Fake Will Admission May Lead to Criminal Charges

When your spouse’s lack of attention to making a will causes issues, faking one is definitely not a good idea, as a Kent woman found out recently.

Her husband died in 2013 leaving various properties in Spain and a flat in England, but no will.

The woman admitted to faking her late husband’s will, which she had used to obtain a grant of probate and to sell the Spanish properties. She bought a property in London with some of the proceeds and moved into it with her stepson and his wife.

When that arrangement didn’t prove satisfactory, court proceedings were begun which led to questions being asked about the will and the ownership of the property.

The woman claimed to have created the will naming herself as her late husband’s sole beneficiary on the advice of a financial adviser and to have done so ‘at a drunken party’.

As well as ruling that the house was owned by both the woman and her stepson, the judge has reported her to the Attorney General to consider whether criminal charges should be brought against her.