Land/Property Register & Will advise Please. Complicated Im Afraid!

[aCanOfWorms]

I've changed my name for this as my mum wishes for this to be confidential at the moment.
A little long winded & complicated Im afraid, but will try to explain but condense also.

My mums parents divorced around 1967. They had 3 children together. Before the divorce they lived in a property, which my Grandfather stayed at with his new partner! My Grandmother was bought a small house by GF.
GF also owned land around HIS property (est: 5 acre)
GF died around 12 yrs later! He left nothing to his children according to the solicitor, everything was left to his partner (they never married) My mum at the time was the only sibling who was a single parent so they offered her £500 & said the other siblings was not entitled due to having partners of their own.
My mum accepted this payment & though anger was felt throughout the family, no more was done or said on the matter. UNTIL a few months ago!
A man had found out where my mum lived & contacted her & said he owned some land around where the property of my late GF's. He needed information on who owned the property (late GF's). The property/Land doesnt appear to be registered at all! It has cost this man alot of money trying to find out any information about this too.
My late GF's Partner (lets call her Jane) still lives in the property 28yrs on from his death. She has tried on numerous occasions to try to sell the property & land too, but for a reason unknown has not been able to do so.
When the man who owns the land near the property questioned Jane, she made a big fuss about it all & said She owned the property & land & no-one was able to touch it or make alterations to it, & if he didn't believe her then she would show him the Deeds! She did show him the deeds but tried to distract him all the time he was looking! What the man did notice though, was that a name had been tippex out & her name put over the top of it! (is this illegal)*
Jane also has children (not my late GF's) & between them they have sold a small part of land, but it was for CASH, cant find any papers or deeds for this either!

This has opened a whole can of worms up for the family & has become quite distressing at times, but we have no copy of the will to go by.
I got a friend involved who knows/understands about buying land etc & he is in the process of getting hold of the WILL. He phoned me the other day & asked me if the WILL had probate? I don't even understand what probate means!
The thing is GF died 28 yrs ago & not sure if the WILL could be found & got hold of copy etc.
My friend who understands about the land etc says that the property could have been left to Jane on the understanding that she never sells it & would be hers until she dies!
So what NOW???????

Any ideas anyone, would love some advice or anyone had similar experiences?

You could find out who the land is registered to by contacting HM Land Registry website www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/ - you just pay a couple of quid and they supply a copy of the deeds and the plan as they are all public record documents, you have to do it by post in Scotland or online in England & Wales. It shows who a property belongs to, all the times a property's ever changed hands and any conditions that have been imposed on it. Although there can sometimes be mistakes on the register, it could be a good start and not expensive. Sounds like you may need to involve a solicitor who specialises in property, depending on what your friend finds out.

That does rather depend on whether the land is registered, which it may not be.

If teh land is registered, which I think after a certain date any transactions had to be registered, then you will easily get a copy of the plan and title document from land registry online for £3 each and you can download it immediately. However, if the land is still unregistered then I think you have to rely upon the deeds which Im fairly sure cannot be tippexed. If your GF had a Will and needed Probate then the Will will have been published and you can obtain a copy from the Probate Registry for about £5. This will be an exact copy of your gf's Will. Also it is worth finding out who his solicitor was and getting a copy of the Will. If the firm is no longer in existence then you can ring the Law Society who will give you the latest details of the firm/partners who may be able to shed light. I dont know anything about Wills/Probate etc but I assume if your gf never married and owned a house in his own right then he would have needed probate to transfer it to his partner. If his partner obtained probate and transferred teh property then the transaction would be registerd at HM Land Registry as your gf died in 1978/9 and I think compulsory registration came in around 1976/7.

We have tried the Land Registry & it appears to be not registered!
When I entered the details & post code etc, another mans land showed up & not hers! It was the man that came to see my mum. His land showed up & address & how much he paid etc, not her address!
But was wondering more about what happens now regarding if the will says that everything was left to Jane until she dies! What happens if she does die. Who gets what? Has anyone experienced this?

Thanks Jampot, very helpful information. Much appreciated

canofworms - if you want to cat me anonymously i will help dig it out for you.

canofworms - i think it all hinges on whether he did leave a will. If he left a will saying jane could live in teh hosue until she dies then it still remains his house so upon her death would go to whereever he had willed it to go (hopefully his children). If he willed it to her then there's not a lot you could do. You need that will.

Jampot I have tried to CAT someone b4 but was unable to for some reason. Do you have to pay for this?
If so i dont mind paying.
Really appreciate this, I really do.
I would leave my email in normal circumstances but cant really on this!

you can get me on [email protected]

thanks jampot, will just add you to my details on email now. Thanks very much, you're very helpful & kind.

If the will was drafted by a solicitor, provision should have been made for what happened to the property after Jane died if she was left a life interest.

Any original deeds with tippex on them should be treated with the utmost suspicion.

Freckle, thats is our thoughts too, about the tippex!
All we can do at the moment is wait on the will.
All this will be alot clearer then.

I'm not wishing the woman dead (Jane) but if she dies there could be a possiblity that her kids could get the property.

It's just brought alot of pain back for my mum. She is now wishing she had contested the will or at least asked to look at it in 1979. Jane was a very cruel/evil woman who used ot leave my GF in the house alone when he was ill after having a stroke etc