General Chat

What would happen, if after a will was dealt with, a more recent will came to light?

Liz

It all reverts to the newer will

So, anything, given to people, etc, would have be returned, and then new will read??

Looks like it
https://www.simplifywills.co.uk/wills/will-after-death/will-found-after-probate

If the estate has been distributed already the new personal representatives should seek specialist professional advice on recovering the incorrectly distributed parts of the estate in order to correctly distribute the assets. The recipient of any cash gifts (who would not be entitled to the legacy under the new will) may be liable for the full sum.
........
The original beneficaires would be advised to seek legal advise if they weren't in a position to return their bequests

Yes but there are circumstances where if an item has been given and sold then the money has to be forfited,but if the artical was intended for the said person/s then nothing changes regareds that but the old Will is revoked as it has no legal binding.as the wording states,

Last Will and Testament along with any Codicils made.

If probate has been granted, any appeals have to be made within 6 months, and be on very good grounds to stand any chance of success..

I can't find anything on Google about finding a more recent will, but I suggest you get in touch with your nearest Probate Office and ask them.

Thanks everyone,
Much appreciated

Liz

My MIL made my wife sole beneficiary in her will.
Didn't stop her brother and sister coming from the other side of the world trying to take it off her GRREED
My BIL even contested the will causing a great deal of aggravation at a sad time. :-| :-|

Anybody accepting to be Executor of an estate should take out probate insurance ( which is charged to the estate ). The rate is between 2 and 3% - use a specialist company not the ones which do your usual insurances and above all not any bank.

For any non-trivial estate one of the executors should be a solicitor who specialises in family law & estates. Generally this would be the same firm that drew up the will.

Avoid d-i-y wills they are harbingers of doom.
The Law Society has a a scheme of free wills for those of limited means.

Here all wills are numbered and printed on special water marked paper. It is then lodged in Madrid so there is not much chance of any but the last one being used.

Thanks again, didnt realise you cold get probate insurance,, like the idea of being lodged central, and people can be so greedy.

The trouble with the Spanish system is that the lawyers have a lock down on everything. As they also control access to title deeds as well as wills the end result can be quite murky. Old Spanish Customs.

In the UK if a will is properly drawn up, witnessed, names and addresses of executors kept up to date AND it is lodged with a reliable law firm then challenging the will is unlikely. The probate insurance will cover any malicious challenges. OTOH a d-i-y will witnessed by Fred next door and the lady from Avon kept in a drawer is asking for trouble. Amazingly this is not uncommon - "she hadn't anything much to leave so why bother with a will" - sure, only a small terraced house no mortgage which even in Leicester was worth a few bob.

If their are donations to charities some of them (no names, no pack drill ) send what they call their preferred terms which they like added to the will. If the bequest is big enough they'll even do the legal work for free. Refuse.

Be careful.

You can't contest solely on the grounds you disagree, it has to be based the validity of the will and the financial dependency on the deceased.

A claim would normally have to come from the spouse, a former spouse who hasn’t remarried, children, step-children, a partner who lived with the deceased for more than two years or any other dependents.

TV steeplejack Fred Dibnah, whose third wife, Sheila, claimed his will was altered to exclude her while he was was mentally fragile and under the influence of others. She and the estate eventually reached a settlement, so her case, like most, never reached court. However it did require the sale of one of Freds tractors, destined for his sons, to be sold.

I would offer one word of caution as far as making a will is concerned.

In my opinion it may be better to leave percentages rather than state amounts, ie 10% to AB as opposed to £10,000 to AB.

My reason for this is that, years ago, I once came across the will of an elderly person who had needed to pay for care in the latter years of life. When the will had been drawn up well over 20 years or so before death, this person had owned the house and had money in the bank. Having lived to a ripe old age, the house had been sold and a lot of that money and the savings had been used.

Imagine this scenario then - the figures may not be quite right because I have been retired for several years. This person had left £10,000 each to two charities with the bulk of the estate going to the family. Unfortunately, by the end of life, the amount remaining was just over £20,000, which left the family with precious little when compared with the amount the charities were to receive. The family's solicitor appealed to the two charities, explaining what had happened. The directors of one charity quickly realised the original intent of the will and the unfairness of the situation and unanimously decided that the share allotted to them ought to go to the family. The other charity (a large, well-known one) was initially reluctant to 'give up' its share and it took quite some time and discussion with the other beneficiary and family solicitor before acknowledging the spirit of the will and (in my opinion) reluctantly relinquishing its share.

Both of these charities operate under Charity Commission rules so both had it in their remit to act almost immediately, thus avoiding any further unhappiness to the family concerned.

One may say that the original solicitor ought to have advised his/her client when the will was drawn up but a client is free to decide whether or not to heed advice. Ultimately it is the choice of the individual but I know that even today some solicitors prefer to state amounts rather than percentages when drawing up wills.

JoyLouise - stating a percentage does sound the right way to go. The difficulty might come where, say, a small monetary bequest is left to a good friend which could end up as the main proportion of the remaining estate.

Elizabeth A - if this has arisen amongst your own family or friends, you might suggest they contact a solicitor. Most will give a 'free' 15 min or so consultation. Alternatively, ask the legal specialists at the CAB.

That's right Det, but if percentages were used instead of amounts, that friend would still benefit from the largesse of the deceased.

In addition to a solicitor drawn up will I recommend you set up a
Power of At tourney. Theoretically protects property and monies.

Since my wife became "sole beneficiary" in her Mother's will there has been no
shortage of people taking money from her CASH..Strictly CASH.
How do you trace Cash? I don't know. Seems a cheques are unacceptable to some.

If you have money don't be naïve and gullible.
Reputable people do a job on your property to your satisfaction, then send the bill.
Don't allow your home to become a money pit.

We had our wills drawn up on percentage lines many years ago as there was no way of knowing what would be left when we have both gone, particularly if we need to pay care home fees at any point. I now want to change the percentages so we will be redoing our wills shortly.

We made our wills many moons ago and updated them when our daughter remarried

They were simple reciprocal wills ie we left our estates to each other and then to our daughter when the surviving person passed

I did the probate for hubbies will when he passed last October

What we did too ,on the advice of the memory clinic ,was Power of Attorney for money for husband as he had his own bank account and we were tenants in common for the house

I had to invoke this in the few months before hubby passed

What we didn't do was a Power of Attorney for his medical care if he wasn't able to make his own decisions This nearly caused a problem when i was trying to get him home from hospital .i was told they could overrule any decision we made and put him into a home if they decided to, told them he doesn't want to go into a home and I had told him as long as I could look after him he would be at home .

Was told they could make the decision

So if I need to do a power of attorney for me I will do both types

There is also a further problem when making specific bequests of property and chattels. If the property has been disposed of at the time of death then that beneficiary receives nothing in its place.

Imagine the following:-

Testator owns house worth £250,000 and cash in bank £250,000. Will leaves house to son No 1, residue to go to son No 2.

House is sold when testator goes into home and turned into cash. At the date of death there is £400,000 left in the bank.

Son No 1 gets zero, son No 2 the entire £400,000