Hypothetically will issue

amen

Hypothetically if a parent died several years, a will was made dividing the assets between siblings but the assets have never divided, probate do not have a copy and when the probate was contacted they suggested (informally) they have seen the will and there issues over the witness/executor/beneficiary and they cannot accept and they suggest consulting a barrister but the sibling cannot afford one what should they do ?

Strawberry Fields

Contact FLAC http://www.flac.ie/ for free legal advice.

coylemj

Hypothetically I'm going to assume that the parent did not leave a surviving widow/er.

If there is no valid will, the deceased is considered to have died intestate and the estate would be divided in equal shares between the surviving children. If any of the children predeceased the parent and had issue (children), the grandchildren (the children of the deceased son or daughter) would divide up their deceased parent's share, this is known as a distribution per stirpes.

So let's assume (hypothetically) Anne, Brian and Catherine are the surviving children and their brother Declan predeceased the parent in question but Declan had two children. On intestacy, Anne, Brian and Catherine would get one quarter each and Declan's two sons would get one eight each i.e. they would split Declan's 1/4 share between them.

A witness cannot benefit under the will but the fact that a witness is named as a beneficiary does not invalidate the entire will, you may need to try FLAC as advised above.

82.—(1) If a person attests the execution of a will, and any devise, bequest, estate, interest, gift, or appointment, of or affecting any property (other than charges and directions for the payment of any debt or debts) is given or made by the will to that person or his spouse, that devise, bequest, estate, interest, gift, or appointment shall, so far only as concerns the person attesting the execution of the will, or the spouse of that person, or any person claiming under that person or spouse, be utterly null and void.

(2) The person so attesting shall be admitted as a witness to prove the execution of the will, or to prove the validity or invalidity thereof, notwithstanding such devise, bequest, estate, interest, gift, or appointment.

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1965/en/act/pub/0027/sec0082.html

amen

thanks for answer.

coylemj

amen wrote: »

..... when the probate was contacted they suggested (informally) they have seen the will and there issues over the witness/executor/beneficiary and they cannot accept and they suggest consulting a barrister but the sibling cannot afford one what should they do ?

Just to add a comment, I understand that the Probate Office will not allow you to do Personal Probate (the 'DIY' solution) if there is any doubt over the validity of the will or if they consider the estate to be too complex for a (legal) layman, it sounds like you have hit that speed bump.