Can my aunt sell my nannas house without asking my mum

Chetnick

Whats it all about  familys falling out over money....

AdrianC

bouicca21 said:

Valued by whom?  An estate agent chasing business or a surveyor? 15k (of which your mum would presumably only get half) is not worth fighting over.  And in any case given the current uncertainty about the housing market, 95k might be a good offer.

^ This, with bells on.

OP - pause and step back and look at this as dispassionately as you can. How many beneficiaries is your grandmother's estate to be split between? Just the two? Then your mother's half of that £15k difference is £7,500. And they have a sale. You don't have months of uncertainty and expenditure ahead of you, and worry about what the market's going to look like when Covid is over.

Your aunt may well have made the best decision possible. Stop worrying about what might have been. £7.5k is a good chunk, sure, but it's not the end of the world.

If your mother really wants to make it into some kind of point of principle, and risk losing the ongoing relationship with her sister over it, then...

greatcrested

bjwilce said:

The probate names my aunt and under that says power of reserved to another executor. That is my mother. 

That is the critical information that was missing from your original post.

Your mother has agreed to 'reserve' her powers as executer in favour of your aunt. Your aunt can therefore sell without your mother's consent, as things currently stand. However

* your aunt must still act in the best interests of the Beneficiaries, and get the best price possible. The Beneficiaries could, in theory, take her to court claiming she undersold thus depriving them of their inheritance. If the court agreed, your aunt would have to make up the extra money, plus court costs. But as others have said, the court might well conclude that in the current climate the offer she accepted was not that far off, and would have achieved a quick distribution of the Estate had COVID-19 not come along. Potentially an expensive court gamble...

* but your mother can contact the Probate Office I believe to say she wishes to unreserve/activate her powers as Executer. She would then have to be consulted by your aunt. Though without checking, it may be too late to do this if Probate has actually been granted.

https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-jan-march-2019/what-does-power-reserved-mean-in-probate/

Can Power Reserved Be Reversed?

Yes, it is possible for Power Reserved to be reversed. An Executor who has had Power Reserved to them to become involved in the administration of the Estate at a later date if they wish. The Executor has not given up their power, instead they have stated that they agree to the other Executor administering the Estate on their behalf for the time being, but this is not a permanent agreement.

By having Power Reserved to them, the Executor will not need to take an active role in the Estate if they do not want to, but if the need arises at a later date for them to become more involved, then they still have the option to do so.

bjwilce

My mother didn't reserve her power my auntie applied for the probate without my mother. 

penners324

So your willing to wreck up £1000s in legal fees to challenge it?

greatcrested

The Probate form your aunt submitted has a question relating to the executers (3.6 [c]). For each named executer in the will, the application must show the status of that executer. Clearly your aunt ticked 'power reserved' against your mum's name.

Your aunt must then write to your mum to confirm this, and declare on the form that she has done so.

If your mum genuinely never knew or agreed, I can only imagine your aunt  fraudulently completed, signed and returned the form stating your mum had reservd her powers. That would be a serious criminal offence.....

3.7The undersigned declare that written notice has been given to all executors who have power reserved to them and are not making this application.

bjwilce

It's not about the money it's more to do with principal of telling my mother it's got nothing to do with her and she do what she likes.

xylophone

See the post from greatcrested above.
Are you saying that your aunt has committed fraud?

davidmcn

bjwilce said:

It's not about the money it's more to do with principal

Ok, how much time, effort and money does your mother went to spend because of the principle of the thing?

bjwilce

My mum said she never got anything from the probate office.