Co-Executor Unreasonable Behaviour

ianbridge68

Hi all, I am hoping somebody can give advice.

My mother died intestate and myself, my brother & sister obtained grant of probate and all has progressed well until now.

My brother wanted to buy the house and we all agreed, a valuation was agreed and solicitors instructed to progress (the 3 of us agreed and signed all documents with our solicitor selling the property) and my brother obtained his mortgage and instructed his solicitor to progress the purchase. Agreement has also been reached as to how the money is to be received by me and my sister.

On investigation it was found that the house had a significant wet rot issue causing 2 sections of the living & dining room floors to partially collapse. As the sale had not completed it was accepted that the estate should cover the cost of the repairs (this would mean that the 3 beneficiaries would receive their share less one third of the repair costs). Myself and my brother agreed but mys sister has refused to accept that her share will be reduced and, in doing so, has fallen out completely with us both and states she is removing her consent to sell the house to her brother. We know that (a) we will receive significantly less if we put it on the market without repairing the issue and (b) all of the additional fees using an estate agent etc and the costs of keeping the house going whilst it is up for sale will mean she gets even less than if she accepted.

We have now made an offer that my brother and I will pay for the repairs and she will not have to cover her share of the work (we get less share but getting her out of our lives will be worth it), she has refused!!

Do you think a solicitor would take on her case or should we apply to the courts for a ruling and force her to accept the situation (this will further reduce the estate but she is too thick to see that:mad:).

Any help / advice would be appreciated.

Sorry for the long post.

Yorkshireman99

ianbridge68 wrote: »

Hi all, I am hoping somebody can give advice.

My mother died intestate and myself, my brother & sister obtained grant of probate and all has progressed well until now.

My brother wanted to buy the house and we all agreed, a valuation was agreed and solicitors instructed to progress (the 3 of us agreed and signed all documents with our solicitor selling the property) and my brother obtained his mortgage and instructed his solicitor to progress the purchase. Agreement has also been reached as to how the money is to be received by me and my sister.

On investigation it was found that the house had a significant wet rot issue causing 2 sections of the living & dining room floors to partially collapse. As the sale had not completed it was accepted that the estate should cover the cost of the repairs (this would mean that the 3 beneficiaries would receive their share less one third of the repair costs). Myself and my brother agreed but mys sister has refused to accept that her share will be reduced and, in doing so, has fallen out completely with us both and states she is removing her consent to sell the house to her brother. We know that (a) we will receive significantly less if we put it on the market without repairing the issue and (b) all of the additional fees using an estate agent etc and the costs of keeping the house going whilst it is up for sale will mean she gets even less than if she accepted.

We have now made an offer that my brother and I will pay for the repairs and she will not have to cover her share of the work (we get less share but getting her out of our lives will be worth it), she has refused!!

Do you think a solicitor would take on her case or should we apply to the courts for a ruling and force her to accept the situation (this will further reduce the estate but she is too thick to see that:mad:).

Any help / advice would be appreciated.

Sorry for the long post.

Was the agreement to sell a proper legally binding contract? If not then it is not enforceable. In which case you might need to take court action to force your seller to sell on the open market.

ianbridge68

The property belongs to all 3 of us and myself and sister have agreed to sell to my brother. So he is buying out our shares of the property. If he pulls out of the sale we will all still own a 3rd of the property but will then need to place on open market. If we do not repair the collapsed floors then the value of the house will drop by over £10,000.00. If we agree to pay the repairs it will only cost £4000.00 so a £6,000 drop in the estate. Why would she want to lose more money than it would cost to repair? Illogical and unreasonable.

Linton

Assuming the cost of repairs is significant and there are no other relevent factors....


What does sister want to do with the house? The probate valuation is now for practical purposes irrelevent and sister wont get her money until the house is sold. Sisters portion hasnt been reduced - the value of the estate has been. Rather than have the estate fix the property it would probably be financially better for the house to be sold as is on the open market. The cost of repairs may not be justified in terms of increased value. If brother wants to put in a bid he is free to do so - he may even get the house more cheaply. Your offer to help pay for the works was in my view not very sensible.

ianbridge68

As said, cost of repairs are £4000.00 and selling on open market will mean we have to sell at over £10,000.00 less than the brother has agreed to pay, at least. Can't see how putting on open market helps anyone.

If brother offers full valuation of £120,000 then the other 2 are entitled to £40,000 each. Correct? If goes on open market then best in current condition would be £10,000 less (at least) thus reducing the share to abt £36,000.00 each. A loss of £4000 each. The repairs being £4000 is a cost of approx £1333.00 each so an individual reduction of £2,700 each beneficiary. Not sure I understand how anyone can benefit from her belligerence.

elsien

What is her reasoning? If you know why she's being difficult it may help to move things forwards. You really don't want to go down the solicitor route if there's any way to avoid it.

ianbridge68

Her reasoning is so ridiculous it's frightening - she doesnt like her brother so doesnt want him buying her mothers house so is "cutting her nose off to spite her face" - unreasonable behaviour and tantamount to not acting in the interests of the estate.

elsien

If that was the whole picture would she not have said no right from the start instead of agreeing then backtracking?

ianbridge68

No, everything was fine, plenty of dialogue and whole thing transparent, it's all stemmed from the fact that her brother is living in the house and she feels he should pay the repair costs, I disagree with her as the damage was not done by him and would have to be repaired before we sold to anyone else. He was not overly complimentary when she said she was not paying a third of the repairs out of her share so they fell out. All was agreed even to the point of her signing the agreement as to how she would receive her money.

Not the brightest bulb in the box.

Sea_Shell

ianbridge68 wrote: »

Her reasoning is so ridiculous it's frightening - she doesnt like her brother so doesnt want him buying her mothers house so is "cutting her nose off to spite her face" - unreasonable behaviour and tantamount to not acting in the interests of the estate.

If she really is determined to do that, and risk ALL her inheritance to pursue it, then I'm not sure what you can do, without taking court action, other than to try and keep talking and resolve the matter without intervention.

getmore4less

Mistake was agreeing repair while part of the estate.
That potentially opens up further liabilities once the work starts


Buyout brother should have taken that responsibility on and offered/paid a reduced price.

As the sale had not completed

Have sale contracts been exchanged?