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HELP! Trying to prevent a travesty over my friend dying allegedly intestate

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Are there any solicitors on pfm who could help please?

I mentioned the sudden death of my friend of 38 years (who was an avid vintage hi fi collector and restorer) about a week ago.

I'm hoping the great collective wisdom and specialists on everything and anything here on pfm can help to prevent an utter travesty and injustice over his estate.

My friends parents died in an accident when he was a about 5 and he was brought up by an aunt and uncle who treated him very badly to say the least... The details are I'm sure irrelevant.

My friend hated these people, and the few remaining family members he had, who were all "part of that clan" with a vengeance. The aunt and uncle died leaving a cousin who, if anything, he hated even more, as his "official" next of kin.

I have strong recollections of him making a will. He was absolutely adamant that whatever the future held "those people" were not to see a penny when he passed away and this was his entire reason for making a will! IE to cut these people out of it! It goes without saying that I never enquired as to who the beneficiaries would be. He never volunteered this either.

It would have been around the late 80's when he made the will and I recall he used one of those services you used to see in the Radio Times etc where there would be ads for "Have you made a will? Do it today!"
I recall on a few visits to him around this time him having various documents/paperwork on a low coffee table in his living room which pertained to the then on going process of putting the will in action. Also his saying how morbid and strange it felt to be thinking of his own demise but that he needed to make sure "just in case" that THEY got nothing and that this was why he was doing it. Unfortunately I do not know with complete certainty that it was completed etc.... I presume it was. It's not exactly something one asks about.

There has been a police and coroners appeal in local media etc for any family to come forward and surprise surprise this cousin and her husband who he despised and had not spoken to for over 30 years have come forward and have been accepted as his only family... It seems they have already within a day or two been given access to his property and may have already gone through it....

As I moved to Northumberland around 17 years ago I have had no contact with any of his other friends during this time, almost all of them who survive have known him for less time than I have and a very close friend of his I talked to at length today says he cannot recall my friend ever mentioning anything about a will... I guess it's not something one really natters about... thoughts of ones own death etc etc.. This close friend of his knew all about his upbringing and his hatred for "the family" and agreed it would be bizarre for him not to have left a will to prevent them inheriting. He recalled my friend having a safe... which triggered a memory for me also that yes he did.

The friend of my friend whom a spoke to this morning is going to speak to other friends of his that he knows of and see if he mentioned anything to any of them.

I rang the coroners office to tell them I was pretty certain he left a will and I was told that as a verified family member had now come forward that basically EVERYTHING was now in their control and it was out of their hands... they had done their job by finding "a relative"l!!

The friend of my friend reckoned that already these "vultures" are trying to arrange the cheapest, quickest funeral possible and about 40 miles from where my friend lived (ie close and convenient for THEM!) and were asking for no hymns no readings no poems etc etc... An inconvenience they want out of the way as quick and easy as possible no doubt judging from what my friend told me about them!

Sorry folks if this has been a bit of a rambling TLDR... I'm trying to "set the scene" I guess... My old friend will be rotating already in the mortuary fridge never mind rotating in his grave!

I guess I'm asking if there is anything that can be done? MOST IMPORTANTLY, surely there must be some record kept when someone makes a will, and specifically to avoid a situation where "hostile" relatives come forward and say "no there was no will we know of so it's all ours" and then "take control" of all further proceedings? Is there some national register or some such?
He had a safe.... this seems the likely place any paperwork would be... but it seems as I said that the vultures have already been given access to his property with power to take away or open it no doubt!?

His mate I talked to today fully agreed with me that if he left everything to an animal shelter/what have you then great... But his most deeply held wish would have been to make sure these very "people" didn't get there hands on it! He owned outright his house.... so even without his collection of vintage hi fi and watches there is no doubt a substantial estate...

HELP!!
 
Sounds like you/he is sunk.

Writing a will, FWIW, is simple - download the form, get witnesses and lodge with someone responsible. Sounds like the friend fell over at at least one step. Not that, without SOME legal guidance, a will can be written that is not full of challengeable flaws (members of MANY UK charities can get free legal advice about a will so long as the charity gets something, and often rather little).

No will available.......................... he is/was intestate.
 
There is such a thing as The National Will Register. However, this tends to be used by Solicitors as a means of registering a Will. It isn't part of the Will process, per se. Effectively a service to help ensure what you outline above doesn't happen! Worth contacting though.

As a wider comment, I would advise against the self written Will. Prone to difficulties, especially if estate is at all involved. Use a Brief, tell your family/trusted friends where the Will is and have it registered.
 
Thats why its vital to make a proper will and log it with someone who will go through probate and execution be it a solicitor, bank etc. True they'll take a cut for doing this but it'll make life easier for the beneficiaries.

Cheers,

DV
 
You could enquire of the deceased's friends and neighbours whether they were ever asked to witness a will. But even that probably won't help unless they know where it's stored. If the original will doesn't turn up it could be argued that he changed his mind and destroyed it. Even if a document is found, if it's not properly witnessed it isn't valid.

Lawyers make a lot of money out of people who make their own wills and do their own conveyancing. You may remember a few years ago a woman tried to divorce her husband because he was cold and uncaring, and her petition was refused. She'd done it herself. Had a lawyer drawn it up she would almost certainly have succeeded. And don't get me started on litigants-in-person.

Yes, some people are capable of carrying out a legal task despite never having had any training or previous experience. But if you're not sure what you're doing, employ a professional, whether it be making a will or repairing an amplifier.
 
Jez it took my brother and I 12 months to be granted probate on my father's estate, due to the original being lost, his solicitors from ten years prior inly had copies, despite us being sole executors and sole living relatives.

There is no chance at all they have been granted probate in such a short time frame, not unless they were the beneficiaries of a will unknown to you.
 
Thanks for the replies so far guys.

The friend of my friend I talked with this morning said he was told by the next door neighbour (also a close friend of my friend) that "they" have already been yes, even though it would have been only 1-4 days after they were accepted as next of kin and that "they brought people with them who I would have presumed to be solicitors but they were fairly scruffily dressed". It was a large very old safe that I presume would have taken several people to lift... If they've gone through his place like a dose of salts and found the key though...

Should I ring the local police and tell them of my suspicions? hopefully nip things in the bud IF they haven't already got the safe?

Unfortunately I live approx 55 miles away, have no transport currently and not much money... getting to the funeral and back even is a worry for me never mind taking professional legal advice!

I've posted a similar thread on the vintage radio site where I put a death notice as there are several people on there who knew him so I've asked for anyone who also remembers him making a will to come forward
 
Thorn said:
You could enquire of the deceased's friends and neighbours whether they were ever asked to witness a will. But even that probably won't help unless they know where it's stored. If the original will doesn't turn up it could be argued that he changed his mind and destroyed it. Even if a document is found, if it's not properly witnessed it isn't valid.

Lawyers make a lot of money out of people who make their own wills and do their own conveyancing. You may remember a few years ago a woman tried to divorce her husband because he was cold and uncaring, and her petition was refused. She'd done it herself. Had a lawyer drawn it up she would almost certainly have succeeded. And don't get me started on litigants-in-person.

Yes, some people are capable of carrying out a legal task despite never having had any training or previous experience. But if you're not sure what you're doing, employ a professional, whether it be making a will or repairing an amplifier.
Click to expand...

Yes! It would have needed to be witnessed so there must be someone besides myself with knowledge of its existence... unless of course they have since passed away. I think if he had asked ME to witness it I would have remembered that...

Surely then if "they" have already gained entrance to the property and done as they wish/taken what they wish BEFORE being granted probate then the police should be involved?
 
If they have been granted probate what they do now is nothing to do with you and the law will not get involved.
You have no idea whether they have got probate or not do you?
Other questions that are relevant are, did your friend have siblings, are his grandparents still alive?
If either of the answers are yes they have priority in probate before cousins.
 
If I understand the issue, your friend died intestate and in the circumstances the estate would revert to the Crown. Interested relatives could then make a claim on the estate. I cannot see how a cousin can, "within days", be given any legal access to anything.

p.s. what Bob said above.
 
Cav said:
If I understand the issue, your friend died intestate and in the circumstances the estate would revert to the Crown. Interested relatives could then make a claim on the estate. I cannot see how a cousin can, "within days", be given any legal access to anything.
Click to expand...


They can’t.
I have been executor for three friends and family.
The quickest I ever got probate was three months after application. And that was with a will naming me as executor!
Reports in the press are that some applications are now taking a year due to covid.
 
Cav said:
If I understand the issue, your friend died intestate and in the circumstances the estate would revert to the Crown. Interested relatives could then make a claim on the estate. I cannot see how a cousin can, "within days", be given any legal access to anything.

p.s. what Bob said above.
Click to expand...

Bob McC said:
If they have been granted probate what they do now is nothing to do with you and the law will not get involved.
You have no idea whether they have got probate or not do you?
Other questions that are relevant are, did your friend have siblings, are his grandparents still alive?
If either of the answers are yes they have priority in probate before cousins.
Click to expand...

I looked up the law and found the order of inheritance and the fact that yes "they" get it all if there is no will and no relatives with greater claim. My friend was orphaned at an early age and was an only child.... Hence the police and coroner having to place an appeal in the local paper for any relatives to come forward.

Obviously I don't know if probate or any other legal power has been granted but as others have said it seems most unlikely as they have only come forward in the last few days... the funeral hasn't even happened yet!

In which case would it not be illegal for these people to already have gone through his place taking what they like?
 
Would those "Have you made a will? Contact us today!" type services not have been to prevent a will being improperly made/unwitnessed/not registered somewhere? Surely the idea would be that it was cheaper than actually engaging a local solicitor but, even though done "production line", a solicitor would have to have read and signed it etc? ie it was the cheapest way of making a "proper" will?
 
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