Father dead almost 10 years - should I have seen Will by now?

Vanilla, how recent have the changes come into force ?? I recently requested a will for A N Other, overseas, from the Probate office and same was given to me no problem. How do you think the papers are able to publish the wills of people.

from what I can make out, a copy of the Inland Revenue Affidavit will only be given to a beneficiary or executor, but the will remains accessable to the general public. ([broken link removed]).

Re copies of documents being available to the public see the linked page:

[broken link removed]

It would be great if the OP let us know how he got on with the Probate Office.

Ok from experience here the will if passed probate is a public document and is available to the general public as outlined by my fellow contributors.
The executor of the will is not obliged to share the contents of a will with anyone other than beneficiaries of the will prior to probate. And can even decide to only reveal the specific details that pertain to a beneficiary, leaving the remainder of the will's contents hidden. Prior to probate the executor is only obliged to inform you of will details that pertain to you as a beneficary. Everything else is effectively none of your business. If you are not a beneficiary of the will the executor is well within their rights not to discuss any aspect of the will with you, as you are neither a beneficiary nor a client.

If the will hasnt passed probate after 10 years there is a serious failing on the exectutors part but find out 1st and then chase this bag of troubles if there is nothing in the probate office. Good luck

There may be no Will at all - many people dont have one, particularly those who are happy enough to see their estate distributed along normal succession lines.

Either way, first port of call should be the Probate Office to see whether one exists and what the official status of it is.

csirl said:

There may be no Will at all - many people dont have one, particularly those who are happy enough to see their estate distributed along normal succession lines.

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In which case the OP would have received his share of the estate.

Nige said:

In which case the OP would have received his share of the estate.

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It is my bet that there is no will. Your mother may not want to deal with it as she would have to pay out one third of the estate to her children. ( I am be wrong on the % there.) Are you an only child and if not - have any of your siblings got any answers regarding your late father's estate. If there is no will maybe the solicitor is trying to protect your mother.

I am an only child, yes.

There definitely was a Will. I remember my Father working on it when I was younger.

Petrolhead84 said:

I am an only child, yes.

There definitely was a Will. I remember my Father working on it when I was younger.

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He may have been working on it but may have never got around to making it. So it is really only between yourself and your mother. Hope ye can work it out between yourselves. You may need your own solicitor to get the answers you need.

I have asked my mother. She said there definitely was a Will.

My mother's sibling is our Solicitor. She has handled our affairs for years (ever since my parents married). She is situated on the other side of the country and it is not feasable for me to attend at her offices for the next few weeks. She is now ignoring my correspondence, phone calls and texts.

Petrolhead84 said:

I have asked my mother. She said there definitely was a Will.

My mother's sibling is our Solicitor. She has handled our affairs for years (ever since my parents married). She is situated on the other side of the country and it is not feasable for me to attend at her offices for the next few weeks. She is now ignoring my correspondence, phone calls and texts.

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This is an outsiders view based only on the limited information OP has provided and 25 years experience of dealing with the bog standard Irish family who regularly try to avoid dealing with sensitive issues and thereby cause turmoil as here.

OP is circling the issue. All the focus is now on the solicitor rather than on the mother. This is primarily about the OP's relationship with his/her mother. It is also a clear demonstration of how poorly families often communicate with each other.

If the mother knows nothing ( and I doubt this very much) then the only sensible thing for OP to do is to do as advised and (pick any or all of the following options) carry out a search in the Probate Office, engage a solicitor to enquire, ask the mother to sign a letter addressed to her sibling confirming that she is authorising the solicitor to discuss her late husband's estate with OP and to furnish to OP all information requested to OP, etc.,etc

If the mother knows precisely what has happened ( very likely that is either (a) all assets were in joint names and there was no need for a Grant or (b) that OP's your father left a very standard will passing all of his estate to his wife and only if she predeceased him was the estate to go elsewhere) and just does not want to discuss it with OP, and is fobbing OP off and has told the solicitor not to tell OP anything, then let it go. One very simple approach is to ask a solicitor to do some title searches on property owned by OP's father to see if any changes have been made since his death.

The reality is that either (a) there is no problem here at all - in which case it is beyond belief as to why the parties cannot discuss it or (b) there is a massive problem here which needs to be addressed and which is going to cause mayhem- in which case it is beyond belief as to why the parties cannot discuss it.

mf

Well said mf1.

Why has OP left this stew for 10 years if OP cannot believe the father did not leave him something?

Why has OP not yet contacted the probate office (by phone, letter or in person)?
[BTW - if the Grant was extracted outside Dublin then it may be necessary to contact the local office]

Does OP have money problems of his/her own?

If OP has taken a notion ten years down the line and expects everybody to put themselves out and run around in circles for him/her then it is no wonder they are ignoring him/her.

I don't know OP's circumstances but the fact that he/she has been told how to get the will and/or advised to check titles to property and is still moaning about the mother and the solicitor makes me think that the OP has some deeper non-legal issues.

First, OP does not have money troubles.

Secondly, OP was 18 when his Father died and had just started University.

I started asking my Solicitor about the Will shortly after my father's death. Being an 18 year old, the Will was the last thing on my mind - I was more concerned with usual teenager's activities. My Solicitor's response was always "to concentrate on study and don't be worrying about other things". I have been studying pretty much for the majority of the time since my father's death and the response has always been the same from my Solicitor.

I have discussed this with my mother who has always told me to ask the Solicitor. To be honest, my mother is clueless when it comes to anything legal and I don't think she genuinely knows how anything Will-related works.

OP is not expecting people to run around in circles for him. OP just wants an answer.

OP's father was not Irish and thus had assets both here and abroad - does this complicate things?

(P.S. I would appreciate if ''Frequent Posters'' were a bit more considerate.)

"OP just wants an answer."

OP has been given the answer. Its just not the answer they want to hear.

"(P.S. I would appreciate if ''Frequent Posters'' were a bit more considerate.) "

People who post on this board, be they newbies or Frequent Posters, do so in the certain knowledge that they will be quizzed and poked to try and get to the bottom of the story! People who have taken the trouble to respond to OP and give terrific advice do so voluntarily.

mf

Is it just me or does anyone else feel like shaking the OP to rouse them from their lethargy on this??!!??

OP: you now have a clear course of action presented to you by other posters. You need to overcome your apparent timidity and squeamishness in facing up to this matter and do something. Otherwise you will end up with a giant 'what if...' hanging over you for the rest of your days.

Petrolhead84 said:

I started asking my Solicitor about the Will shortly after my father's death. Being an 18 year old, the Will was the last thing on my mind - I was more concerned with usual teenager's activities. My Solicitor's response was always "to concentrate on study and don't be worrying about other things". I have been studying pretty much for the majority of the time since my father's death and the response has always been the same from my Solicitor.

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Sorry Op - while this excuse may be reasonable for a year or so, 10 years seems a very long to allow such behaviour to continue without a formal investigation of what went on!!

You say you have asked your mother about the will and you think she is genuinely clueless about it - can she give you any clarification as to why her sibling has ignored your repeated requests for the last 10 years? What is her response when you ask her about this - it sounds like there IS something to hide, your mother says 'ask the solicitor', the solicitor says 'concentrate on your studies' - I mean - surely any reasonable person here would have smelt a rat 8 or 9 years ago?

This thread is a number of days old now - have you even phoned the probate office since it was started, or looked into engaging a solicitor yourself?

I personally think its odd that so long has passed and you have done nothing except be ignored by your mothers solicitor. All you need to do to resolve the situation is to follow the advice here.

Petrolhead84 said:

My father died almost 10 years ago.

A family member acts as solicitor for my mother and I. Every time I request the Will I am being put off. To date, I have never seen the Will of my father and I am wondering if this is normal?

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You say this solicitor (your aunt) acts for you and your mother. I would say she hasn't acted for you atall. Is it possible to leave a will sit for 10 years. If so your solicitor has to answer to somebody. Would the Law Society be any help here.

Sidetracker said:

"Max, don't bother posting if you do not know the full truth and mislead persons". This is good stuff. Great to see some " Frequent Posters" telling other posters to bugger off and not be annoying.

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Rather than being so critical and smart how about contacting the Probate office and asking them, as I did, what documents are available in the Public Domain after passing through Probate.

Megan said:

You say this solicitor (your aunt) acts for you and your mother. I would say she hasn't acted for you atall.

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This is the crux of the matter OP. Having a solicitor act for you who could also have a personal interest in the case is always a bad idea. What you're describing is not normal at all.

Engage a solicitor to act on your behalf who has no connection to your family at all. Also prepare for possible repercussions, being accused of betraying your family, upsetting your mother, so on. Just remember that the content of the will might have implications for your future and also for your mothers future financial security.

Why is it the whole thing of Probating Wills a messy thing in Ireland? I look upon probating a Will the same as wiping you backside after going to toilet, if you dont do it you could have a potential mess!! My grandfather died 23 years ago, and his Will (which was contentious) has never been probated. Surely we need a Law that makes it a legal obligation to probate a Will , say within two years of a death, and not "optional" as some of my relatives treat it.