Letter of wishes

I will be co executor for my mother's estate. She has a will done and in recent years wrote a detailed ' letter of wishes' that I have seen a copy of. Does this form part of her will when same in activated? There are some items that need clarifying and others that have already been gifted etc. Obviously we will respect her wishes in so far as is possible but I am wondering does it become a public document and are beneficiaries entitled to see it?

The will is a legal document & is in the public domain once probate is granted.

Letter of wishes is a private document which cannot be enforced. It is not part of the probate process.

Naturally, as exec you will do your best to follow it.

But if some things are not feasible, or say the green widget with pink spots cannot be located, then you have to use your best judgement.

Edit to add: as an example, one relative wanted to donate all their books to the local library. Library said, thank you very much but we don't want them.

Solution we agreed upon was to pick a set of bound books & put a printed note on the fly leaf "Donated by J. Soap, 20XX"

Thank you for that. Yes we will use our discretion. Books are one of the items in the 'wishes' and I am sure of little value or interest to the proposed recipient. Also people live in many countries and practicalities are an issue especially in these covid times we live in when only so many may gather for a funeral. Only one item was specified to be sold if not wanted and the money to be given to a younger relative of that person. I am aware that such a letter can be amended at any time. It was thought appropriate that I be aware of the detail now in case my mother wishes to review it. She is a great age and mind is still sound but increasingly frail.

Do the best you can when the time comes. Hopefully, a long way away yet.

101 next week

Way to go her! My mother in law specifies two items of furniture in her will to go to specifics recipients. When she passed away no one could figure out what she meant by the hall table etc, but the recipient was invited to go to the house to see if any table meant something specific to her and to take what she would like in lieu. She was just as puzzled and could recall no mention of a table. Sometimes everyone tries but it is still impossible to figure out

Clamball said:

Way to go her! My mother in law specifies two items of furniture in her will to go to specifics recipients. When she passed away no one could figure out what she meant by the hall table etc, but the recipient was invited to go to the house to see if any table meant something specific to her and to take what she would like in lieu. She was just as puzzled and could recall no mention of a table. Sometimes everyone tries but it is still impossible to figure out

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Funny you should mention a table. This happened to me and came as a total surprise. Apparently I had always admired it and as such, it was left to me knowing I would mind it. And I did and do and restored it to much admiration from people who ask me where did I get the beautiful table.

Thirsty said:

The will is a legal document & is in the public domain once probate is granted.

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I'm just wondering if the full written will can be examined by anyone, once probate has been granted? I thought I saw it said somewhere that only the people who inherited are mentioned.

Anyone can get a copy of a will once probate is granted; it's a public document at that point.

There's a small fee, I think it's €25.

I think that beneficiaries are entitled to see the section that refers to them before probate is granted when a will becomes a public document. Or maybe an advance view is at discretion of the executors? So the Hollywood dramatics of people gathering for a 'reading' of the will, is just that, dramatics.

hazelgreen said:

I think that beneficiaries are entitled to see the section that refers to them before probate is granted when a will becomes a public document. Or maybe an advance view is at discretion of the executors? So the Hollywood dramatics of people gathering for a 'reading' of the will, is just that, dramatics.

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The only person who is 'entitled' to see will before Grant of Probate are executor(s) and any Solicitor acting on their behalf.

I'm of two minds re advising beneficiaries before Grant of Probate.

In one instance I did that as there would be tax due; and whilst I couldn't at that stage be certain of the exact amount, I felt the beneficiary should know so any advance planning could be done.

In another instance the beneficiary took it upon themselves to take action on property that was not yet theirs; I put a stop to that gallop very quickly, but it rankled.