One of my friends parents recently died and she is now processing the will. The solicitor has received all the details of the deceased parent and the will that was left. The will was not written with a solicitor but rather at the deceased's employers HR dept 30/40 years ago (and not with a company barrister or solicitor). The will is not being contested at all by the family and the will leaves everything to the surviving spouse.
The solicitor is now questioning the originality of the will, saying that because it is handwritten and not completed at a solicitors office, it *may* be thrown out by the probate office/court as being a photocopy or someother non original document (BTW the witnesses are now deceased as well).
The solicitors have suggested that the family should go intestate. The children have all been asked to sign a document to renounce any interest in the estate, and to assign sole inheritance to the spouse (surviving parent). The family feels this is wrong as the deceased spouse (& parent) clearly left a will and don't want to disrespect the wishes of the deceased.
My questions are:
Does the solicitor gain from this (financially or with respect to time spent handling the case, time is money
afterall )?
Are there costs associated with intestate processing that the family would pay, over and above the cost of the solicitor?
What would the effect of ignoring this advice really be?
Has anyone else ever been in a similar situation?
Any suggestions on an appropriate course of action?