Financially at breaking point help with wills and probate

Caseyface

Hi all

I am seriously in need of some advice regarding my fiances father's will and probate. It's a bit of a long story so please bear with me and if anyone has been through something similar or knows the best course of action then please do comment.

My Fiance's dad sadly passed away almost 2 years ago, he did leave a will which was made with a solicitor he had had many dealings with and knew very well. He had terminal cancer and knew he was going to die so he wanted to make a will to spare his family going through the process of dividing the assetts in such a difficult time. There are 2 executors (step mother and best friend) My fiance is a beneficiary.

Now, the estate including the house is over £250'000 and was only divided between his wife, my fiance (his son) and my fiances grandmother. Quite simple to divide up you might think, but it seems not. The house has been signed over to my fiance and his step mother, they both own half each. The other assetts were bonds and money which have been left to my fiance and his grandmother.

Since his fathers death, grandmother also passed away thus causing a further delay as her money now needed to be shared between the others.

As i stated this has been going on for almost 2 years and we have come to a stand still.

We are having a tough time, my fiance was made redundant almost a year ago so we have been basically living off my wage which although i work full time has took its toll on us and we are about at breaking point. My fiance has not grieved for his father (in my opinion) and in a way it is still very current and nothing can be laid to rest.

My fiances step-mother is still living in the house, it was agreed with his father that she lives there untill she dies. She is also in a depressive state, she has also been made redundant and although there is no mortgage to pay she seems reluctant to get more involved with the solicitors as an executor, i understand it is partly her job to distribute what is owed?

Sorry this is long, i only know snippets of information and i am trying to piece it together for everyones sake. My fiance went to see the solicitor quite a few months back and was told that probate was being applied for and that she reckoned it would all be wrapped up in 8 weeks, this was months and months ago.

I keep trying to get my fiance to try and sort this out as nobody seems to be proactive for various reasons. I did get him to seek advice from another solicitor. He admitted that 2 years was very long to wait considering there was a will but he had a look at the will and couldn't find anything which seemed out of place.

Where do we stand?
What else can we do?

I feel my hands are tied and no matter what things arent moving or somebody along the chain is lying.

Please help.

pelirocco

I thought probate had to be sorted within a year , and that the executors are responsible for any financial mishandlings . What is the other executor doing?

Caseyface

pelirocco wrote: »

I thought probate had to be sorted within a year , and that the executors are responsible for any financial mishandlings . What is the other executor doing?

I honestly have no idea how long, i have tried doing some reading around it all but haven't come across that.

The other executor we have no number for and step mum is reluctant to give out any info (so it seems)