Exchanged - Owner now passed away

SG27

So if completion fails which looks likely and the op pursues the estate for damages, these damages then reduce the amount eventually due to the beneficiaries. One of whom is the op himself. Is that right?

Mojisola

SG27 wrote: »

So if completion fails which looks likely and the op pursues the estate for damages, these damages then reduce the amount eventually due to the beneficiaries. One of whom is the op himself. Is that right?

If the OP has been left a specific amount, there may be enough to still receive the full amount.

It will be the residuary beneficiary whose inheritance will be reduced by costs to the estate.

Murphybear

Nick_C wrote: »

OMG I've just found and started reading the dog in the garden thread. I haven't laughed so much in a long time!

Just spent a couple of hours reading this. It was hilarious, one of the best things I've e er seen on MSE. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Uxb

ThePants999 wrote: »

I don't understand why the solicitor is advising to expect completion not to happen. It's entirely under his control, isn't it, since he's executing the estate as well as handling the conveyancing?

They have to wait for the probate office to provide the grant of probate: without that nowt is going to happen as the executors do not have any authority to do anything without that document.
Normally that is about a month as an minimum, once you have supplied them all the papers and assets valuation details.
I'm assuming here no IHT is payable as that adds a new level of complexity and more months delay as you have to get HMRC approval on the IHT paid before you can apply for probate. Then there is the income tax situation to resolve from 6 April to date of death which will affect the final estate asset value.

Whether the probate office can do a limited grant quicker to allow the house sale to go I've no idea

Rushed44

foxy-stoat wrote: »

So on 15th August the daughter wants to move back in as it was a childhood home ( she still needs to buy the place ).
On 16th August she wants to charge the OP another £80K and he can buy it - oh and come to a meeting please - the OP would of been told at that point that he was mentioned in the Will, not come to the office for a meeting.
On 21st August it now transpires that the OP and Bro are getting £300K each from the Estate and the daughter is only getting £50K - and the daughter told all this to you?
House purchase and the OP getting £300K are separate issues.
If she tries to stop the sale it WILL cost the Estate thousands - her solicitor would of advised her that, she can contest the Will if she wants, she may win or lose but it should not effect the sale.

Probably best to look for somewhere to rent and sit back and wait for the compensation for the breach of contract and wait another year or 2 for the £300K to come your way.

The invite to the meeting was sent to me by mistake. The invite was withdrawn. I didn't know what the meeting was about until later.

Rushed44

For those of you inferring this is a windup I can assure you it isn't.

We've been discussing whether to complete or negotiate a withdrawal. We had a meeting with our solicitor today and the upshot it
- We aim to complete. Exchange was before vendors death and solicitor sees no reason for it not to proceed
- We haven't told our buyers and don't intend to as we will complete with them
- We do have a plan B (sort of) if we can't move in
- We can wait for the £300K. It was a nice surprise, so whether we get it next week, month, year, 3 years doesn't matter
- It's touch and go if the will get messy. We learnt that she also had two grand children and they're getting the bulk of her estate

We were debating if we should go to the funeral considering what's gone on but we realised that the daughter doesn't know what we look like, she only knows my name and number so as long as my phone is switched off I'm good.

sal_III

Uxb wrote: »

They have to wait for the probate office to provide the grant of probate: without that nowt is going to happen as the executors do not have any authority to do anything without that document.
Normally that is about a month as an minimum, once you have supplied them all the papers and assets valuation details.
I'm assuming here no IHT is payable as that adds a new level of complexity and more months delay as you have to get HMRC approval on the IHT paid before you can apply for probate. Then there is the income tax situation to resolve from 6 April to date of death which will affect the final estate asset value.

Whether the probate office can do a limited grant quicker to allow the house sale to go I've no idea

Normally this would be true had exchange not happened already while the owner was still alive and presumably “being of sound mind". The Conveyancing solicitor has already received instructions on the matter and the deal is done.

As already pointed by others there are 2 separate "issues"

- House sale, with exchanged contracts, where the executor of the estate has a due care to complete, instead of incurring penalties from the breach of contracts and diminishes the size of the estate. The daughter of the deceased has no say on the matter.

- Distribution of the estate. The daughter have the right to contest the will given the amounts awarded to the OP and his brother, whether it will be successful or not remains to be seen. But unless the property is explicitly listed in the will it makes no material difference to the estate, whether it's in "solid" or "liquid" state. If anything liquidating it will make the distribution easier.

sal_III

Rushed44 wrote: »

We were debating if we should go to the funeral considering what's gone on but we realised that the daughter doesn't know what we look like, she only knows my name and number so as long as my phone is switched off I'm good.

Don't count on this, in this day and age so much info is public - Facebook, Google, Instagram, Tweeter, LinkedIn etc. that you will be amazed how easy is to get pictures of someone.

Even if you are a "digital hermit" and don't use any of these, your friends are family are likely using them and you are tagged left, right and centre.

Also depending on the size of the funeral, you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to figure out that the two middle aged (speculation) males that look a like are the two brothers standing to inherit £600k

That said, personally I would attend if I were you regardless, you had a relationship with the deceased and you are named in the will, you have the right to be there. If the daughter identifies you and decides to kick a fuss, just handle it with grace and maybe leave early if you must.

getmore4less

sal_III wrote: »

Normally this would be true had exchange not happened already while the owner was still alive and presumably “being of sound mind". The Conveyancing solicitor has already received instructions on the matter and the deal is done.

As already pointed by others there are 2 separate "issues"

- House sale, with exchanged contracts, where the executor of the estate has a due care to complete, instead of incurring penalties from the breach of contracts and diminishes the size of the estate. The daughter of the deceased has no say on the matter.

- Distribution of the estate. The daughter have the right to contest the will given the amounts awarded to the OP and his brother, whether it will be successful or not remains to be seen. But unless the property is explicitly listed in the will it makes no material difference to the estate, whether it's in "solid" or "liquid" state. If anything liquidating it will make the distribution easier.

That cannot happen without the grant, not found anything to say otherwise(that's assuming the mum was the only/last legal owner)

Even though the powers come from the will don't think the land reg will allow the change of legal owner without a grant.

Technically the house is held as a trust by the legal owners for the beneficiaries so potentially the beneficial ownership could be transferred but I doubt any solicitors are going to be happy with that scenario if they can't get a grant and change the legal owners as well just in case there is something that can go wrong.

Executors probably not going to do it either as that opens up the personal liability angle.

davidmcn

getmore4less wrote: »

That cannot happen without the grant, not found anything to say otherwise(that's assuming the mum was the only/last legal owner)

Even though the powers come from the will don't think the land reg will allow the change of legal owner without a grant.

Yep, like I said (back on the first page!) even if everyone is fully co-operative it's unlikely to happen for the original completion date.