Frequently Asked Wills, Trusts & Probate Issues Answered

If you have an old style Enduring Power of Attorney (EPA) it is still valid but will require registration with the Office of Public Guardian if you start to lose your mental capacity.

We can guide you through all aspects of the registration process.

An EPA will only enable your attorney to manage your property and financial affairs.

You can change your Will at any time while you are still alive and have the capacity to do so.

We generally recommend that Wills are reviewed every three years to ensure that any changes to your circumstances or wishes are reflected.

If you want to make small changes to your Will, we can prepare a Codicil for you, rather than making a new Will. Keeping your Will under review also makes sure that you are aware of any changes to the law since your Will was made, this is particularly important in relation to matters of Inheritance Tax.

In a recent survey, 67% of people surveyed did not know where to find their parents’ Wills.

Of course a person’s Will is a confidential document, and belongs to the person who made it. With that in mind many people keep their Will in a “safe place” but omit to tell anyone where that safe place is.

When you make your Will with Gorvins, if you would like us to keep it safe for you we will store it in our strongroom, free of charge. You will also be provided with a free of charge copy of your Will that you can either keep safely yourself, or give to a trusted friend or family member to look after until it is needed.

Gorvins also register Wills with Certainty, the national online register of Wills. This helps to ensure that should you move or your circumstances change, your beneficiaries are still able to trace your Will to Gorvins.

What does the Registry of Wills do?

• The Registry records that Gorvins hold your Will; no one there sees it, and we keep it here in our safe store
• Following your death, the Registry gives us details about anyone who is looking for your Will
• We answer the query if it is legitimate, but if not we ignore it, thus protecting both your privacy and your beneficiaries

Sadly, none of us are immortal and we cannot take our possessions with us. Regularly reviewing your Will and having it registered is one of the most important things that you can do for your loved ones.

For further information, please visit www.certainty.co.uk

Estate and Trust administration can take a long time. If there is a dispute it can take years rather than weeks and months to deal with complex and intricate disputes. When a person makes a Will, they will name someone to act as an executor. If they die without a Will this person is known as the administrator. These can sometimes be a professional e.g. a solicitor, but more often involve family and friends.

Contact us for some initial advice about your options. For an initial discussion, with no obligation, please call one of our wills dispute specialists on 0161 930 5151 or e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com.

Gorvins Approach to Executor or Trustee Problems

As a beneficiary, you may think an executor or trustee is dragging their feet and taking too long to deal with matters of your recently deceased relative or loved one. You want your inheritance as soon as you can and although you appreciate that things can take time, your executor or trustee may not be making any progress. You may feel that you want the executor or trustee to be removed.

A first and the most cost-effective course may be to simply ask the executor or trustee to step down. They may willingly do this and be relieved to forego the responsibility. If the executor/trustee refuses this option and is being deliberately awkward, it may be possible to issue proceedings to remove them.

Administrators can sometimes make mistakes. Solicitors acting as administrators should not make the mistakes that a friend or relative might, but sometimes they can get it wrong. The sorts of issues that can arise include:

• Selling property for less than it is worth because of poor valuations
• Not selling property quickly enough, causing it to be sold for less than it could have been worth
• Not giving the property to the intended person quickly enough
• Failing to insure property which gets damaged
• Paying the money to the wrong people

This is a complicated procedure and may cost a lot of money in legal costs, however, if you truly believe that they are not complying with their duties and obligations then an application to court may be the best course of action.

It is not usual that an executor or trustee is asked to step down due to delay. There is usually an underlying reason for the attempted removal such as an accusation that they have acted improperly. For example the beneficiaries may believe that an executor has caused a loss in the estate, that the Will has been misinterpreted or that the entitlements have been distributed incorrectly.

How can Gorvins Help?

If you feel that an executor or trustee has acted inappropriately and want to seek their removal, seek the professional advice or our expert team who will be able to advise you on the best course of action.

Contact a member of the team on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in our enquiry form and we will call you straight back.

Handling trust disputes involving individuals, corporate trustees, charities and beneficiaries is a highly complex area of law which requires a specialist team of professionals to handle the dispute carefully.

When emotions are high and tensions between family members become fraught it is important to instruct an unbiased professional who can assess the dispute logically to ultimately get the best outcome for all parties involved.

If you have a trust dispute or are involved in the trust, call one of our specialists contentious probate solicitors on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in our enquiry form and someone will call you straight back.

Gorvins Approach to Trust Disputes

If you are wishing to contest a trust, or you are defending a trust that is being disputed, our team of expert solicitors can help. We have a highly experience team of solicitors who specialise in handling disputes about Wills, including claims against executors or trustees.

Trust disputes between individuals can arise for a number of reasons and where possible we always try to resolve disputes through mediation to keep costs down and avoid further tension between those involved.

In some cases however, the need to fight and defend a claim at trial is needed and in these circumstances we will work with you build a strong case and ensure you get the best outcome possible for you and any other parties involved.

How can Gorvins Help?

Contact us today; we will listen to your side of the story and give you some initial advice about your options. For an initial discussion, with no obligation, please call us on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in our enquiry form and a member of the trust dispute team will call you back.

When someone dies the process of probate assesses what a person owns and what they have left in their Will to their beneficiaries. When looking at their estate it may become obvious to the executors that certain assets have been transferred to other people before the deceased passed away.

If you would like to talk to one of our wills dispute experts about making a claim against any property or assets that given away before death contact us 0161 930 5151 or e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com for a free initial discussion with no obligation.

Gorvins Approach to Property and Asset Claims

It could be that the gift was perfectly legitimate or it could be that the gift is totally out of character and not something that would have been expected from the deceased.

This brings into question whether any undue influence has been exerted on the deceased prior to their death. Just because the property was given away before death, does not mean that the transaction cannot be challenged, in particular if the deceased was elderly or vulnerable.

A challenge to the transaction can be made on the basis of lack of capacity, undue influence, or sometimes even fraud, but in each case, evidence will be needed to understand the circumstances of the transfer.

Why did the deceased make the gift? If you are an executor or beneficiary to a Will and want to challenge a gift or transfer made before death, contact one of our expert team who will be able to advise you further on gathering evidence and how to challenge the transaction with a view to putting the “gift” back into the estate.

How can Gorvins Help?

We can advise you on the law and your rights to determine whether any property or assets belonging to the deceased were unlawfully given away prior to their death.

Our dedicated team of lawyers specialising in contesting Wills, can guide you through each step of the legal process. Contact a member of the team on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in our enquiry form and we will call you straight back.

When someone dies, you need to locate a copy of the latest Will. This can be difficult as people often don’t like talking about what will happen when they are no longer with us, and so don’t tell anyone where to find their Will.

Our wills dispute experts at Gorvins may be able to help you find a missing Will. If the deceased registered their Will with Certainty, the National Register of Wills, it can be traced to the solicitor who prepared it. Call us on 0161 930 5151 to see if we can help trace the Will.

How can I Find a Missing Will?

If the Will is not registered with Certainty, but you know who the deceased tended to use as their solicitor (perhaps for moving house or other legal matters) the next step would be to approach that solicitor. In the past we have also had success tracing a Will by writing to all the solicitors in the town where the deceased lived, particularly if the deceased lived in that town for a long time.

However, it should be noted that unless you are named as an executor of the Will you will not be entitled to a copy of it.

A Will becomes a public document once a Grant of Probate has been obtained. You can obtain a copy at this stage by applying for a standing search at the local District Probate Registry. The probate registry will then send you a copy of the Grant and a copy of the Will if one was drawn up.

This search will remain in place for six months and can be renewed by writing to the probate registry quoting your standing search number and paying a further £6. This will mean that if anyone does attempt to gain probate you will be notified.

How can Gorvins Help?

The Wills, Trusts and Probate team here at Gorvins Solicitors in most cases will be able to find the Will of a deceased relative quite quickly. Call us on 0161 930 5151 or e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com.

More often than not, it is not until a loved one dies that their Will is evaluated, and this is where problems with the drafting of the Will can come to light. You may have reason to believe that the Will does not truly reflect the wishes of the deceased because it was drafted negligently or differs from their instructions.

If you believe that the Will of a deceased loved one was negligently drafted you need to speak to a dispute specialist who can help you challenge the Will. Call the contentious probate team on 0161 930 5151, e-mail on willdisputeteam@gorvins.com or fill in our enquiry form and we will call you back.

Gorvins Approach to Negligently Drafted Wills

There are a number of matters where you may believe that negligence has occurred during the drafting of a loved ones Will. These could be:

• A delay in the preparation of the Will
• A delay in the signing of the Will
• Negligent execution of the Will which links to Ensuring the Will is legally binding
• Negligence in the professional’s assessment of the deceased mental capacity at the time of making the Will
• Negligence in relation to any tax advice provided

The law of negligence is very complicated. If you think that negligence by a professional has occurred you should consider the following:

• Why do you think there is negligence?
• What does the allegation of negligence mean to the operation of the Will?
• What financial loss have you suffered as a result of the negligent advice?

Even if a Will is valid, you may be able to claim against the solicitor or other professional if they drafted the Will negligently.

How can Gorvins help?

Our team at Gorvins have considerable experience of bringing professional negligence claims in relation to Wills, so speak to one of our experts for further advice on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputeteam@gorvins.com or fill in our enquiry form and we will call you back.

It is unusual but it can sometimes be the case that a fraudulent Will has been created as a façade of the true situation. It could be that someone has intervened to create a Will that is just unthinkable of the person you know, or you just have that feeling that something is not right.

If you have a suspicion that the deceased’s signature is not theirs you could challenge the content of the Will as being a forgery and so it is imperative to seek legal advice. Call us on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in the enquiry form and one of our wills dispute experts will call you back.

Gorvins Approach to Fraudulent Wills

To deem a Will invalid due to fraud you would need to obtain original examples of the deceased’s signature ideally from around the date when the deceased allegedly signed the Will. You must bear in mind that as people get older their signature will change, particularly if they were elderly when they signed the Will.

Once the appropriate evidence has been gathered it would usually be necessary to acquire a handwriting report from an expert.

Fraud is a very serious allegation. If you cannot prove it in Court it is likely that the Court will punish you by assessing that the costs of bringing the action to Court (by yourself and your opponent) should be paid by you which is why allegations of fraudulent Wills must be handled by a professional who is experienced in this type of legal work.

How can Gorvins Help?

If you suspect that a Will is fraudulent and want to take action speak to one of our experts by calling 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in the enquiry form and we will call you back.

As people’s assets have become more and more valuable over the years there has been a rise in Wills being contested in court due to people being influenced by others. There have been cases of the elderly and vulnerable having pressure put upon them by so called ‘friends’, relatives or even care-workers, to change their Will.

Challenging the Will of a loved one can be a stressful and upsetting time. The specialist team at Gorvins Solicitors can help you understand what you need to do. To talk to one of our wills dispute experts, call us on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputeteam@gorvins.com or contact us online and we will call you straight back.

Gorvins Approach to Invalid Wills

For a Will to be valid, the person making the Will must not be influenced by anyone else’s opinions. Evidence is always the issue with undue influence.

How do you prove that the deceased was unduly influenced, in conversation that by its very nature is likely to have taken place only between the deceased and the ‘influencer’?

It may be possible to gather evidence from witnesses such family, friends and carers who the deceased confided in, and a medical report as to the deceased frailty or vulnerability may assist in proving that undue influence has occurred.

However, the best evidence that there has, or has not, been undue influence is to show that the deceased received independent legal advice at the time when the Will was drafted. If this was the case then evidence will be needed as to the circumstances surrounding the meeting, the influencer’s presence and involvement in the meeting, and any subsequent instruction to make or amend a Will.

In an allegation of undue influence the onus is on the ‘influencer’ to prove that the deceased was not unduly influenced. However, if the allegation is found to be unfounded the Court may order the person making the allegation to pay costs.

How can Gorvins Help?

It is essential to seek the advice of our experienced solicitors if you believe that a Will may have been made under undue influence. To talk to one of our legal experts, call us on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputeteam@gorvins.com or contact us online and we will call you straight back.

Sadly, there are an increasing number of elderly people developing dementia, and people who are unable to make decisions for themselves for other reasons such as brain or head injuries.

It is vitally important that a person making a Will understands exactly what they are doing and the implications of the decisions that are being made.

To talk to one of our wills dispute experts, call us on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or contact us online and we will call you straight back.

Gorvins Approach to Invalid Will Disputes

In order for a Will to be valid the person making the Will, known as the testator, must:

• Understand that they are making a Will
• Be conscious of the value and extent of the assets that they are leaving in the Will
• Be conscious of those people that they should morally provide for, especially if they are disinheriting somebody, for example if a person is cutting a son or daughter out of the Will following a family argument
• Not be suffering from any mental condition that has adversely affected their decision

If there is any question of mental capacity a Will should be witnessed by a qualified medical practitioner to confirm that the Will is valid.

It can be difficult to prove that the testator did not have mental capacity at the time of writing the Will and evidence will have to be gathered to prove incapacity. This could be witness evidence from an appropriate person, or medical evidence from a medically qualified practitioner.

If it can be proved that the testator lacked mental capacity then the Will can be revoked, and any earlier Will can then come into effect. If there is no earlier Will the Rules of Intestacy will apply.

How can Gorvins Help?

We understand that this can be a difficult time and that the stress of dealing with a Will dispute can add to the heartache and grief that you are already going through. We’ll look to make things as easy for you as possible. To speak to a solicitor in Gorvins’ specialist dispute team you can call us on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or contact us online and we will call you straight back.

Family relationships are increasingly complicated and you may feel that you have wrongly been left out of a Will, or there may simply be no trace of any Will, leaving the estate intestate.

In either case, if you feel that you have not received what you expected from your loved one’s estate, it may be possible to make a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which is often referred to as an Inheritance Act or a 1975 Act claim.

If you would like to talk to one of our wills disputes lawyers about making a claim under the Inheritance Act, contact us 0161 930 5151 or e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com for a free initial discussion with no obligation.

Gorvins Approach to Inheritance Act Claims

The Inheritance Act makes provision for people who have not been included in an individual’s Will, or have not benefited from a person’s estate under the laws of intestacy, provided they hold one of the following relationships with the deceased:

• They are the spouse or civil partner of the deceased
• They are a former spouse or former civil partner who has not re-married or entered into a subsequent civil partnership
• They are a person living in the same household as husband or wife of the deceased, in the two years immediately prior to their death
• They are a child of the deceased
• They are a person who was treated by the deceased as a child of the family
• They are a person who was being maintained by the deceased

Provided an individual can prove that they fall within one of the above categories, a Court can order that a Will is varied, or an estate be redistributed, in a variety of ways to include that individual.

Claims under the Inheritance Act are usually heard in the High Court and can take up to 12 months to conclude.

How can Gorvins Help?

It is essential for anyone who might be considering pursuing a claim under the Inheritance Act to seek the advice of Gorvins’ specialist team at the earliest opportunity, as any claims must be commenced within six months of the Letters of Administration or Grant of Probate.

Call the inheritance act team today on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in our enquiry form and we will call you back at a time to suit you.

Anyone can leave their money and belongings to whom they wish in their Will, but on occasion disputes do arise over the validity of the Will.

At Gorvins Solicitors we have recognised will, trusts and estate dispute specialists who can help you deal with an estate dispute. We will always work with you to make sure you understand the options you have open to you.

To discuss an estate dispute or for more information about an issue you are experiencing contact a member of the specialist wills dispute team on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in the enquiry form and we will call you straight back.

Gorvins Approach to Contesting a Will

The specialist will and estate dispute team at Gorvins can provide advice and support if:

1. You are an executor or beneficiary on a Will that is being challenged
2. You wish to challenge the will or estate of a recently deceased family or friend

Both of these situations can be very difficult to be involved in and it is important that you seek legal advice, so that you understand the law relating to this area and, if necessary, to help you to defend your position.

There are a number of reasons why a Will or estate can be challenged. These include:

• The Will has been badly drafted or is invalid– if the Will has not been drafted and signed correctly it may be invalid and you may be able to contest the Will on the grounds that it has not been executed properly.
• The deceased didn’t understand what they were signing – If your loved one was suffering from dementia or another illness affecting their mental capacity, you may be concerned that they didn’t understand what they were signing.
• The deceased was being influenced by someone else – You might have reason to believe that the deceased was under undue influence from someone else and that left to their own devices they would have made a different decision about how and whom to leave their estate.
• The Will is fraudulent – It is unusual, but there have been cases where fraudulent Wills have been created in order to hide the existence of the real Will and favour different beneficiaries.
• The Will could have been negligently drafted – The person drafting the Will may not have been properly qualified and may have provided your loved one with poor advice e.g. will writers or DIY Will kits.

It is important that you seek specialist legal advice as quickly as possible as there are strict time limits on contesting a Will. The first step is to find a copy of the latest Will, which the team at Gorvins can help you with.

How can Gorvins Help?

We want to make things as convenient and stress-free for you as possible. Call the wills and estate disputes team on 0161 930 5151, e-mail willdisputesteam@gorvins.com or fill in our enquiry form to talk about a will dispute and whether our expert team could help.