loans to a brother,stolen inheritance from other-advice please

suemann1

5 years ago we took out a loan to help brother 2 pay off debts.It was £25000.He repaid for a year and we set monthly repayments,which he promised to repay.He is now £10500 in arrears. Both him and his wife work,they have had 7 holidays since taking this money from us,and haven't changed their lifestyle at all.Emails,conversations etc are ignored.We know that the only step to get this back is a legal one,but have huge pressure from the family not to do this.Nobody is helping constructivly-what can we do?
2nd problem,aunt left small amount of money.Brother 1 executor along with brother 2 (as above).Everyone else got paid out-I got loads of lies about frozen bank accounts etc.Again huge family pressure not to tell outsiders or to instruct lawyers!! What can I do?

Katykat

Suemann, i think you know what you have to do. First, I would suggest you get 1 or 2 family members on board. Explain to them that you want them to negotiate a repayment of the loan IN FULL with your brother, before you resort to legal action.If your brother can afford 7 holidays, then he isn;t in dire straights is he? If your family refuse to get involved then you have to instruct a lawyer. It may cause family strife, but isn't the family already in trouble. They all seem to be ignoring you, apart from telling you not to cause trouble. Remember, you are not the one causing trouble, you were helping your brother out, now it time for someone to help you. By the way, I'm sure it is illegal to withhold a legacy, I'd definately be hot foot to a solicitor.

nuttyp

hi, i have to agree with the above poster. My OH family have been through a simular thing, money owed not repayed - it esculate to legal status, but to be honest no attempt was ever made to sort out the problem.

I couldn't afford to walk away from £25000 and if i had been left any money in an inheritance claim i would definatly persue it. It was bequest to you personally and i am sure the person who left it to you would be mortified if you walked away and didnt persue it,

Good luck and i hope you get sorted out soon.

sp1987

Go and get some proper legal advice taking all your documents/applicable bank statements etc with you.

As for the will, somebody wanted to leave you something of their hard earned money and it is unfair on them if somebody else has received what they no doubt worked hard for and took the time to allocate to you after they had gone.

''Family pressure'' is probably from the sides with a lot to gain from you keeping quiet. They have created the problem by putting you in this position and implying you should just sit there and lose out and let somebody else benefit. I may be quite the cynic but if anybody presented me with a situation like that, I would consider those people less of a family than people I walk past in the street. They obviously do not care much for you, do not be walked over. At least get some legal advice to see where you stand, it may be that your chances of winning point one re: loan are lower but if you are written in a will and have not been paid, somebody's head will roll over it and you can have your money with 8% pa statutory interest fresh from their bank account.

Gillianh2

These family members that want you to keep quiet and not make a fuss. I take it they didnt offer to help Brother with the loan when he needed it??? Would they keep quiet if this money was owed to them???? I think not!!
You really do need to take firm stand on this and get some legal advice. Its not pleasant, but neither is being left to pay such a large amount of money for someone else.