As title ..

Just had my father in law on the phone asking if I can find out about wills and executors changing them for their own benefit.

Thanks.

Steve.

You may need to clarify the situation.

A will is a legal document; the executor can’t change the terms. They can convince the willmaker to change it, but only with their consent.

And if they do, you need to suck it up.

The whole consent thing can become murky though if the prior beneficiaries argue that the executors exerted undue pressure to measure a change and / or that the person was not of sound mind etc.

Really though this is a question for a real lawyer and not the STW collective.

Ok this is the situation.

My FIL has been friends with this family since he was a kid and the mother of the family classed him as her “3rd” son.

Fast forward to the last few years and the mother has deteriorated quite badly with Parkinson disease and unfortunately passed away earlier this year. She had moved out of her house and into a care home.

The mother always said to my FIL that she has left him something in her will, she joked with him “Ive left you enough to buy a nice boat” all the time.

There are two sets of executors, one of the sons and her next door neighbors.

My FIL is also quite close to the next door neighbors and on his way back from Cornwall earlier in the year popped into see them and they informed him that the mother had left him and them each £10k and a expensive vase in her will.

Fast forward to yesterday when he was doing same trip back from Cornwall and he tried to pop in and see the other executor to collect the vase, this executor made up an excuse and said he wasn’t in so my father in law popped in on the neghbours who told him that the other executor had told them that their money had been cut, first of all from £10 to £6k and then cut out all together, all of this has happened in the last few weeks of the lady’s life when she wasn’t of sound frame of mind. The reason given by the son was that she felt she hadn’t left enough for her grandchildren but everyone of the family and friends know she didn’t like her grandchildren at all. When the son was giving the reasons to the other executors they said he was twitching around and acting really shady and nervous.

My father in law isn’t a rich man and £10k to him would of helped him out enormously now he has retired.

What he wants to find out is this…..

Is it possible for only one of the executors to make changes to a will?

Is it possible for my FIL to see or get a copy of the will?

Sorry for the long post.

An executor cannot make a change to a will. As above they may try and ‘encourage’ the person to the will but then your father could claim undue pressure etc, particularly if the will was changed in favour of the person ‘encouraging’ the change’.

No, he has no legal right to see the will but should take proper independent legal advice.

Note this would have to be at a different firm of solicitors to the ones his wife has used to avoid conflicts of interest.

If the estate has gone through probate then the will becomes a public document and anyone should be able to see it upon application to the district probate office.

He definitely needs to take some legal advice on this. Sounds like some greedy buggers are trying to fob an elderly fella off with pish talk.

Is there a chance that the will hasnt actually been changed then and the son is just bullshitting and hoping it all goes away?

How would you find out if its gone to probate.

EDIT: the one thing Im not sure on is the other executors… surely they must of seen the will?

You can apply to see a will here: https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

If Probate has been granted the will will be there, somewhere. If not yet granted, it will be. If the executor does not fulfill the deceased’s wishes he’ll be in serious trouble.

General advice on Probate is here: https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance

What he said (SR). If the will is consistent with what he’s been told then it’d be difficult to challenge the will and probably impossible without any evidence.

Thanks fellas.

Does a will always go to probate then ?

Does a will always go to probate then ?

If one was made and it can be found, then yes.

If a copy can’t be found, it can get interesting…

The last will always takes precedence over an older will, unless somehow you can prove that something illegal has been done.

as above contact the local probate offic for clarification if a will has been made and registered.

I have been carrying out an executors role lately, about 3 months on still awaiting probate.
before any money is released I understand that all the accounts must be closed moneys owed paid including funeral expenses etc.
then of course the solicitors fees are taken out which leaves the final balance to be distributed divided up.