I've had my g.grandfather's will for a few years now, but until a distant ancestor asked me about it, I hadn't really studied it. It is typed on a plain piece of paper - i.e. not an official will. There are no signatures, just the names of my g.grandfather and the witnesses typed in capital letters, and no spaces left for signatures, although as the will was made in 1934 I'm assuming all of them could write. However, it does have an embossed Seal of the Family Division of the High Court of Justice on it. I also have a copy of the Probate Form which also has the embossed seal on it. This looks more like an official form, and is signed by the Deputy District Registrar. It is headed, In His Majesty's High Court of Justice, The District Probate Registry at York (York is handwritten), so obviously a form that can be used in any court. At the bottom of the page it states "Extracted by Middlemiss, Pearce and Miller, Solicitors, Hull.
Neither my gran nor her elder brother are mentioned in the will, where my g.grandfather stated "I give and bequeath unto my son EW all my worldly belongings also my insurance money from the Prudential to do as he likes with it"!! One of the witnesses is his widowed stepdaughter who was 66 at the time (G.grandfather was at least 13 years younger than my g.gran who had already had 5 children when they met although one died young), and I don't know who the other one, a man, is. On the 1911 census, there are only two possibles and they are both very young children in 1911, so maybe he was a neighbour.
Now the question is, as my g.grandfather only left £111.3s.5d, in 1935 worth about £4,111 today, and on the probate form it states "the net value of the personal estate is Nil", why would this will have to go to probate? Do you think my gran and her other brother were contesting the will? My g.grandfather did put in the will "I hereby revoke all Wills made by me at any time", but maybe someone told him he should put that in, even if he hadn't actually made any other wills. The other thing is that g.grandfather had a large double fronted shop on Hessle Road, Hull, when he died, so only leaving £111 is a bit dubious.
Any thoughts? My parents who married in 1939 were very friendly with EW named in the will and both he and his other brother were present at my parent's wedding in 1939. My gran who wasn't mentioned in the will was my father's mother, so obviously she was at the wedding too. So I'm assuming the siblings hadn't fallen out over the will.
Lizzie
