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Thanks to all who have replied on this topic.

I will try to answer as many questions as possible.

The deceased married in 1958 to his 3rd wife, she is also named as executor as well as Trustee of his will so I am sure she would have known about the will when it was drawn up in 1960.  The property they lived in at time of marriage was the property the deceased bought on his own so I presume was his name only on the deeds at the time of his marriage to his 3rd wife.  I'm not sure but will try to find out who was on the deeds of the property they lived in when he died, which I am now told they only bought in Jan 1970, one year prior to his death.  He died in 1971.  I am not sure he would have put into joint names though, he was a canny fella I believe 

I don't know whether this is relevant but his 1st marriage was in 1919, wife died in 1948, he married 2nd wife in 1950 and she died in 1956, this is the one whose son is still alive and living in the property since 1970. Then he married 3rd wife and she died in 1999. 

The will owner died in 1971.  He bought and sold several properties throughout his life and the last one as I said he bought in 1970.  I think this is possibly the reason his 3rd wife had to go to the solicitors and swear an oath or something of that nature to put the property in her name, I don't know how she did it all but I believe she was very good friends with the solicitor in the death county of her current address at that time but also saw a solicitor in another county in regard to making her own will then leaving the property to her 3 nieces who also live in or around that county.

The son of deceased recalled where this solicitor was to which he visited with his stepmother after his father died.  So I made a few phone calls (law society) and was given info which led me to the solicitor who had the will.  I made an apt to see this solicitor with the son of the deceased and it was him who provided me with the will and told me that as the property address was different on death to that of the will then the will became invalid on that point.  I have made notes that I intended to find out who the deeds belonged to at the time of death of the will owner but I can't find anything more on that matter in my notes, maybe I didn't find them.

The daughter of the deceased from his first marriage told her stepbrother many years back before her death that she remembered a different solicitors in another street of the city, but not the name of that solicitor but seems to recall her father made a will mid to late 60's which would I assume cancel out the one I have copy of made in 1960 and the one I can't find if it was made then.

So on the death of the 3rd wife, she has made out her will but with a different solicitor in different county.  After her death her 3 nieces and deceased brother and sister, they collected the stepson of said 3rd wife from his home and drove him to the solicitors in the other county, whereby he was seated and just had to listen to the will being read out of his stepmother.  He was asked to sign a document and was left a small amount of money but didn't read the document.  That was the end of it!  He was then driven back home.  The family then opened the garage door and took the deceased's car from the garage and took it with them.

The son gave me details of the solicitors he was taken to and so I rang them, they told me they had the deeds to the property held there, I asked for a copy of the will which was then sent to me.  I have just read her will again and it states not her nieces but her godchildren, but they were one and same, and it was her 2 nephews she appointed as her executors.

She states I give devise and bequeath my house at .... and the contents thereof to my stepson  ...  ...  for his life and thereafter to be sold and the proceeds to be divided equally between my godchildren  (3 names) but if any godchild dies etc etc (the norm).
I direct that none of the contents of my house be removed after my death.

So if she (the 3rd wife) stated that her deceased husband left no will and she went to the solicitors to have the house put into her name, then this was obviously fraud surely?  Her nephew apparently was a good friend of the solicitor where she was sworn on oath that she knew of no valid will.

Ok that's all I can think of at the moment, I'm still wracking my brains to try to find out about the deeds now but like one of you says, it may be too late now.

Thank you all
Catherine

Hi
I wonder if anyone out there has any knowledge of the legal jargon in a will.  I obtained a will of a person who made same 11 years prior to dying in 1971.
He had been married 3 times, had 5 children to his 1st wife who died young, married the 2nd and had one son to her and she then died and then 4 years later married his 3rd wife.
His last son became ill in his teens and although he worked for approx. 25 years he had to give up because of ill health. His last son was approx 18 when his father died but  still lived with them. 
This man and his wife and son moved to a bigger house approx 7 years before he died so the property stated on the will is different to that of the property he actually died in.  All his other children were much older and married with families of their own.
This is part of the will:
I appoint my wife ......  .... to be the Executrix and Trustee of this my will and she also to be the guardian of my son ....   ..... during his minorit.  I direct her to pay all my just debts funeral and testamentary expenses.  I appoint my Trustee to be a Trustee for the purposes of the Settled Land Acts.  I Give and Devise to my Trustee my house and premises; ........ in the City of ...... for my son .... ..... and I declare that the Devise shall not vest absolutely in my said son until he attains the age of twenty one years.  If he shall pre-decease me or die under the age of twenty one years this Devise shall fall into and form part of my Residuary Estate.  I give my Trustee full power of sale and any money liable to investment which might accrue whether by way of income arising out of the said premises or capital representing proceeds of sale thereof and income thereon may be invested in or upon or applied in the purchase of any investment security or property of any kind, (whether producing income or not) approved by my Trustee, and may, pending investment be placed on Deposit or current acct at any Bank or with any company incorporated with limited liability.  I authorize my Trustee to apply any part of the presumptive or vested share of my said son in the said Trust property under this my will for his advancement in the world.

At this point he goes on to leave his other children their legacies of money.

Then:  As to all the rest residue and remainder of my property of every kind and description and wheresoever situated of or to which I may die seised or possessed or entitled to or over which I may have any power of appointment I give Devise and bequeath same to my wife ....   ..... absolutely.

Now, my question is this:  The wife dies about 20 years later and her stepson is still living with her, the son referred to in the will.  They are living in the property his father died in but not the property mentioned in the will.  The stepmother has made a will bequeathing the house and everything in it to her 3 nieces but that her stepson can live in the property until his death.

The testators son is still alive now and wishes to know legally where he stands in regard to the will of his father as he was of the understanding that after his stepmother died he would inherit the property, is this correct?  Does anyone have any legal knowledge on this at all?

Just to add to this, the wife of the deceased had to go to a solicitors to swear or something of that nature, told to me by the stepson as he went with her,  that there was no will left by her husband and yet I managed to find this one! She told all his children that their father had not made a will and they were told by the stepmother they could have just £? each, a very very small amount.

We did go to a solicitor for advice after finding this will but he claimed this only surviving son (the stepson of his wife who was to be looked after her in the will) has no claim or rights to the property he still lives in to this day.

Any help appreciated.
Many thanks

How true on all counts! 

Good morning Ros and JM
Thank you Ros for all your help in obtaining all the info for me.  Thanks also to JM for all his advice on my dithering knowledge of probates etc.  The 'goodly and timely' was absolutely not possible in this particular case.  The case dragged on and on due to John Edward trying to buy The Elms over a period of nearly 4 years whereby it was then repossessed if that is the term to be used.  He paid £450 deposit to buy the property and land in 1936, he paid another £1600 as part payment around 1937/8 (still have to go through dates again) but couldn't raise the remainder of £2550 and so it was taken from him and sold at auction in 1941.  They retained the deposit from him to pay fees accumulated and believe me, there were such massive fees to pay between the solicitor and the PT and other bodies, mainly the solicitor involved though.  They gave him back £700 of the £1600 he had paid part payment, I don't know why, as the fees did not cost anything like that amount of £1350.  It states he lived in Windowie, I know that is where Elizabeth Marshall lived around 1932 so think this must be the house he lived in but isn't the house that he inherited from Elizabeth as it says he sold his property to raise the £2000 to buy the The Elms.  There were 5 lots of deeds attached to Elizabeth and still have no idea as yet where they all were.  Strangely, John Edward refers to his inheritance in this matter and says he can put that towards the payment of farm, the inheritance he mentions is £500.  That was the original amount in the will to be paid to him, but it was changed to £1000 and was duly signed off by Elizabeth.  Now I don't think that John Edward knew this as he wouldn't have referred to his legacy as £500 so I do wonder who was fooling who!
Julia the half cousin was extremely thrifty and wanted almost everything!  I also looked for any mention of a fire but found none, only referring to fire insurance payments.

There was a recompence left by Elizabeth to a Ralph Thompson for his hard work for last 13 years.  Unfortunately Ralph deceased 1 month before Elizabeth died.  Julia (I think she succeeded but will have to read again) wanted this overturned and for her to have the money of £500 instead of it going to his widow and retained her own solicitor in this and a couple other matters.
When The Elms was sold, all legatees had been informed, the ones in USA were apparently denied their legacy, I need to read more on this also.  I do wonder if Julia had a hand in this also. Although the legatees in Ireland were initially informed, (The brother of Elizabeth was written to after a lengthy conversation between solicitor and Elizabeth who was probably confused and named him), but he was actually 8 years older than Elizabeth so was long deceased.  Fortunately the letter was delivered and a son answered to the letter.  This son being the brother of John Edward Blake. There is no mention of a legacy to anyone in Ireland after this.  There was correspondence initially between a solicitor in Cork and the solicitor in NSW in this regard but nothing came of it.   I was told this only 2 weeks ago that there was a solicitor named Hegarty in Cork who was disbarred for fiddling many accounts from overseas legacies etc.  Lo and behold, the solicitor taken by the son William Blake in Cork was this same Hegarty who is mentioned in the correspondence of the probate packet.

ok have to post another one as it exceeds limit of characters.

Catherine