Death - how to deal with Will/Estate
Discussion
A friend of mine has just passed away leaving the practicalities of dealing with his estate/will etc. He never married, lived alone and in total including his flat(owned outright)/cash/paintings is probably worth around £300/400k no debts.
His family have never taken any interest in him or his wellbeing so in recent years I and his other friends have in their absence helped him with life and health generally in all sorts of ways. Needless to say now that he has passed away and there might be a few quid to be had his family all of a sudden care for him deeply.
When he was alive I always looked out for him and would like to carry on doing so after his death.
He knew what his family were so has written a Will to reflect that, to supersede the previous one and both are in a safe place (but not opened yet). I am fairly confident the family are not mentioned in it.
The Will was done properly by going to a local solicitor and paying for it to be done, not a DIY will.
I don t know the contents of the will and don t care what is in it, what I don t want is his family to wade in and clean up when I know for a fact he would not have wanted them to.
Looking for some input on the following points from anyone who has been there and done that, I haven t.
The Will is sitting there, what is the next step? I have no idea who the executor is, it could even be me for all I know.
What would happen if this Will mysteriously disappeared? If it is done by a solicitor (no idea who that was) will there be a copy somewhere that anyone can get to and retrieve?
Plus any other pointers that may come in handy thanks in advance for any input.
His family have never taken any interest in him or his wellbeing so in recent years I and his other friends have in their absence helped him with life and health generally in all sorts of ways. Needless to say now that he has passed away and there might be a few quid to be had his family all of a sudden care for him deeply.
When he was alive I always looked out for him and would like to carry on doing so after his death.
He knew what his family were so has written a Will to reflect that, to supersede the previous one and both are in a safe place (but not opened yet). I am fairly confident the family are not mentioned in it.
The Will was done properly by going to a local solicitor and paying for it to be done, not a DIY will.
I don t know the contents of the will and don t care what is in it, what I don t want is his family to wade in and clean up when I know for a fact he would not have wanted them to.
Looking for some input on the following points from anyone who has been there and done that, I haven t.
The Will is sitting there, what is the next step? I have no idea who the executor is, it could even be me for all I know.
What would happen if this Will mysteriously disappeared? If it is done by a solicitor (no idea who that was) will there be a copy somewhere that anyone can get to and retrieve?
Plus any other pointers that may come in handy thanks in advance for any input.
The executor/s are the only ones that will get access to the will.
As you appear to know who the local solicitor is I would simply inform them of his death and take it from there.
Legally I imagine his next of kin are responsible for arranging things such as his funeral with or without a will being in place.
If you have access to his house ( ie you hold keys ) then a quick search may provide details of whom the solicitor is if you don’t know.
In terms of winding up his affairs again it will be down to the named Executors assuming such a will exists.
As you appear to know who the local solicitor is I would simply inform them of his death and take it from there.
Legally I imagine his next of kin are responsible for arranging things such as his funeral with or without a will being in place.
If you have access to his house ( ie you hold keys ) then a quick search may provide details of whom the solicitor is if you don’t know.
In terms of winding up his affairs again it will be down to the named Executors assuming such a will exists.
Sorry to hear this, my only input would be to mention that unfortunately the law doesn't care about emotions.
Should be a copy of the will with the solicitors, let's hope he has an executor that he trusted.
I suspect family will be in pillaging the place, let them.
As for assets whomever goes to access cash, house, insurances etc. will need a copy of the will, so take comfort in that.
Let them have the crap and leave them to it!
Should be a copy of the will with the solicitors, let's hope he has an executor that he trusted.
I suspect family will be in pillaging the place, let them.
As for assets whomever goes to access cash, house, insurances etc. will need a copy of the will, so take comfort in that.
Let them have the crap and leave them to it!
PabloEscortCar said:
So the original copy is held by the solicitor who wrote it?
Yes, that's the way it usually works. Or if the deceased held the original the solicitor will have a copy. This ensures that if someone opens the will, doesn't like what it says and destroys it then there's always the fall-back of the copy with the solicitor.The Will and its copies almost always have the solicitor's name and address on the front cover, so there should be no risk of not knowing where the original is held if all that's found is a copy.
As Alscar says, the original Will is what's used to obtain Probate. But if the original is missing and there's no evidence that the deceased wanted to deliberately destroy it then it's possible for the family to get Probate from the copy. But it can all get a bit messy. Much better to locate the original.
Inform the solicitor, these days they keep everything on file via digital storage. It all depends on who the executor is but it may be the solicitors themselves which saves you the hassle and stops the family from pressuring you. Good luck. My FIL just passed and of course the vultures have gathered for the feast, even the ones who couldn't be bothered while he was alive.
Gassing Station | Finance | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff