Inheritance money and property.

Mojisola

Marisco wrote: »

The executors are the two of them i.e my mate and her brother.

So why is the solicitor telling them that they can't distribute some of the money?

If they are the executors, they control the estate.

Yorkshireman99

Mojisola wrote: »

So why is the solicitor telling them that they can't distribute some of the money?

If they are the executors, they control the estate.

They have probably got some of the work done by a solicitor because they were nt confident of doing the work themselves. That is no reason to ignore the solicitor's advice. It sounds as if they need to all talk about the whole thing.

Mojisola

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

The have probably got some of the work done by a solicitor because they were nt confident of doing the work themselves.

That is no reason to ignore the solicitor's advice. It sounds as if they need to all talk about the whole thing.

I used a solicitor in that way for my Dad's estate but the executor's powers stayed with me.

As you say, go back to the solicitor and ask for an explanation.

Tuesday_Tenor

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

No solicitor, nor any prudent executor, is going to distribute significant amounts until the time for any dependent relatives to make a claim or for the time allowed for in the Gazette notice has expired. Given that we have only hear third hand it unwise to draw conclusions based just on what we have been told.

Absolutely.

So far we don't know for sure who the Executor is, nor what the timescales involved have been so far. ETA- cross-posted. Sibling executors can instruct solicitor to do as they wish.

Is it the solicitors he executor? Or is the solicitor working to the instructions of the sibling executors?

If the solicitor is the executor, a six month wait for the LG notices to serve their time, is a reasonable time to wait before making enquiries about an interim distribution. Anything sooner is hassling the executor, who, not knowing the testators circumstances personally, cannot be sure that there aren't massive hidden debts.

If the siblings are the executors, they can instruct the solicitor to do what they want. At their own risk, of course, if they are not making the recommended checks for creditors.

As GMFL says there are reasons for executors not distributing too quickly, but, on its own, needing to liquidate ALL the assets is not one of them. After 6 months the executors would need a reason other than waiting for London Gazette responses. Tax uncertainties could be one, if estate value is close to IHT threshold, or CGT comes into play.

Conversely, if we're 6 months into the process, things are now moving very quickly, and completion on the house is imminent, perhaps the solicitor just means it's not worth incurring extra solicitor costs for an interim payment as all assets are about to be liquidate an the final distribution made.

In summary, it's not clear whether anyone (solicitor or siblings) is being reasonable/unreasonable without further information.