Our Dad was murdered last year. At the time of his death, he was separated for almost 12 months from his wife (not our mother). He was in a new relationship and his will couldn't be found.
Dad told me he had a will but didn't mention which solicitor was holding it and he said after the separation from his wife he updated it to include his intentions of divorce and because one of my brothers had lived and worked on the farm with Dad, he wanted to guarantee that he would inherit the farm if anything happened to him. My brother and Dad's new partner were murdered as well as my Dad and the safe which should have contained Dad's will was stolen at the time of the murders.
My four other siblings and I thought since Dad was separated from his wife that we were his next of kin. We also knew Dad had more debts than he had assets and knew everything would have to be sold to pay out those debts. We had also raised concerns with the police that we strongly felt Dad's wife was somehow involved in their murders and we thought that nothing could be done with Dad's estate until the murder investigation was finished, which would give us time to find all Dad's debts and try to locate Dad's will before we seen a solicitor.
Six months after Dad's, death a friend informed us there were rumours Dad's wife had already claimed his estate and had so far purchased a new car and had made plans to go on an overseas holiday. My siblings and I saw a solicitor who looked into it and informed us Dad's wife had already been granted letters of administration because legally she was still married to him and classified as his next of kin. She had already distributed Dad's estate to herself including Dad's bank account, his personal belongings and is selling everything else, including the farm which Dad bought when he was married to our mum and got to keep when our parents divorced.
I have made countless phone calls to solicitors trying to locate Dad's will, with no luck and all the places I contacted that I knew Dad had debts with didn't even know Dad had passed away. So obviously Dad's wife who knew of these debts didn't even get her solicitor to contact them to see if the debts were still outstanding.
I have tried to do some research online but it gets a bit confusing so my questions are:
I know Dad's wife would have submitted an affidavit with her application for a letter of administration. It seems she might have lied by saying Dad had no debts since the places I rang had no idea about Dad's death, which meant those debts couldn't have been included in the affidavit and my siblings and I had no idea that she had even applied for the letters of administration, so we are thinking that she didn't include us either.
1. Is there any way to get a copy of the affidavit that she submitted?
2. If we aren't included in the affidavit, can anything be done or is it too late now that she has already distributed the estate to herself?
From what I can gather off the internet, Dad's debts are meant to be paid out of the estate before it can be distributed to anyone, and we knew that by the time all the debts were paid, there would be nothing left of the estate, therefore, nothing to distribute to anyone, yet Dad's wife is selling Dad's assets and spending the money on herself.
One of Dad's debts was a loan account with a bank for a not so small amount and with the same bank he had a savings account which had some money in it, but the bank released the money to Dad's wife.
3. Since Dad had more debts than he had assets, shouldn't the bank have put the money from Dad's savings account into his loan account to pay off some of that debt instead of that money being released to her?
4. Is there any way to get everything that has already been released and spent by her put back into the deceased estate so it can go to the debts owed by Dad?
Dad told me he had a will but didn't mention which solicitor was holding it and he said after the separation from his wife he updated it to include his intentions of divorce and because one of my brothers had lived and worked on the farm with Dad, he wanted to guarantee that he would inherit the farm if anything happened to him. My brother and Dad's new partner were murdered as well as my Dad and the safe which should have contained Dad's will was stolen at the time of the murders.
My four other siblings and I thought since Dad was separated from his wife that we were his next of kin. We also knew Dad had more debts than he had assets and knew everything would have to be sold to pay out those debts. We had also raised concerns with the police that we strongly felt Dad's wife was somehow involved in their murders and we thought that nothing could be done with Dad's estate until the murder investigation was finished, which would give us time to find all Dad's debts and try to locate Dad's will before we seen a solicitor.
Six months after Dad's, death a friend informed us there were rumours Dad's wife had already claimed his estate and had so far purchased a new car and had made plans to go on an overseas holiday. My siblings and I saw a solicitor who looked into it and informed us Dad's wife had already been granted letters of administration because legally she was still married to him and classified as his next of kin. She had already distributed Dad's estate to herself including Dad's bank account, his personal belongings and is selling everything else, including the farm which Dad bought when he was married to our mum and got to keep when our parents divorced.
I have made countless phone calls to solicitors trying to locate Dad's will, with no luck and all the places I contacted that I knew Dad had debts with didn't even know Dad had passed away. So obviously Dad's wife who knew of these debts didn't even get her solicitor to contact them to see if the debts were still outstanding.
I have tried to do some research online but it gets a bit confusing so my questions are:
I know Dad's wife would have submitted an affidavit with her application for a letter of administration. It seems she might have lied by saying Dad had no debts since the places I rang had no idea about Dad's death, which meant those debts couldn't have been included in the affidavit and my siblings and I had no idea that she had even applied for the letters of administration, so we are thinking that she didn't include us either.
1. Is there any way to get a copy of the affidavit that she submitted?
2. If we aren't included in the affidavit, can anything be done or is it too late now that she has already distributed the estate to herself?
From what I can gather off the internet, Dad's debts are meant to be paid out of the estate before it can be distributed to anyone, and we knew that by the time all the debts were paid, there would be nothing left of the estate, therefore, nothing to distribute to anyone, yet Dad's wife is selling Dad's assets and spending the money on herself.
One of Dad's debts was a loan account with a bank for a not so small amount and with the same bank he had a savings account which had some money in it, but the bank released the money to Dad's wife.
3. Since Dad had more debts than he had assets, shouldn't the bank have put the money from Dad's savings account into his loan account to pay off some of that debt instead of that money being released to her?
4. Is there any way to get everything that has already been released and spent by her put back into the deceased estate so it can go to the debts owed by Dad?
