All about wills

[leon]

Hi Guys, just a question about wills.

Alice's Aunt passed away in her nursing home just before Christmas last year, say about 5 months ago, she was 100 and did have a will.

Alice was not the executor of the will however was mentioned in it, her Aunt had spoken to her about this.

I don't know much about how this all works so my question is this:

Is it normal not to hear anything about this will as to date there is silence

Or is it normal to be a lengthy process.

Leon

[PCH (Paul)]

Hi Leon,

You definitely have a right to know what progress, if any, has been made.

Do you know who the executor is?

If you do, then don’t be afraid to contact them and ask for a progress update.

If it becomes necessary, they can be removed from the position of executor and someone else appointed.

Hope this helps.

Cheers,

[OzEclipse (Joe Cali)]

Leon,

The executor needs to obtain probate through the supreme court in order to execute the will. This can take quite some time. The solicitor needs to advertise in multiple locations specified in the inheritance act for the state where the will was made then wait for any objections or claims against the estate. get queued for the probate to be approved and granted. It is the executors choice when to start the process.

My parents died within a short time of each other. My brother and I were co-executors, and equal beneficiaries. No other children or benficiaries. There were no arguments between us, nor counter claims by others. It was as simple as it comes, yet it took us a full year after dad died to obtain probate, liquidate and disperse the estate. We had a particularly incompetent lawyer who lost the original copy of the will (required for probate) for several months. If I recall, we didn't even engage the lawyer to obtain probate until 3 months after his death.

Sorting out the house contents was like peeling the layers of our life back. My brother and I shed lots of tears. If the executor is one of her children, be patient. It's an emotionally exhausting process.

Joe

[ChrisD (Chris)]

Hey Leon,

I was recently the executor for my mother's estate. I can't tell you what is "usual" as I've only done this once. However, it can be a slow process depending on the size of the estate. It took me around 17 months, but that included the cleaning out and sale of a property.

Nothing can happen until the death certificate is issued and that took 3 months, (you cant even get a copy of the will until this is issued), then you have to get a grant of probate, another 3 months. So for me it took around 6 months just to get the ball rolling.

I'd certainly try to find out who is the executor and get a status update.

Chris

[leon]

Thank you very much, this has been most helpful.

We do know the executor well however we did not want to interfere with the process.

Now that you all have informed us of the process we might just hang in there and see what will eventuate in the near future.

Thank you all for your assistance.

Leon