Will doesn’t say who’s been left what?

[stepmum86]

I had a close friend who passed away 2 years ago. The executor stopped me from visiting him in the nursing home for reasons I’ve never been clear of. Think she assumed I was a gold digger.

Anyway, his house etc has all been sold now. I paid to download a copy of his will now it’s public from the government website. The lady is listed as the executor but there’s no other pages saying who’s been left what. Is that correct?

when he passed, I rang the solicitor and they said an ‘add on’ had been left with the will but couldn’t say what it said or if I’d been left anything. I’ve never been contacted, even though he said he’d look after me.

my main question is why aren’t all the beneficiaries listed on the online will?

If the document that you have does not state who the beneficiaries are, then the document that you have is not a Will.

If there was no valid Will then the estate will be distributed according to Intestacy rules, in which case Friends get nothing. If there was a Will then it will be available to anyone who wants it once Probate has been granted.

There may have been a Will that was declared invalid for some reason (e.g. if it was unwitnessed or reason to believe that the testator was coerced or not in their right mind) in which case it would revert to Intestacy rules.

I suspect you’ve downloaded the Grant of Probate which is the document appointing the executor. They’ll have needed that to sell the property.

If it’s says anything about “Letters of Administration” then you can safely assume that there was no Will or the Will was found to be invalid. In which case, the estate would go to the closest living relatives in accordance with the intestacy rules. You’d get nothing.

If the executor/ administrator has instructed a solicitor to administer the estate for them, then the solicitor would write to the beneficiaries.

Just because the house is now sold, that doesn’t mean the estate has been wound up. There may be other assets waiting to be cashed in or sold. There may be inheritance tax to pay. It can take months after the sale of a property before the estate is distributed to the beneficiaries.

family member of mine has recently
made a will stating that his executors can distribute his estate as they see fit, whether thats charities or to themselves , very strange wording and very open to interpretation, but he hasn’t decided who he wants to benefit from his estate - just who he doesn’t want to benefit , hence leaving it to executors ( not his children )

You need to answer this OP

Indeed! I suspect it's the Grant of Probate (although the Will is often attached)

It may be left to his "trustee" i.e. the executor.

The add-on referred to by the solicitor could be a codicil which holds the same legal weight as a will and changes the will without having to do a whole new one and could be more specific about his bequests.

Perhaps contact the probate office and ask. Online it says beneficiaries would be named but not what they inherited. You are not a gold digger, just a reasonable curious person.

It may leave everything into a discretionary trust, usually there is a letter of wishes which is separate to the will and advises the executor how they’d like the trust to be used but it’s not legally binding so the executor can distribute as they see fit. Best thing to do is send a letter to the solicitors explaining you were expecting to be a beneficiary so can they please clarify whether you are entitled to anything, they may not reply but they probably will to try and stop you taking it further, you may not get anywhere taking it further but it will cost their client time and money if you try so they’ll want to avoid that.

It definitely says ‘download grant’ and ‘download will’ on what I have paid for from the government website but it’s only showing me provisions and interpretations on those 4 pages. There is nothing else to see

I rang the solicitors today who dealt with it and they said I would have to contact another solicitors who specialises in wills as they are not allowed to disclose why the insert which was added later was not published. It’s all very confusing terminology which I can’t recall but they can’t tell me because of confidentiality but another solicitor would be able to look into it?!

That makes sense - presumably their client is the executor so for you as a hopeful beneficiary there is a conflict of interest. You need to appoint your own solicitor if you want it looked into.

I’d assume that the solicitors have told you to seek independent legal advice because you have indicated that you’ll be challenging the Will.

The solicitor has a professional duty to administer the estate in accordance with the deceased’s wishes. One would assume they’ve done that. By calling them and saying that you think you were (or should have been) left a gift in the Will, you are alerting them to a dispute. Of course, they’ll tell you to get your own advice.

You need a solicitor who specialises in contentious probate. They’ll obtain the probate file advise you whether the estate has been administered correctly and whether you have any potential claim against the estate. Obviously you’ll have to pay for that advice, regardless of whether you are “successful” or not.

I’m worth about a fiver now but an absolute fortune when I’m dead (well sort of)

I’m leaving loads of money to my friends, more than to my family and I’m making sure my brothers don’t get any of it

Thank you. Any idea on what that may cost please?

As a really rough estimate, let’s assume an hourly rate of £250 + VAT. Perhaps 5 hours to take your instructions, obtain and consider the papers, and draft you a letter of advice on the merits of any claim. You’re easily looking at upwards of £1,500.

How much do you think your friend was / should be leaving you? And how certain are you that they meant what they said about “looking after” you?

It’s worth mentioning that you’d only have a valid claim against the estate if (a) you were named in the Will and it has been improperly administered, (b) your friend was unduly influenced to cut you out of their Will or didn’t have capacity when it was drafted, or (c) you were financially dependent upon your friend and therefore they ought to have made provision for you.

Personally, I’d have to be pretty confident of one of those things before I started incurring legal fees.