Living in Probate House, brother being threatening.

Meyor

Hi..I am a married woman who was living with my husband but because of relationship issues I had to move back to my old childhood home as I had nowhere else to go. My parents have passed away and the house, a large one has been occupied by my brother who for the past 9 years since my mother passed away. The only reason I and my other siblings allowed him to to stay was because we knew he had nowhere to go and feared that with his substance abuse issues he would end up living on the streets.

As mentioned the house is big and I am happy staying mostly in my room when I am indoors. He also stays most of the time in his  so we don't intermingle much.  We are both adults and while I understand that his chosen path in life is vastly different from mine, I respect his choice and try not to get involved in whatever he has going on. We do share the bath and the kitchen and other rooms are more or less full of his junk.

Another thing notable point is that I plus two of my other siblings are named on the probate..This brother who lives at the house is not.

Anyway I have been at the house for a few months while trying to sort out my marriage but my brother has started getting particularly irritable at my presence. He is under the impression that because he is the only sibling who doesn't own a property, this family house now solely belongs to him. Since being here he has not maintained the property and allowed things to fall into disrepair. I have only been here for about a few months and in that time I have spent quite a bit making the house look a bit decent again. for instance the front of the house was derelict and the worst looking one on the street but I sorted that out within a few weeks of being here. I also pay the buildings the insurance, something which I have done since becoming an Executor of the estate a few years ago.

He has now started making several threats to have my stuff thrown out on to the street, being extremely threatening and verbally abusive, mostly drug fuelled. Yesterday was the last straw. His drunk girlfriend showed up (yes during lockdown) and started challenging him on the ownership of the house...apparently he has been boasting to her and all his other friends who  have various issues with drugs and alcohol, that the house belongs to him. In order to prove to his girlfriend that the house did belong to him, he then proceeded to come down stairs banging on my door, being verbally abusive and at one point he even came into my room screaming that I had to leave his house.

I just wanted some advice as to the feasibility of me getting an injunction against my brother and how that would work seen as we are in the same property?

I also wanted to know what my rights were as an Executor of the Property as it is clear that the situation as it is can not continue. While I do not wish to see my brother homeless and on the streets with his drug issues, his stance that the property belongs to him and that the threats that he has made to throw me out are very concerning. For instance if it were to get to the point where the police were called ...would I be asked to leave the property even though I am an Executor but because I am only temporarily just staying there until I I get myself out or would it be him for making violent threats and abuses even though he has been there for the past 9 years?

getmore4less

Is the estate still in administration, few years is a long time to not complete the task?
What do the wills say about the property?
has he ever paid any money for living there?
how is the council tax getting paid?

Rather than what rights you have as executor you should be thinking about your obligations.

Meyor

There is no Will.

getmore4less

You are not an executor that is only people named in a will.
When you applied for letters of administration(not probate) why was the brother not included, did he agree to not being a named administrator?

As administrators what have you done with the title of the house?

Flugelhorn

could do with clarifying - 
-there is no will
- there appear to be 4 children who will equally inherit
- one or more applied for letters of administration?
- what have they done since?

Meyor

getmore4less said:

You are not an executor that is only people named in a will.
When you applied for letters of administration(not probate) why was the brother not included, did he agree to not being a named administrator?

As administrators what have you done with the title of the house?

Thanks for clarifying

Nothing has been done with the tittle of the house since the Probate was signed. It is still in my mum's name. Brother was not available to sign the Probate. There are more than 4 siblings but only 3 of us are on the Probate.

Meyor

Flugelhorn said:

could do with clarifying - 
-there is no will
- there appear to be 4 children who will equally inherit
- one or more applied for letters of administration?
- what have they done since?

No will
More than 4 siblings but only 3 of us on the Probate.
Nothing has been done since but looking to do something now in light of my brother's behaviour.
I also want to get an injunction against him to stop him harassing me in the house.

MovingForwards

What was the plan for the house long term? 
What was said to this brother originally when he was told he could live in it?

To get an injunction you are saying keep X distance from me, wouldn't really work when living in the same property.

k3lvc

So he's lived in the house for 9 years and neither you nor any of your siblings have deemed it important enough to sort out the formalities. The chances of this happening short-term and without significant cost now are minimal and, harsh though it may seem, all of your own making. 
Out of interest where do the siblings sit in all this - without their backing he's going nowhere (and neither are your injunction chances)

Meyor

MovingForwards said:

What was the plan for the house long term? 
What was said to this brother originally when he was told he could live in it?

To get an injunction you are saying keep X distance from me, wouldn't really work when living in the same property.

He just carried on living here after my mother passed away. There were really no verbal agreement with him. He is now assuming that the house is his.
I was thinking of something like a non-molestation order which would restrict the harassment and verbal abuse. 

Meyor

k3lvc said:

So he's lived in the house for 9 years and neither you nor any of your siblings have deemed it important enough to sort out the formalities. The chances of this happening short-term and without significant cost now are minimal and, harsh though it may seem, all of your own making. 
Out of interest where do the siblings sit in all this - without their backing he's going nowhere (and neither are your injunction chances)

It is not like we didn't deem it important. it was important for us to put some of us to put our names down as The Administrators..just that the Administrators could not agree. One of us was concerned about his well being seen as he had nowhere to go, no job and is a substance abuser.
From the point of view of the one who was concerned, It was more of a case of letting him stay there while he got his act together. Obviously after 9 years he has no intention of doing that and just wants to use the house to entertain his friends who have similar substance abuse issues.
The majority are ready to go ahead but they were waiting for me as I was on the fence but not anymore.

So even a non-molestation order would not work?