How Long Is Reasonable

[jaycee401]

In a will dispute, caveat registered. The attester has now wasted 6 months of time and as yet has come up with no evidence. Now he is seeking counsel advise (good). We are getting brassed off waiting for him to do this but a barrister has advised if we take it to court we could be seen as jumping the gun and could have costs made against us, so advises we wait a few weeks to see if the other side starts proceedings. How long do we give him before we can start the proceedings without it looking bad against us. s like you cant do right for doing wrong. If he thought he had a case why didn't he just go to court months back, this has been going on nearly a year. solicitor said we can make a formal claim to the court for the court to pronounce the validity if the will and this would have to be made in the high court, could someone explain what this means? many thanks

[woofgang]

have you asked your solicitor how long he thinks is reasonable?

[jaycee401]

yes, the answer was




How much time is reasonable is a matter of judgement, but the longer we give him the better from a costs point of view.

Which doesn't help :(

[woofgang]

That bit about costs is very important!

[jaycee401]

Yes I can appreciate that but I just wanted an idea of how long is reasonable. We know the other side do not want to go to court its threats.

[themas]

I stand to be corrected but I think that if he actually is consulting counsel he should have the views/recommendations of his counsel within a very short time because (from what you say) this seems to be a pretty straightforward case.

If you go to Court now, without waiting until he has his counsel's report I suspect you might be accused of jumping the gun. However, if the advice you have had is to wait a few weeks I would interpret that as meaning about 6 to 8 weeks. That is just a personal opinion & you need to take on board whatever advice your solicitor gives you.

[jaycee401]

Thanks themas. Its been dragging on for months, back in september he threatened court action stating they had all this evidence, our solicitor told him back then we were happy for him to start court proceedings and to disclose his evidence. Since then his solicitors have disclosed nothing and we have received 2 letters with no substance in them apart from the latter saying he was seeking his clients instructions and will seek counsel opinion in due course. In meantime we have gathered excellent witness statements and a doctors report.

[tamborine]

A caveat if for six months but can be extended for evidence to be collected. You cant do anything till the caveat is lifted.

https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/caveats

[jaycee401]

Thats why we have to go to court as we will not reach an amicable agreement. We have no problem with him proceeding to court but all he is doing is time wasting. He is accusing of mental capacity and coercion. We have substantial evidence that the will maker was indeed compus mentus. Up to him to prove coercion.