Getting access after a death.

muddyl

Hi all.

My wifes relative recently died. A relative was named in her wishes as executor of the estate and we are helping her organise everything.

The deceased lived with her partner. Neither her partner nor any of his family attended the funeral. We have not been able to get in touch with any of them since the day of her death. There are items left inside the house (ornaments, family heirlooms, keys to a charities building, financial books relating to the charity) that we need to collect but don't know how best to go about it. Infact pretty much everything in the house was hers but we have no interest in taking it all.
We don't have loads to spend on solicitors fees but expect it will end up going this way.

Any advice or suggestions? Not sure where to go from here.

Thanks, muddy

AnotherJoe

Why haven't you been able to get in touch with them? Are they ignoring calls and letters? Or dont you know where they live? Does the "partner" as was, live in the house?

buildersdaughter

What do you mean by 'not able to get in touch'? No contact details at all other than the house where he lived, or that he is not responding?

To save legal fees I would begin:
Check the electoral roll for the house - he may not have registered, but if he has, you know he regarded it as his residence. Either way:
Write a pleasant letter addressed to the house, requesting contact within ( a reasonable time).Send this letter 'to be signed for' and track it.
If no response or undeliverable, do the same again, this time saying you will be seeking legal advice.
I suggest 2 steps to indicate, should it come to court, that you were being reasonable.

Inform the Chair of the charity of the circumstances. If that presents any issues, contact the Charities Commission - they are very helpful. This isn't exactly your responsibility, but is helpful - and depending on the nature of the charity and its own resources, may be able to advise / assist you.

muddyl

Thanks for the replies. To anser the questions.

Neither the partner nor his family are answering any calls or messages.
We don't know family address.
We know his address, but he refuses to answer the door (he's very aggressive and on the day of her death he lunged for a family member, i intervened so he called the police whom stated he always calls for stupid reasons).
The charity has been informed, but as of yet no decision has been made as to what to do.

I think sending letters seems a very good idea.

Keep_pedalling

You say named in her wishes, is there actually a will?

buildersdaughter

Oh dear, it does sound unfortunate. I have to say, I read your initial post assuming you / the relative you're helping were reasonably sure of a will and its contents.
If s/he is sure, they maybe know if a firm of solicitors were involved. Solicitors often store wills they have made.