Executor problems

chelsea_tractor

Hi - new to this forum. My brother died in Jan this year and left a will. He made his friend the executor and left another friend a small sum of money and I was left the house. He did have some debts ( which I have paid) and also I paid for the funeral. The executor is hell bent on selling the property even though I want to take ownership of the property. The executor is working without the advice of a solicitor and also hasnt applied for probate.

Can anyone advise me of my rights....Can I take ownership of the house or do I have to stand back and let her sell the house....I am basically at my wits end. I am denied a key to the property and keep getting told by the executor that she has powers over me

hardpressed

Firstly the executor can't sell without probate. I think you should speak to the Probate Office, they are very helpful, they can advise you on what you should do.

mountainofdebt

I think it may boil down to what the wording of the will is with regards to what happens to the house.

Do you have a copy of the will?

May be worth seeing a solicitor to see what advice they can give you

getmore4less

I don't have the link to hand but it is worth a google problem executors.

I think a solicitor might be very sensible option as well as researching on the web

The house needs probate to transfer so your first step might be a caveats
https://www.justice.gov.uk/courts/probate/caveats

Is there a risk they just want to move in?

Why did you pay the debts? You can claim them back from the estate and the funeral this could force them to take out a grants as you have debts against the estate.


If they try sell the house on the market you can just buy it the money is yours.
nasty claim off the executor for the costs

I think you will find any estate agents might not be happy if you turn up with a will that says the house is potentially yours as would any potential purchasers solicitor.

There is a thread on here where someone applied for the grant and got it
messed up the claim on the estate for the legitimate beneficiaries I wonder what would haven if the legitimate beneficiary got the grant ahead of will named executor.


Did I say get a solicitor on the case ... yes above.

I assume the house was in the sole ownership of the brother if not that may complicate if it was joint with the friend there was nothing to give away in the will.

chelsea_tractor

Thanks for the replies.....I paid the debts/funeral as he had no liquid assets available to clear his debts and the executor was saying that the house would be sold to pay the debts as he had no money and unless someone paid the debt then the house had to be sold.

Yes I do have a copy of the will....it took 3 weeks to get a copy from the executor and in that time has completely emptied my brothers house and changed the locks. The will states that I have been left everything.

Thats a good idea contacting any estate agents that put the house up for sale....may have to do that, but I am not in a position financially to buy the house and of course there would be fees to pay to the estate agents, which I didnt instruct the estate agents to sell and the executor will tag the debt onto the estate.

The executor is very difficult to talk to...not a very bright person but the power has gone to their head. They havent applied for probate as it will cost £105 and wont pay that. When I have asked if probate has been done the reply is " I will have to get around to doing it sometime" My concern is the house will be sold, bang in a ridiculous bill for executor duties and I am left with next to nothing. Ive paid the debt so as the will says Ive been left the house why carnt I take ownership.

Solicitors are wanting between £3000 and £7000 upfont before they even speak to me, which is money I dont have. Probate which hasnt been applied for is another sticking matter......Ive heard horror stories that these things can take years to sort...totally at my wits end with this

dzug1

Unless the will states otherwise the executor cannot charge for his services - only claim expenses

chelsea_tractor

Forgot to say my brother was single..never married and had no partner or children

nom_de_plume

As mentioned above, the wording of the will is important but equally important is the financial situation of the estate and you do mention that there are no liquid assets.

Long before consideration is given to distributing assets, all the estate's debts need dealing with and, as sounds to be the case with your situation, the house 'appears' to be the only thing of value in the estate, then, regardless of the wording of the will, the executor may be obliged to sell the house to release funds to pay off the debt.

What is the approximate value of the house? If the combined value of the house and rest of estate is over £325,000 there will be inheritance tax to be paid.

Taking all the above into account I think it would be completely unreasonable of the executor to not sit down with you and agree a course of action that would allow you to gain possession of the house by you putting in whatever cash is needed to balance the estate accounts.

A while back when I was dealing with a relative's estate, I had some questions on the financial side of distribution. I found a local will writing / probate specialist solicitor and spent 30 minutes with them to have the correct procedure explained. From memory it cost me around £100.

troubleinparadise

Solicitors are wanting between £3000 and £7000 upfont before they even speak to me, which is money I dont have. Probate which hasnt been applied for is another sticking matter......Ive heard horror stories that these things can take years to sort...totally at my wits end with this

Obviously I don't know the ful details of this issue, but even the most expensive solicitors in my town would charge about £300 an hour for advice. That is, taking the will to them and having the exact wording explained, then giving advice about what steps you could take (not them acting on your behalf) wouldn't take much more than a couple of hours at most, especially if you have already been doing your own research on the internet to give you familiarity with the legal processes of administering a will.

As has already been said, the executor shouldn't be able to sell the property without applying for probate, and no solicitor should deal with the conveyancing of such a sale without clear proof of title. So the executor saying they won't apply for probate but will sell the house doesn't add up.

Unfortunately you will have to do some legwork in finding out via a solicitor, phoning the Probate Office and searching the internet to explain a bit more what your rights are, and what to do next.

Mojisola

chelsea_tractor wrote: »

Yes I do have a copy of the will....it took 3 weeks to get a copy from the executor and in that time has completely emptied my brothers house and changed the locks. The will states that I have been left everything.

The exact wording is important. Does it say something along the lines of "my executor is to convert everything to cash and give it to CT" or does it say that you are to inherit the property?

It's very sad that someone your brother trusted enough to make his executor is behaving like this. Does the executor realise that he can't charge anything? Maybe this will make him want to sort things out quickly rather than spending hours and hours on it?

chelsea_tractor

It is a perculiar will.....Leaves a £1000 for the care of his dog to a friend and the residue of the estate to me. Now I have paid £5,800 to cover the cost of the funeral and a grant that had to be paid before the house can be transferred or sold.

The house is only valued at £60,000 ...so inheritance tax wouldnt apply. All I just keep being told is that "as the executor I have the power and authority to do what I want"

If the executor does put the house up for sale is there any way I can stop it???