Fraud and forgery

A Case study

Alexander died at the age of 83. He left behind an estate worth around £850,000 including a property in London. He had two daughters, Rachel and Amy, and one son, Andrew. Alexander had never mentioned a Will to his children, nor to anyone else.

To the best of their knowledge, Alexander had never created a Will despite telling them on numerous occasions that he wished for his estate to be divided equally between them.

By not making a Will, Alexander would be dying “intestate” and legally his estate would have to be shared out according to certain rules. As Alexander’s wife had died several

years before him and Alexander had not re-married, these rules would mean that his estate would be distributed equally between his 3 children.

Shortly after Alexander’s death, a search for a Will was carried out in his property. No Will was found during this first search of the property and it was assumed by his children that he never made one. An online Will search was also carried out but this did not produce any results. However, several days after this initial search the youngest daughter Amy claimed to have found a Will in a clear plastic wallet in a drawer in one of the bedrooms in the property. This bedroom was sometimes known to be used as an ‘office’ by Alexander as he kept his computer and a desk in there.

The Will that Amy had found appointed her as the Executrix of her father’s estate – meaning that she was the person legally responsible for carrying out the instructions in the Will.

The Will also left Alexander’s entire estate to Amy. The Will was dated 14th September 2020 and did appear to be a valid Will on the face of it. However, Amy’s two siblings, Rachel and Andrew, raised concerns and claimed that Amy had forged the Will in collusion with the two witnesses who claimed that they witnessed Alexander’s signature on the Will.

The two witnesses to the Will were unknown to Rachel and Andrew, and the signature on the Will did not seem to match their father’s signature on other documents. Amy and the witnesses claimed that the Will had been created at a library and that the witnesses had never met Alexander before. They had merely agreed to act as witnesses given that he had asked them at the time of making the Will.

Rachel and Andrew have now decided to challenge the Will on the basis that it is not a valid Will. They claim that Amy forged their father’s Will and his signature. They also claim that the two witnesses have not been truthful in their accounts. Rachel and Andrew believe that as the Will was not created and signed by their father, it follows that the witnesses can never have verified their father’s signature on the Will as they claim to have.

Rachel and Andrew will need to obtain expert evidence in support of their challenge where as many examples of Alexander’s genuine signature as possible are compared to the signature on the Will to take into account the variation of Alexander’s signature over time.