When someone dies and there is a dispute or concern about the whether or not they had a Will, whether a Will is valid or whether any person who might seek to obtain a Grant of Probate or a Grant of Letters of Administration is the right person a Caveat can be lodged.
A Grant of Probate or a Grant of Letters of Administration is the legal document that allows a person to deal with the assets of someone who has died.
If there is a dispute about the validity of a Will or the way in which the estate should be administered it is helpful to be able to stop a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration being issued in the first place. To do this you will need to enter a Caveat.
What is a Caveat?
A Caveat can be issued at the Probate Registry to stop the Executors or Administrators of an Estate from obtaining a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration.
Only someone over the age of 18 can lodge a Caveat and the reasons for stopping the issue of a Grant are limited to genuine disputes about fraud or the validity or existence of a Will, and concern as to whether the person applying for the Grant is appropriate.
An application for a Caveat is easy to make – you can do it online via the Government website https://www.gov.uk/stop-probate-application or via postal application (available from that same weblink) or you can ask us to do this for you. The Probate Registry charge a fee of £3 to lodge a Caveat.
Once a Caveat is in place it will remain on the Probate Registry for 6 months. It can be removed in the meantime or renewed before the 6 months expires.
A Caveat should only be lodged if there is a genuine reason to object to the issue of a Grant.
What to do once a Caveat is issued
If you have grounds to lodge a Caveat you should contact a specialist in contentious probate disputes to talk through the next steps.
The 6 month period for the Caveat will pass quickly and so it is important to take steps to investigate any concerns and try to address those.
What is a Warning?
If a person wishes to remove a Caveat and the person who has entered the Caveat does not agree to this then a Warning may be issued by the Probate Registry and served on the person who entered the Caveat.
A Warning gives only a short time – 14 days – for a response (an Appearance) to be served and so it will be important to be ready to respond to a Warning.
If an Appearance to a Warning is accepted by the Probate Registry then the Caveat becomes permanent.It can then only be removed by Order of the Court or by the filing of a Consent Summons.
For this reason steps should be taken straight away to investigate the causes of concern that gave rise to the Caveat being issued. That might involve contacting witnesses to see if the Will was properly signed, or collating evidence to show that the Deceased lacked capacity when the Will was written. Whatever the grounds for the Caveat, anyone wishing to challenge the issue of a Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration should take legal advice on how to investigate their concerns.
How to remove a Caveat
If a Caveat is to be removed then the person who requested the Caveat can write to the Probate Registry and request its removal.
Caveats will lapse automatically after 6 months if they are not renewed.
If a Warning has been served and a response (an Appearance) lodged then either negotiations for the removal of the Caveat will be required or one party will need to issue a Probate Claim to deal with the issues that arise.
In either case we recommend you seek advice from a specialist solicitor with experience in dealing with Contentious Trusts and Probate disputes.
For more information, please contact a member of our Contentious Trust & Probate team here.
The information on this site about legal matters is provided as a general guide only. Although we try to ensure that all of the information on this site is accurate and up to date, this cannot be guaranteed. The information on this site should not be relied upon or construed as constituting legal advice and Howes Percival LLP disclaims liability in relation to its use. You should seek appropriate legal advice before taking or refraining from taking any action.
