concerns with office of public guidance and my rationale is that I am letting the professionals look into the situation rather than reporting my own sister

Hi OP your post reminded me of a local case of fraud. In fact I know of two people who have been convicted of similar offences.
Here is the police publication for one of them
https://www.westmercia.police.uk/news/west-mercia/news/2023/january/woman-ordered-to-repay-over-285k-as-the-proceeds-of-crime/

Sign up to property alerts if you haven’t already https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert. Is there a second attorney on the poa if so can you raise concerns about how the poa is been used with them?

https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/health-wellbeing/relationships-family/protection-from-abuse/financial-abuse/

https://www.gov.uk/power-of-attorney/change-your-lasting-power-of-attorney if your mother still has capacity I would strongly recommend she removes the poa she should not feel pressured by your sister into making decisions which are not in her interests.

I was second poa as in it went to me if dsis died dm thought we were equal but of course dsis sorted it all out I trusted her as it was years ago so just signed it. I have now been removed since the fall out with dsis so no idea if there are any other poa

mum wouldn’t remove dsis either lack of capacity or she just thinks dsis has her best interest at heart dsis has always been very manipulative

You really do need to report to the police.

How can you trust her to act in your DM best interests when she is doing anything she can to get her hands on her money?

It needs reporting, it's a safe guarding concern let alone the finances.

Had a call from the social worker today they had been to see dm I was in work so difficult to talk but they said dm didn’t seem very aware of money what was in her accounts and agreed the equity release was a lot of money and mentioned dsis holidays and home improvements

i personally think as usual she’s upto her eyes in debt she can’t remortgage as she has 3 already 1 interest only with no endowment policy due to her reckless spending and needs the money to clear arrears

The social worker will be going to try and determine mum’s capacity and said it maybe a police matter

Are you sure you’ve been removed as POA you sister can’t do that your mother would have had to do the deed of revocation. It’s unusual for just a sole POA to be in place usually there are other attorneys/ replacement attorneys to safeguard the donor. The POA is separate from a will. As your mother is still alive you should ask the office of public guardian to check if you have been genuinely removed,

I meant I previously trusted my dsis I knew she was crap with money but didn’t think she would stoop so low it’s difficult as we were all close or so I thought obviously dsis doesn’t feel the same as she’s cut us all off and I stupidly keep looking for some reasoning some psychological disorder she must have to repeatedly get herself in so much debt

i got advice from hourglass who advised to contact office of guidance and adult safeguarding first rather than the police which I have done and i will ask the social worker if they will report it to the police or if I need to

@Avidreader12 i got a letter in the post from office of guardian saying I had been removed from both finance and health poa

@Avidreader12 when I queried it with dm she knew nothing about me being removed or if there was another replacement poa

dsis health is very poor so no idea what happens if she passes before dm

I know poa is separate to a will and my initial question was about a will as dm has no idea if she has changed her Will recently

This is all going to blow up anyway. Your sister is abusing her position of power and manipulating your Mum. I bet your Mum doesn't even know you've been removed.

I understand you are very reluctant to report your sister to the Police it must be very difficult. Your Mum may require specialist dementia care in a home at some point and this is not cheap. As POA you also have to keep records of what's been spent. I just think you should report it now before the situation gets any worse. I'm sorry this must be really hard for you.

Still not heard anything from office of guidance anyone with any idea how long they take they said they were investigating it a few months ago but I’ve heard nothing since

waiting on an update from adult social worker as to whether they will report it to the police or if i should

it’s such a difficult upsetting situation for me as we were all close I turned a blind eye to dsis lending money all the time now due to her own issues or pure greed I have no relationship with her neither do my dc a strained relationship with dm. Dc don’t have a relationship with their cousins dh first cousin they grew up together is my dsis best friend since primary school not how we met btw and I avoid feel uncomfortable when I see family friends as I have no idea what dsis has said about me or why we no longer talk i don’t even know if dm knows as she could be and probably is telling her all sorts yet I have done nothing wrong I tried to resolve the situation and I have never had a single penny from dm because I am adult I save for things or go without if I can’t afford something

Still not heard anything from the office of guardian about the investigation and it has been months so I’ve emailed all 3 email addresses again today the original one to report new investigations the only one I had a reply from a real person the email address on their email to provide more information that gives me an automatic reply they will be in touch and the new email address they gave me over the phone. I didn’t expect the investigation to be quick but just an update that they are still working on it or request for more information or clarification on the information I have provided would be nice