Probate Help Please

ThomasGeorge

It is the surviving son who is offering the AST, my concern was doing this with him without having an administrator in place for the final 25%.

Tom99

ThomasGeorge wrote: »

It is the surviving son who is offering the AST, my concern was doing this with him without having an administrator in place for the final 25%.

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Is this surviving son registered at the Land Reg as one of the legal owners? If so he is now the sole surviving legal owner and I cannot see any problem in him signing the AST.[/FONT]

AdrianC

ThomasGeorge wrote: »

We're buying a house that was originally owned by a couple who had 2 sons, when the father passed away he left his half of the house to his sons, the mother then passed away who did likewise.

I assume that everything was completed on that estate, and the house was now 50/50 ownership between the two brothers?
Joint tenants, or tenants in common?

Given your concerns about this 25% (the dead brother's half of his father's half), I'd be asking your solicitor what the LR ownership record says. He really should have a copy of that by now. If there is some kind of trust with 25% ownership, then that does complicate things a bit - who are the trustees?

After the mother passed away the house was put up for sale, however, before it was sold 1 of the sons passed away. I have since had an offer accepted but this was back in July and the deceased sons estate still has not been resolved.

It doesn't necessarily need to be.
I assume it was owned joint tenants, because if it was TiC, then the moment the dead brother took his last breath, his ownership would have simply ceased to exist - and the surviving brother would be 100% owner.

Even if it was JT, then the executor of the estate can continue with the sale, and the value of the property gets put into the estate rather than the half ownership of the property.

The other son has offered to arrange an AST with us so that we can move in while we wait.
As the buyer of our house has threatened to pull out due to the time this has taken we're seriously considering doing this, however, we're not sure if the remaining son has the authority to rent it to us, can anyone advise?

No, it's not up to him alone. Your landlord would be him AND the executor of the deceased estate.
Frankly, it's a terrible idea all round...

martindow

ThomasGeorge wrote: »

The living brother is the sole executor of his mother's estate. The executor of the deceased brother's estate hasn't been decided yet, apparently it should be the mother of his children but she is undecided over whether she is going to claim on the estate (he didn't leave a will), if she does then that too will be the living brother.

This would concern me. If there is a family dispute and this woman decides she is owed a cut. Whether this fails or not it could lead to a long delay.

getmore4less

ThomasGeorge wrote: »

I don't know regarding the father's share, I'll ask my solicitor to find out.

Yes the deceased son's estate needs an administrator I believe when they decide who that will be it'll take 6-12 weeks to obtain the letter of administration. This is why my only option if I want to keep my buyer and continue with this property is to rent somewhere until competition.

As long as the deceased son is not the SOLE legal owner of the property it can be sold without the need for a grant for that estate.

getmore4less

ThomasGeorge wrote: »

The living brother is the sole executor of his mother's estate. The executor of the deceased brother's estate hasn't been decided yet, apparently it should be the mother of his children but she is undecided over whether she is going to claim on the estate (he didn't leave a will), if she does then that too will be the living brother.

I believe the issue is with the 25% left by the father to the deceased brother.

I do have a solicitor but the living son's solicitor is dreadful, the only information we have had through the whole process has been directly from the living son to us. I believe the solicitor dealing with the house sale were allocated by the estate agents rather than being the living son's regular sol.

Do you mean administer the estate?

If they were not married the kids inherit then she would be claiming against her kids.

does she or the kids have any current connection to the house.

Even then that does not matter as they have no say over the house the legal owners decide if the sale goes through.

Any beneficial interest would need the proceeds protecting for that deceased brothers estate.


back to who are the legal owners.

The only reason the sellers may want to consider is if there is need/want to keep the house for some reason but then they should abandon the sale.

xylophone

After the father's death, was probate completed on his estate?

What does the entry at the Land Registry show as to current ownership?

Catti

This seems to be a case where an additional Trustee can be appointed to deal with the sale of the property and the question of Probate now quite irrelevant.

SensibleSarah

Friends of mine had a similar situation. They took the AST and moved in, but the house needed fairly major works (central heating installed, modernisation of kitchen & bathroom) and they obviously couldn't do anything until it had been resolved, which they assumed would be a few months tops. 2.5 years later, they were still living there (and paying a fortune for electric/oil heat) and situation had not been resolved. When eventually it was over 3 years after they started the process, the vendor had the property re-valued and put the price up by £30k - which they couldn't afford.
3 years of their lives wasted making plans for their home and still no house at the end of it. The only redeeming factor was that their rent whilst living there had been pretty low - due to poor standard of the house.

ThomasGeorge

Land registry says 50% deceased mother, 25% deceased son, 25% living son.

I don't believe the deceased son's family had any connection to the house, both son's moved away from the area a long time ago and have since had families elsewhere.

Both sides solicitors have said that the same cannot proceed until the deceased son's estate is at the point in which a letter of administration has been issued. I'm being told the reason this has not been sorted is because his ex partner would like to claim on the estate (yes instead of it going to their kids).