Contested wills - Is there another Will lurking?
When dealing with a contested probate matter or even the distribution of an estate, it is essential to ensure that you have the most recent Will of the Deceased. However, this is not as straight forward as it may seem. We no longer live in an era where, if you wanted to find a Will, you could assume that it was being held by the Deceased’s local solicitor.
These days, a Will may have been completed by any firm or Will-writer in the country, over the telephone or online, or it may have been done through one of the thousands of DIY Will kits being sold each year. If the Deceased has not kept a copy of his Will or, in just one example, they die in a house fire which also destroys their documents, how will their relatives know where to find a copy of the Will?
The answer is, they may not. There is no compulsory registration of Wills in England and Wales. In a country where you have the freedom to choose who to leave your estate to, you may also find that your last wishes are never discovered. There are several private companies who offer registration of Wills but searching all of these databases can be time consuming and only a small number of people register their Wills with such companies so searches are often fruitless.
Previous Wills
When dealing with contested probate matters, it is often also important to obtain previous Wills. If you are claiming that the latest Will is invalid, then it is vital that you know the content of the previous Will in order to know whether your client will be better off in that Will if it triumphs. Discovery of the earlier Will can make or break your case. Again, these Wills can be even more problematic to trace especially if any copy the Deceased held may have been destroyed.
We have recently dealt with a case at Redress Law where our client was convinced that their father had drafted several earlier Wills. When the Deceased’s latest Will was declared invalid on the grounds of lack of capacity, his estate was then divided using the rules of intestacy due to the fact that his previous Wills remained untraceable.
The Government has considered the registration of Wills and decided that, at present, it will not implement such a system. There are good reasons for not doing so. It would add a further cost to creating a Will and it would be unclear whether a Will correctly executed but not registered would still be valid. Adding a further hurdle to creating a Will would be against the principle that everyone is entitled to leave their estate to whoever they wish.
Therefore, relatives and practitioners alike are often left searching for clues as to where the Will lies and this looks set to continue.
Here at Redress Law, we specialise in contested Wills and probate, particularly Inheritance disputes. If you have any further questions on this topic or want to find out more about how we can help you with a possible case, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
