Does a solicitor have a right to deny or ignore an executors request to see a will?

ethan

ethan

ethan

Soldato
Joined
16 Sep 2005
Posts
7,886
Location
What used to be a UK
I recently explained to my late mother's solicitor that I wasn't too happy about receiving second or third hand rumours about alleged irregularities to do with my mother's will from people not directly involved with it.
I am the direct next of kin and an executor, though may not be the lead executor-if there is such a thing?
I also made it known to the solicitor that if there were any irregularities to do with the will then I wanted to be made aware of them-insisting that all copies of the will be sent to me for perusal. It also transpires that certain members of my family are disgruntled as to the wills alleged contents.
The solicitor has not responded to my request prompting the question referring to the title at the beginning of this thread.
 
They would have to present why it is not the case.

If you are the named executor or PR then essentially you are defacto controller.

Ideally, speak to a Wills Solicitor. Take you ten min phone call to a local solicitor.
 
There is a procedure to follow where can get a copy of the will following the death of a person. The solicitor has to file a copy of the will with the probate court at which point you can request a copy from the probate court.

https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/searching-for-probate-records

Before that I don't think its possible without the permission of the person who's will it is.

Had the same kind of thing with my father and a request like the following showed his exact will.
 
ethan said:
The solicitor has not responded to my request prompting the question referring to the title at the beginning of this thread.
Click to expand...

How long ago was the request made?

i.e. beginning of the week, and the solicitor probably hasn't even had the time to look at your query. Beginning of the month, yeah i think i'd be phoning or arranging for a face-to-face meeting to pose your questions.

I'm sure you can have more than one executor to the will, my mother has 2 brothers and a sister, and the eldest son and daughter are both executors (although i believe the brother who's overall eldest is lead executor). So who are the other executors to your mothers will? Do you have other siblings?
 
Some solicitors are disorganised, don’t get back to people for several days etc... How long has it been since you asked? You might just need to be patient with this one.
 
ethan said:
I also made it known to the solicitor that if there were any irregularities to do with the will
Click to expand...

Don't faff around with ifs and suspicions. As an executor you are personally liable. Instruct the solicitor to mail you a copy of the will immediately. And if it hasn't arrived by the end of the next working day but one, speak to the Citizen's Advice Bureau and the Law Society.
 
I dont really understand your current situation. Are you the executor/co-executor or not? If you are then you have responsibility to carry out the instructions of the will (called fudiciary duty) meaning that you need to see it, right off the bat. The solicitors only real role is to hold monies/assets until the last will and testament is determined as legal (I.e probate) and then to dish it out as per the executors instructions who will be acting on the wishes of the will.

Often executors will know the instructions of a will or have a copy already from the legal firm who drafted it.
 
Last edited:
dowie said:
Some solicitors are disorganised, don’t get back to people for several days etc... How long has it been since you asked? You might just need to be patient with this one.
Click to expand...

Approx four weeks. It appears they had been in communication with my brother but not with me. My brother is also an executor.

No information with regards to the content of the will had been sent to me-and I was hearing tales from family excluded from the will, who are not executors, that my mother had attended the solicitors and made her latest will under duress. I made it known to the solicitor I was not happy being an executor who was being ignored and insisted they show me both wills. They ignored my request.
 
ethan said:
Approx four weeks. It appears they had been in communication with my brother but not with me. My brother is also an executor.

No information with regards to the content of the will had been sent to me-and I was hearing tales from family excluded from the will, who are not executors, that my mother had attended the solicitors and made her latest will under duress. I made it known to the solicitor I was not happy being an executor who was being ignored and insisted they show me both wills. They ignored my request.
Click to expand...

Sounds like horlicks to me.

Nobody can force someone to change a will unless they have control over the person.

Do you have any proof the latest will was made under duress?

Also if it was by who was she under duress? Why didn't your mother contact you? Or is this one of those you haven't spoken to your mother in 20 years and now unhappy you are getting nothing?
 
I'm confused; if you haven't seen the will then how do you know that you are named as an executor?

A will can name several people as joint executors, and/or it can name 'backups' if the first is unable or unwilling to act.

As I understand it, joint executors all have to agree and act together, so if you and your brother are indeed co-executors then he can't act on his own. An executor can formally renounce the role or adopt a 'power reserved' status (where they leave another executor to act but can step back in if needed).

If you and your brother really are both named as joint executors and your brother applies for the grant of probate on his own, then you should receive a 'notice of power reserved' from the court with an opportunity to object.

Same advice as before really - if you're concerned about paying for professional advice then go and see Citizens Advice or a solicitor offering a free initial consultation.
 
@ Psycho Sonny: It is my late mother's will. My brother reconfirmed rumors that another family member took her to the solicitors to change her will when she was no longer able to control or command her affairs due to suffering from Dementia.
@ wonko my mother told indicated to me and my three brothers she had made us executor's to her will before she was ill. I was also required to submit identification to the solicitor six weeks ago due to me being an executor.
With regard to the allegations, I recently explained to my late mother's solicitor that I wasn't too happy about receiving second or third-hand rumors about alleged irregularities to do with my mother's will from people not directly involved with it. In other words, family members who are not executors.
I also made it known to the solicitor that if there were any irregularities to do with the will then I wanted to be made aware of them-insisting that all copies of the will be sent to me for perusal.
The solicitor has not responded to my request prompting the question referring to the title at the beginning of this thread indicating I had been ignored.
 
ethan said:
@ Psycho Sonny: It is my late mother's will. My brother reconfirmed rumors that another family member took her to the solicitors to change her will when she was no longer able to control or command her affairs due to suffering from Dementia.
Click to expand...

And this is the same solicitor you're dealing with at the moment? Are the rumoured changes significant? Is the estate large enough that there could be disputes/challenges etc..?

Might be worth getting a consultation from another solicitor. You're just dealing with some rumour at the moment but I guess there are potential problems here and if the current solicitor might have screwed up too then you might want an initial opinion from elsewhere. Did you and your brother have power of attorney during the time that she had dementia and might have been persuaded to change her will?
 
@ Dowie: Yes to all three questions.
Part of the reason I indicated I wanted to see all of the wills was because I wanted to check for myself if there were irregularities. I didn't have any awareness that the will had changed or even that there was another will until a scheming member of the family busied herself recently trying to acquire support from the other executors to challenge it. In the event, there are any major differences or irregularities, then my position is that the solicitor should honor the content of the first will since it was made when my mother was in full control of her faculties. Anything else would be an attempt to re-write it (against her wishes). The power of attorney is an important question. I suspect there was no power of attorney since the original will was written when she was capable. The original will is said to have been changed by my mother accompanied by one of the other executors (when she was incapable).
 
Assuming your solicitor is from a reputable firm, if there is any doubt about the capacity of a Client (whether changing a will or instructing any other business) then the Client will be referred to a GP.
 
Hi ethan,

A quick couple of thoughts for now:

- getting hold of the current/latest will would seem to be the priority, anything else is heresay at the moment. Once you've got a copy you can see what it says and when it was last amended and take it from there. If you are the executor or joint executor then you obviously need a copy to do your job so I'm puzzled why the solicitor hasn't provided a copy. Have you asked for a meeting with the solicitor to get a copy of the will and find out what is happening with probate?

- if you can't get the will from the solicitor, then you should be able to obtain a copy yourself from https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/#wills (solicitors should lodge a copy of wills to the probate registry)

- There are ways to raise concerns and stop grant of probate proceeding via a 'caveat' but once it's granted I suspect it would get a lot more difficult.
 
ethan said:
In the event, there are any major differences or irregularities, then my position is that the solicitor should honor the content of the first will since it was made when my mother was in full control of her faculties. Anything else would be an attempt to re-write it (against her wishes).
Click to expand...

Be very careful here as you're walking into a legal minefield. Ultimately it's your mother's Will, not anybody else's and it's not your or the solicitors choice whether the latest Will is valid or not. The recommendation to seek legal advice if there is any hint of an irregularity shouldn't be ignored.

I'm not a lawyer so don't know how up to date the below is, but it is a case where a Will made by a dementia sufferer was held to be valid despite contradicting an earlier and relatively recent Will:

https://www.ashfords.co.uk/news-and...d-despite-evidence-of-lack-of-mental-capacity
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom