Son angry about will, can he hold up everything?

M

MichaelCOH

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This is a strange one (to me any way!). My wife was left a small amount of money by her late uncle which she is very grateful for. It’s nothing life changing, but she was moved to have been remembered by him.

She got a letter this morning from her late uncle’s solicitor explaining that everything is being held up because of a dispute between her uncle’s three sons.

She had heard already that they all got an equal share of the family home and of any savings their father had, but two of them were also left a small house between them that he had bought years ago in Mayo which he used when he went fishing there. It was also used regularly by the two sons he left it to, but rarely by the third. He is objecting that he wasn’t left a share of that house, which isn’t worth very much, and says he will contest the will on that basis on the grounds that his father was not of sound mind and that his brothers used undue influence.

From what my wife and myself know of the situation, this sounds ridiculous. The third son, who hadn’t a very good relationship with his father or any of the rest of the family, showed little interest in the Mayo house and hardly ever went near it. And it’s not as if he’s been left out of the will, he has his equal share of the family home, etc.

But he’s so angry about it he’s threatening to hold everything up for as long as he can and won’t provide the solicitor with his PPS number.

Has he the power to hold everything up for everyone else? Can a solicitor do anything to move things along when one person is intent on delaying the whole process?

Would love to hear opinions on this, the law is a mystery to me!
 
If he's contesting the will as you say he is, i'd imagine he's got some legal advice and is possibly using a solicitor? If he wants council opinion I do believe he'll have to use a solicitor in order to get the opinion of a barrister. Why do you think he wants to draw it out as long as possible for everyone? He's delaying his own payout by doing this.
 
Thank you for the reply Noproblem. As far as I know he hasn't actually launched a legal challenge yet, he's just promised he will, and he has told his brothers he will drag it all out for as long as he can. I suspect he thinks he'll struggle to win his challenge, but delaying it all, even for himself, will give him some kind of satisfaction. It's mad stuff. That's why I was curious if there is any protection in law against someone who openly says his aim is to delay the process.
 
It will cost him money and he will have to prove his allegations. If he takes a case and loses he will end up with a big legal bill for all those involved.
 
I don't think the OP is talking about the angry child launching a legal battle just yet. He is holding up the settlement of the will as long as he can out of pettiness by not giving his pps number. The problem is, he probably can do this. The family can't make a grown man give his pps number (can they access it otherwise?) and would probably have to bring him to court to force him to give it, which is a cost to the two brothers.



Steven
www.bluewaterfp.ie
 
Solicitor doesn't necessarily have to have his pps no. Can get permission from revenue to proceed without as long as they undertake not to distribute to him without giving the pps no to revenue
 
If he's going to contest the will and he loses, he will be hammered with the others' legal bills. And if he drags it out for a long period he will end up paying interest to the other two.
 
Many thanks for all the replies, greatly appreciated. The update on the situation, after the solicitor looked in to it, is exactly as Vanilla suggested:

"Solicitor doesn't necessarily have to have his pps no. Can get permission from revenue to proceed without as long as they undertake not to distribute to him without giving the pps no to revenue."

I never fail to marvel at how people lose their senses over family wills. The 'third' son's own two sons are disgusted with his behaviour and are 'siding' with his brothers, so now there's division in his family too. They're in college at the moment and their father could do with the money to help pay their way, so he's only hurting himself. He's still talking about contesting the will, apparently - I can't imagine a court in the land being sympathetic to him, but I suppose you never know.

Thank you again everyone.
 
I suspect the reason the 'third' son has threatened this is he is hoping the other two will just give him a third of what the extra house is worth rather than put up with the hassle. It appears to have backfired though and he now has no chance and he will just move on.
 
The father has made a will and the two sons would be wrong to go against his wishes by giving in to threats.
 
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