Hi,
One of our dear friends has put us down as one of a few beneficiaries in her Will which she made in May 2013 with the South Australia Public Trustee. Unfortunately, she has passed away 2 weeks ago. When I phoned the Public Trustee after the funeral, they informed me although our names are on the Will but it has since being revoked on the date she passed away. One of the other beneficiaries in the Will phoned and advised the Public Trustee our dear friend has made a new Will with a lawyer in Dec 2013.
The case officer says she cannot do anything about it as they are not allow to confirm if a new Will has actually been made due to private and confidential reason. There are few others things which are questionable as well but for short, what can I do? Doesn’t Public Trustee need to have any proof to ensure a new Will has actually been made before they revoked the Will? I spoke with the lawyer who has the “new Will” but he refused to tell me anything as our names are no longer in the new Will, either as an executor or beneficiaries, not even the date the Will was made.
This is very personal as I wish to keep my promises I made with this dear friend of ours but I am really not sure what I can do and engaging a lawyer to dispute is probably the last thing I want to do as it is probably disrespectful to this deceased friend.
Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
One of our dear friends has put us down as one of a few beneficiaries in her Will which she made in May 2013 with the South Australia Public Trustee. Unfortunately, she has passed away 2 weeks ago. When I phoned the Public Trustee after the funeral, they informed me although our names are on the Will but it has since being revoked on the date she passed away. One of the other beneficiaries in the Will phoned and advised the Public Trustee our dear friend has made a new Will with a lawyer in Dec 2013.
The case officer says she cannot do anything about it as they are not allow to confirm if a new Will has actually been made due to private and confidential reason. There are few others things which are questionable as well but for short, what can I do? Doesn’t Public Trustee need to have any proof to ensure a new Will has actually been made before they revoked the Will? I spoke with the lawyer who has the “new Will” but he refused to tell me anything as our names are no longer in the new Will, either as an executor or beneficiaries, not even the date the Will was made.
This is very personal as I wish to keep my promises I made with this dear friend of ours but I am really not sure what I can do and engaging a lawyer to dispute is probably the last thing I want to do as it is probably disrespectful to this deceased friend.
Any help or suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
