Would reaffirming a Will have any legal status?

[elanfan]

Situation is my parent has vehemently opined for the last 45 years to my certain knowledge that they wants their estate split equally between the 3 kids a situation we have each accepted all our lives. The parent is now likely to move in with one of the grandchildren and I'm concerned that being in their company all the time that undue influence could be used to have a new will written. Let me make it clear that said parent can leave money to whoever they want and I don't actually 'need' it though it would help set my own kids up.

If I got a letter signed and witnessed that reaffirmed the Will as written on X date as being the intent and that any new Wills that might appear will have been made under undue influence, would it have any legal status? Any other ways of dealing with this?

Helpful stuff would be really appreciated and I thank you in advance, opinionated aholes please please keep it to yourselves.

[Sebring440]

elanfan said:

Situation is my parent has vehemently opined for the last 45 years to my certain knowledge that they wants their estate split equally between the 3 kids a situation we have each accepted all our lives. The parent is now likely to move in with one of the grandchildren and I'm concerned that being in their company all the time that undue influence could be used to have a new will written. Let me make it clear that said parent can leave money to whoever they want and I don't actually 'need' it though it would help set my own kids up.

If I got a letter signed and witnessed that reaffirmed the Will as written on X date as being the intent and that any new Wills that might appear will have been made under undue influence, would it have any legal status? Any other ways of dealing with this?

Helpful stuff would be really appreciated and I thank you in advance, opinionated aholes please please keep it to yourselves.

You could do anything you want. Write a letter. sign it and have it witnessed. Fill your boots. It would have nothing whatsoever to do with your parent and with what their will states.

It's entirely up to them what they put in their will; leaving to grandchildren is very common.

Thy may write a new will next week. That would be legal. They may decide differently and write a new will in a few years, that will be legal. The "last" will and testament is the legal one.

[Durzel]

Assume you'll get nothing, then when you (more than likely) do get something - however much or little that ends up being - it'll feel all the more emotionally rewarding, as if it were as a charitable gift from a loved one dearly departed rather than a financial bonus relatives sadly come to expect, or worse machinate towards.

[TooMany2cvs]

elanfan said:

If I got a letter signed and witnessed that reaffirmed the Will as written on X date as being the intent and that any new Wills that might appear will have been made under undue influence, would it have any legal status?

Just because they've signed something say "I've not changed my mind yet" doesn't mean they can't later change their mind independently. They can't say "I'm never going to change my mind or my will from now until I kick the bucket", somehow enabling you to treat any change made later as inherently invalid.

You would have to prove that the later will wasn't actually valid.

[elanfan]

I guess I was hoping that should the Will get changed it would be powerful first hand evidence that it wasn't their intention change anything that could potentially be used in court if need be. There would also be evidence from the solicitor that drafted the Will who happens to be a former employer and close friend of 50 years standing. Another friend of probably 70 years who is now very elderly also knows my parent's strong views on these matters. Trouble being this could all be years in the future and they themselves may no longer be around to give their evidence if needed.

In the words of Pink Floyd ' money is the root of all evil today'. Que sera I suppose.

[4rephill]

elanfan said:

..........Let me make it clear that said parent can leave money to whoever they want and I don't actually 'need' it though it would help set my own kids up............

So if I'm reading this right, you're not bothered who your parents leave their money to, but you want to try and get a legally recognised document that prevents them changing their will at a later date to prevent them changing who they give their money to?

I can't see any court in the land allowing such a document to take precedent over a revised will, unless you could prove that your parents were not mentally capable of knowing what they were doing when they made the will revisions.

Sorry, but if your parents move in with the grandchildren and then decide that they want to leave every penny to them rather than share it out between their own children, as was their original intention, then it's basically tough luck on their children.

[TooMany2cvs]

4rephill said:

I can't see any court in the land allowing such a document to take precedent over a revised will, unless you could prove that your parents were not mentally capable of knowing what they were doing when they made the will revisions.

And, of course, if you can prove that, then the letter is irrelevant.

[4rephill]

TooMany2cvs said:

And, of course, if you can prove that, then the letter is irrelevant.

Yes - Either way, a reaffirming letter confirming the details of an old will is basically a complete waste of time if a new will is written!

[Sheepshanks]

Wait till he or she gets married again - that'll mess things up! Happened to a mate of mine some years ago and he literally lost the family farm.

Another friend is on the periphery of a battle where an old guy changed his will in dodgy circumstances but died before he signed it. The people who got him to change it (it's some kind of pseudo religious group) are telling the other relatives that if they don't accept the new will they'll use up the value of estate in legal fees. Lovely!

[konark]

[Another friend is on the periphery of a battle where an old guy changed his will in dodgy circumstances but died before he signed it. The people who got him to change it (it's some kind of pseudo religious group) are telling the other relatives that if they don't accept the new will they'll use up the value of estate in legal fees. Lovely!]

If the will wasn't signed it's not valid, any claim would be thrown out quickly and they'd be paying their own legal fees. If not what's to stop any fool challenging any will and wiping out the estate in legal fees.

[Red Devil]

There is nothing to accept. A will which is not signed and/or correctly witnessed is not even worth the paper it's written on. If there is no other previous valid will then the old guy died intestate. In which case I hope the relatives have got cracking and already applied for a grant of letters of administration.

The religious nutters are just trying to scare them with bluff and bluster. Let the god botherers waste their money. Any half decent solicitor can swiftly send kick them into the long grass.