DIY Probate, easy or nightmare??!!!

Sunshine1234

I've found filling in all the forms myself relatively easy as my family have a small estate, there's no savings or valuables, its just the family house at about £220k. Which I thought would be easy to do the probate for.

Except... Has anyone ever completed probate with a difficult sibling and managed to come to an agreement? Is there a way of getting some help with this?

I know i'm not the only one this sort of thing happens to, I was always saying to my mum that she needed to write a will, but she hated solicitors and thought things just sort themselves out instead. Now its me and my brother having to tear each other apart! Anyone who's been through this it would be really helpful to know what they think if I should just get a solicitor to continue the probate instead??

Thanks

dzug1

Just do the probate yourself and then get a solicitor to get your share out of your brother

madbadrob

Your brother being in the house doesnt stop you obtaining probate and like Dzug says get that done first.

The problem of getting your brother out of the house is a different matter altogether. The wording of the will is essential here. If the will states the property has to be sold and the money shared between the two of you then that will be easy. If however the will just leaves the house in 50/50 share to you and your brother then you will have very little chance of having him removed because he technically owns half of it and therefore can be in there if he so wishes. You however could charge him a rent. For that you would need to get valuations of what the property would fetch on the rental market per month. You could then charge him half of that but remember if you do that you would be liable for half of any repairs that were required.

Maybe you need to sit down with your brother and ask him if he wishes to buy your share of the property. If there are other executors in the will maybe have them sit down with him and explain the position.

Rob

John_Pierpoint

Is this estate in England/Wales and not "north of the border" ?

Your mum made no will ? So who holds the letters of administration ?

From my point of view you now legally own a property as trustees and as individuals one of your is a squatter.

Presumably you have yet to make a tenancy agreement with him but he is paying the council tax !! (if not shop him to the local authority?)

It looks like a dose of economic reality is required.

If you let this slide you could find that he becomes the owner of 100% of the property. Get good legal advice, evict the squatter and sell the house.

Expect him to fight, it might come to who has the deeper purse to pay for legal advice.
Get yourself a one armed lawyer, be clear in your own mind what you want to achieve then get someone who is clear on what can be achieved and what it will cost Beware of getting into a long expensive legal muddle of "one the on the hand but on the other hand".

Having said that only you can know why a 37 year old cannot stand on his own two feet, and a forum cannot display prejudice based on almost no information.

batchoy

To a degree I can understand you brother's reaction given the prospect of losing his home but that does not excuse violent behaviour.

Personally I would suggest you both go in to see a solicitor if only to have an independent authority explain the facts and options to your brother. If he comes round then continue to do it yourself if not hand it over to solicitor to do the work but expect to pay but make sure you brother is fully aware that going down the solicitor route will cost him more in the long run.

SmlSave

When I did ask 1 solicitor to take over from where I had got up to with the probate they said they wouldn't be able to use any of the work I had done and would need to apply and complete all of the paperwork from scratch (new certificates, etc...)

Find a different solicitor. We quite often help out clients who have done Probate themselves or want some advice.

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Are you both sharing responsibility for the maintenance bills. Any general repairs. I would not expect to share household utilities unless you were sharing living in the house. So the cost of gas, electricity, water rates, council tax(?) may be down to him. I hope he is not running up these bills in your mother's name, on her death these should be have cancelled. Otherwise these debts would be a claim against her Estate, for which you are both liable!

AMD

madbadrob

Just been reading back though all of this and missed the fact mum didnt leave a will. That now complicates things because the brother could claim through a court that has this has been his permanent address that to sell it would leave him in a difficult situation and they would likely order that he should stay there.

John Letters will only be granted once all the paperwork is done which includes all IHT forms etc

Rob

John_Pierpoint

madbadrob wrote: »

Just been reading back though all of this and missed the fact mum didnt leave a will. That now complicates things because the brother could claim through a court that has this has been his permanent address that to sell it would leave him in a difficult situation and they would likely order that he should stay there.

John Letters will only be granted once all the paperwork is done which includes all IHT forms etc

Rob

Yes expect some lawyer to encourage him up to fight back by making such a claim:
If there was a will you could go ahead and get probate (assuming your mother had got off the fence and appointed you as executor) and then brother would have to try and claim within 6 months. Presumably you are still in the situation of arguing about who applies for letters of administration?

Here is a firm of lawyers anxious to get involved - is legal aid still available in situations like this ? Will the house end up being sold to pay the lawyers ?

http://www.probate.uk.com/how_long_contest_will.html
http://www.probate.uk.com/dependency_claims.html

madbadrob

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Will the house end up being sold to pay the lawyers ?

If the estate is intestate the fact remains the house will be jointly owned by the OP and the deceased. I should say Tenants in Common. I believe I stated earlier that the OP could leave the brother in the house and then bill him for half the rental value or let him live there rent free and he cover all the repair bills. That way the OP doesnt lose her share and the brother keeps his home. It also means he wont be able to raise a mortgage against the property or sell it without the Op's agreement.

Rob

Sunshine1234

AMILLIONDOLLARS wrote: »

Are you both sharing responsibility for the maintenance bills. Any general repairs. I would not expect to share household utilities unless you were sharing living in the house. So the cost of gas, electricity, water rates, council tax(?) may be down to him. I hope he is not running up these bills in your mother's name, on her death these should be have cancelled. Otherwise these debts would be a claim against her Estate, for which you are both liable!

AMD

Thanks I hadn't even thought about him doing this. But, he has taken advantage of other finances, mums car, her savings... So this is definitely one to add to my list of things to check about.