Martin Ashgrove
probate solicitor
Methodical; separates law from feelings firmly
The Will
An old will, a newer handwritten note and a farmhouse everyone remembers differently.
Planned · not started yet
Law & your rights Family duty Ethics & integrity Hard choices Family home Reflective Tense
The premise
An old will, a newer handwritten note and a farmhouse everyone remembers differently. Siobhan learns probate law while her family reopens forty years of resentment, and discovers that the law can settle who owns the house but not who was loved best.
The protagonist
Siobhan Quinlan — Eldest of three siblings administering their mother’s estate in County Clare
The council
Every council member is an original fictional character. None represents, quotes or is endorsed by a real person.
Dr Femi Olaleye
family mediator
Calm; brings buried grievances into the open
Wendy Harcastle
estate accountant
Exact; finds the tax problem nobody saw
How the story moves
Each book is told by a different sibling as the estate moves through probate; each narrator reveals what the others misunderstood.
What readers take away
- What makes a will valid in Ireland
- Intestacy rules
- Duties of an executor
- Applying for a grant of probate
- Valuing an estate, including farmland
- Capital acquisitions tax and reliefs
- The spouse’s legal right share and challenges to a will
- Selling or transferring inherited property
- Read a grant of probate and its effect
- Handle debts of an estate in the right order
- Understand joint ownership and survivorship
- Prepare an estate account for beneficiaries
The books
- 1The two wills Planned
- 2The executor Planned
- 3The valuation Planned
- 4The challenge Planned
- 5The farmhouse Planned
Book titles are working titles and may change before publication. No book is on sale until the complete series is finished, checked and released.