House sale proceeds held up

dreameavergeorge

Wondering if anyone had any advice on this at all. My cousin has been waiting weeks for his share of the sale of his mum's house after his stepfather passed away. His stepfather was on disability, so apparently, according to the solicitor, it was forwarded to DWP to see if there was anything owed to them. He was told to call back in 3 weeks and when he did, was told the solicitor has gone away for 5 weeks and received a nonsensical message in regards to it being withheld or suspended. It sounds all very odd to me. Why would you go away for 5 weeks and not leave someone processing your work?
The other issue as well, is why would it have been forwarded to DWP? The house belonged to his mother and she left a will stating the kids get an equal share once her spouse had passed. Technically, this house never belonged to stepfather, so should not have anything taken out of the proceeds.
How long can a lawyer hold onto the proceeds and should he claim for interest as well? The new people have already moved into the house and the sale was about 2 months ago.

G_M

Who are the Executers?

Has the Estate been wound up? Is there Inheritance Tax to pay? Has this been evaluated yet?

These things all take time - the cash cannot be distributed till the Estate is valued in full, tax paid, any other creditors paid etc. Only THEN can the Executers work our how much is left to distribute between the Beneficiaries.

it was forwarded to DWP to see if there was anything owed to them.

What was forwarded? The entire proceeds of the property sale?! By whom?

dreameavergeorge

As he's not getting answers, it's been quite difficult to make head nor tail of what's happening.
Basically, trying to make the story as short as possible, here's the tale.
My aunt dies a couple of years ago and got the boys together whilst writing the will and told them that she was leaving the proceeds of the house to them, stepfather was there and said not to forget to put him in the will as well. It was stated that he could live in the house until he passed and then the house money would then be split 3 ways. When Stepfather was writing his will (cancer, so knew he had to sort things out), he was on the outs with one of the boys. His ex wife (nasty piece of work that squeezed everything out of him in their divorce) moved in to take care of him and would not let anyone talk to him at all. So whatever she whispered in his ear, it ended up with him totally going against my Aunt's wishes, instead of naming the oldest boy the executor, he named the ex wife. His pension and savings were supposed to go to his kids and the house to the boys, instead, he spitefully left one boy out and gave the other 3rd of the house proceeds to his granddaughter.
After taking legal advice, my cousin found out he could not do anything as Stepfather's name was at the top of the will, apparently negating any wishes below. The ex wife refused to allow anyone in the house after he died, so they have nothing from their mother and she has sold all of the furniture and jewellery, so they just have the money from the house. She sold it 20% lower than the appraised price and they have not been informed of anything at all, he has had to call for information all the time and not to get anything significant. He feels he's being fobbed off all the time and never gets any specific information. He died the beginning of June, so things should have been sorted by now.
I'm not familiar with the process having lived out of the country for years. I would assume after this period of time that taxes etc would have been sorted.
Don't know if this sheds more light on it or just woffle lol

G_M

My aunt dies a couple of years ago and got the boys together whilst writing the
will and told them that she was leaving the proceeds of the house to them,
stepfather was there and said not to forget to put him in the will as well. It
was stated that he could live in the house until he passed and then the house
money would then be split 3 ways.

Question 1: Have you seen Auntie's will. What does it actually say?

In your post above you say she " told them that she was leaving... " and " It was stated that ..." Do you mean stated by Auntie? Or stated in the will?

The only thing that matters is what the will actually says.

His pension and savings were supposed to go to his kids and the house to the
boys, instead, he spitefully left one boy out and gave the other 3rd of the
house proceeds to his granddaughter.

Question 2: what happened in his will to the pension and savings?

However, it seems that
A) auntie left 1/3rd house each to each boy and 1/3rd to stepdad. If so, that cannot be changed.
stepdad left his share of the house to grand-daughter
C) so the house proceeds belong equally to the two boys and grand-daughter. Correct?

The ex wife refused to allow anyone in the house after he died, so they have
nothing from their mother and she has sold all of the furniture and jewellery,

Question 3: Who were these left to in the (step-dad's & aunties) wills?

She sold it 20% lower than the appraised price

* How? Is she the Executer of Aunties will? If not, she sold it illegally since 2/3rds of the house belongs to the boys under aunties will so aunties exectuters should have sold it
* an Executer has a legal duty to get the best price - illegal not to do this.

My advice would be to see an independant solicitor who specialises in wills and probate. NOT one working with or for your Auntie.

Or ask for advice from the Probate Service.

(please note I am NOT a solicitor, nor an expert in wills and probate. This is just my best understanding.

dreameavergeorge

Ok, I'll try and answer these as best I can.

It was stated in her will that the boys split the proceeds of the sale of the house. I have not seen the will myself, my cousin sent off for a copy and told me this. He was allowed to live in the property until he passed. Just remembered, stepfather was executor of her will. As it was all about the house, there really wasn't anything to do except her burial wishes.

His pension went to his kids. I assume his savings as well after DWP checked out if anything was owed, I believe that's the way things work. Plus if any bills were outstanding.

There was no mention of him being left the house, just the right to reside. This is the part that confuses me as if it was in her will, then why does he have to put it in his will?

I don't know about any of the furniture being specifically in a will. They don't have a copy of his will. I think as everything was hers, they took that to mean that all of that was included in the house. They aren't worried about the furniture or material things. There were specific personal items that were promised to grandkids, engagement ring, childhood memorabilia etc, all that was gone and they were told everything had been sorted, dropped a box of tat off at one of the boys houses and disappeared.

So she was executor of his will, but not Auntie's. She was entrusted to sell the house and deliver the proceeds to the boys (well, apparently 2 of them anyway).

It's small town housing prices, so not big bucks, but the house was valued at 95,000 and was sold for 72,000. The story he heard today from a friend of his who knows the couple who bought the house is: The couple looked at a house on the same street and lowballed them with a 65,000 offer which was instantly turned down. Then the agent says that it's not a problem as she has another house up on the same street and the family are going through some troubles so try their luck there. They offered 72,000, no problem, it was accepted immediately. Don't exactly think it's ethical of the agency to do that but probably not illegal.

I will talk to my cousin again in the morning. I don't know if he is allowed a copy of Stepfather's will, he is in it, so he should be able to get one. I will also advise him to talk to another lawyer, but believe he did with his mum's will and they said there's nothing he can do. My worry is that as it's not exactly a large estate, he'd lose it in fees and end up with nothing

G_M

My advice would be to see an independant solicitor who specialises in wills and probate. NOT one working with or for your Auntie.

Or ask for advice from the Probate Service.

dreameavergeorge

Thank you, will pass on the info and the link

Fire_Fox

Not really a 'House Buying, Renting or Selling' issue but a probate issue.
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=217

daska

OK, if she's applied for Probate then his Will is a matter of public record and you can apply for a copy of it. Ditto your Aunt's Will. Contact the Probate Service 0845 30 20 900.

The official Probate Service is part of justice.co.uk

The other place you might find information is the Land Registry. Downloading the property details from this would be able to tell you whether any part of the property had been transferred to him (though it's not updated immediately).

The two Wills and the registration should be a good start when it comes to working out if/how/when things started going awry.

loubel

It sounds like there is some confusion about how the Aunt left her house in her Will, so it's important that legal advice is obtained on her Will first of all to establish whether she created a trust over the house or not. Has your cousin raised the question with the solicitors acting on the estate?

Land_Registry

daska wrote: »

The other place you might find information is the Land Registry. Downloading the property details from this would be able to tell you whether any part of the property had been transferred to him (though it's not updated immediately).

The two Wills and the registration should be a good start when it comes to working out if/how/when things started going awry.

Based on what you have stated to date it is important to consider the following before requesting information from Land Registry.

The property will now be registered and in the name of the new owners I assume - as such the current register will simply reveal the owners names and the purchase price, both of which you already know.

You make no mention of timescales so there is a small possibility that the property was unregistered prior to the purchase. If that is the case then any records relating to the aunt's ownership etc would be very limited at best as the documentation would have been returned to the buyer's conveyancer.

However if the property was registered in your aunt's name then some details are likely to be available although how far they will assist won't be clear until obtained. It might therefore be prudent to seek the legal advice recommended first and if such information is considered relevant then it can be applied for fairly quickly.

Where historical information e.g. previous editions of the land register or documents are required we recommend that you contact us in writing first to explain what information they require. This then enables us to check our paper/electronic records and advise you as to what records we have, how to obtain them and at what cost - our online FAQ provides a brief explanation and also explains where to write to.

For example you may be able to obtain a copy of the register in your aunt or uncle's name depending on what took place i.e. was he actually registered or has the property been sold whilst still in the aunt's name. You may also be able to obtain a copy of any document(s) involved in the transfer/sale of the property

However, I would again emphasise that it is important to get some legal advice before writing/applying as you could end up applying and paying for documents etc which you did not require.

If, after reading our online material, you require assistance in applying or need a further explanation re the terms used or help with the forms referred to then please Contact Us. We can assist with advise similar to the above but we cannot provide legal advice