Very difficult situation regarding grandmother's will

gll5dm

Essentially it turns out the solicitor made calculations based on both funds (the trust fund, and the grandson's separate fund) and distributed funds equally, which obviously wasn't right. He also says a mysterious request for funds was made a year ago and is asking us if we "know if any of the beneficiaries would have made a request for such an amaount". Weird. I'll reply to him in a month or two.

gll5dm

Now it turns out that the other grandson took a loan out from one of the trust funds (his own one - which the solicitor has since told us was completely against the terms set up of the fund) and it was paid back into the joint one, and that money has since been divvied up and shared between us all.

So not only have we apparently been awarded too much money by several thousand pounds, the solicitor is telling us we'll need to pay back some of it, yet at the same time claims there is no paperwork to 100% confirm when or why the loan was granted at the time, and he can also not explain why he failed to spot this before sending cheques out to us a few weeks ago.

Malthusian

gll5dm wrote: »

yet at the same time claims there is no paperwork to 100% confirm when or why the loan was granted at the time

If I remember the early part of this thread correctly, the trustees had complete discretion, and therefore had no obligation to explain themselves or have that explanation kept on file.

and he can also not explain why he failed to spot this before sending cheques out to us a few weeks ago.

The explanation seems fairly obvious to me. He missed it. The original mistake (to pay the grandson's loan repayment into the joint trust fund rather than his own) was presumably that of a previous solicitor / trustee?

Whether it should have been spotted earlier or not doesn't change the fact that the beneficiaries (including you) are liable to return the overpayment. But it adds to the argument for some compensation for distress/inconvenience when they give a final response to your formal complaint.

gll5dm

Malthusian wrote: »

If I remember the early part of this thread correctly, the trustees had complete discretion, and therefore had no obligation to explain themselves or have that explanation kept on file.

I am just quoting from the solicitor's most recent email where he stated the other grandson was not allowed to take a loan from his individual trust fund, so any loan approved by a previous solicitor was done in error.

Malthusian wrote: »

The explanation seems fairly obvious to me. He missed it. The original mistake (to pay the grandson's loan repayment into the joint trust fund rather than his own) was presumably that of a previous solicitor / trustee?

He actually made a comment before Christmas saying that money may have been taken out of the trust in error and if we (me and my brothers) suffer financially as a result he'll advise us as to how we can claim back through the old solicitor's insurance or something.

Malthusian wrote: »

Whether it should have been spotted earlier or not doesn't change the fact that the beneficiaries (including you) are liable to return the overpayment. But it adds to the argument for some compensation for distress/inconvenience when they give a final response to your formal complaint.

Yeah, still not even any indication that they received the complaint.

Diabolical firm to deal with.