Advice re sister with-holding will

aw0603

My mom passed away on 10.11.2012. My sister and I knew that a will had been made with dad and where it was kept, who the beneficiaries were but not who were the executors.

Due to a family split we do not have a good relationship with our eldest sister who is the only person to have access to moms house.

She has made no attempt to contact us regarding the will (nor in the arranging of the funeral). I have located the person who wrote the will and he has contacted our eldest sister, to inform her that she should give copies of the will to both of us as the 3 of us were all joint executors. She confirmed to him that she has the original. She promised to get this to us on Monday but we are still waiting. We have seen her enter the house and put things in her car as well as seeing black bags outside the house.

We have gone back to the will writer and requested a copy from him but he has now admitted that he does not have a copy (the memory stick crashed!!!) only the paperwork that everything was originally discussed with our parents. He is trying to act as intermediary but it is quite clear to us that our sister is not going to play ball.

What should we do? Are we entitled to ask for a key to the family home? Are we entitled to instruct a locksmith? How should we proceed?

The beneficiaries are the children of all us and so whilst we think sod it, walk away we know what mom and dad wanted and so why should we when our children are going to lose out?

Mojisola

aw0603 wrote: »

We have seen her enter the house and put things in her car as well as seeing black bags outside the house.

It may be worth another solicitor's letter pointing out that she has to comply with the law and that if she is removing items from the house, she may be risking legal action.

If she's going to be completely uncooperative or may be stripping the house, I would get the locks changed.

If she doesn't produce the will very soon, start the process of applying for letters of administration as if your mother died intestate.

Who has the death certificate and the green certificate?

aw0603

We have copies of the death certificate, she has the original and the green certificate................

McKneff

If you saw her taking things from the house, why didnt you stop her or at least say something to her.

Sorry about your mum, it must be still quite raw.

Mojisola

aw0603 wrote: »

She has made no attempt to contact us regarding the will (nor in the arranging of the funeral).

Do you think she has made arrangements for a funeral? Have you contacted the local funeral directors to ask who is doing it?

It may be worth getting someone else to phone because she could have left instructions that they shouldn't give you information.

aw0603

To be honest we were so taken aback to have caught her and because we dont have a copy of the will how can we question what she is removing - she may be entitled to them?

The funeral was on Monday but we had no say in the hymns etc and was told what they would be. We arrived at our moms and we together with the other mourners were stood on the pavement as the house was not opened up for us. She arrived in the funeral procession (late) and we just got in our limo's and drove away :-(

It is so awful and to be honest really getting us down

Mojisola

aw0603 wrote: »

To be honest we were so taken aback to have caught her and because we dont have a copy of the will how can we question what she is removing - she may be entitled to them?

The funeral was on Monday but we had no say in the hymns etc and was told what they would be. We arrived at our moms and we together with the other mourners were stood on the pavement as the house was not opened up for us. She arrived in the funeral procession (late) and we just got in our limo's and drove away :-(

It is so awful and to be honest really getting us down

That's terrible!

If you are joint executors, she shouldn't be doing anything without all of you being involved.

RAS

Ring the Probate Office locally, they may be able to give you advice, and you may well be able to record a caveat that puts her under a bit of pressure.

daska

I would ring the probate and inheritance tax helpline 0845 30 20 900

They can't give specific legal advice but they can help you work out what procedure you need to follow to start sorting this out.