Selling inherited house

cathychips

I am joint executor with my sibling.  We are the only beneficiaries of my late father’s will.  His only asset is his house which has no inheritance to pay.  We were supposed to exchange contracts On the house last week, but the  Sibling is refusing to give permission to exchange Contracts, setting various “ultimatums” before she’ll give permission.  These ultimatums involve Insistance that I have long prolonged chats about our relationship (I went “No contact” as much as possible with her after some previous very abusive behaviour from her.  We have been dealing with the house sale via estate agents and solicitors, which had worked well).  I did call her, after pressure from solicitors and estate agents, but, as I anticipated, she was very unpleasant, demanding and still refused to exchange contracts.  We’ve lost our buyer now and she’s also demanding an extra £20,000 from our estate Once it’s actually sorted because “I don’t deserve half of my inheritance”.   Does anyone know which rights I may or may not have?  She’s is behaving in a very illogical, irrational way and I worry about her state of mind.

Socajam

She is trying to bully you - stand your ground and do not give her any more than she is entitled to
Bullies are nothing by cowards in disguise, once you stand up to them, they tend to run back in the corner where they belong
Let her know that every time she cancels or a buyer is lost, it means that there will be less money from the estate.
Solicitors do not work for free
Good luck, you are going to need it, but don't fall for the bait.

Flugelhorn

has she said why she thinks she should have 20K more or why you don't deserve your fair share?
as above you need to make it very clear to her that she has lost the estate £x in not exchanging and  is she prepared to pay that out of her share if it happens again?

cathychips

She’s says I don’t deserve 50% of my inheritance because she was a better daughter to my lovely late dad.  Been through hell and back again over the last couple of years - her bullying has been relentless.  She’s doing with the house, what she did with my dad - trying to control me.  As executor, doesn’t she have certain duties that have to be fulfilled by law?  Surely she’s not just allowed to not sell the house because that’s what she wants?

TBagpuss

Yes, she has a duty as an executor to follow the terms of the will, and to the beneficiaries.
you may need to talk to a solicitor but I think if she is failing to carry out her duties, especially if the reason it to try to better her own position at your expense she may well be breaching her duty and even be liable personally. 

Flugelhorn

she hasn't a hope getting more than 50% but too much messing about and she will get less than she expected

Keep_pedalling

You might want to consider hover her removed as an executor on the grounds that she has deliberately delayed the distribution of the estate by sabotaging the sale of the house. It is a last resort and expensive but the threat of it may be enough to bring her to her senses.

xylophone

I think that you will need to explain to your sister that as executor, she has a duty  to administer the estate in accordance with the terms of the will and that if she sabotages another sale, you will have no hesitation in consulting a solicitor.  https://www.wrighthassall.co.uk/knowledge-base/removing-and-substituting-executors
You would ask for costs of any court action to be taken from her share of the estate.

cathychips

Thank you everyone.  I’ve followed the link to the website about executor duties.  Sounds like a tricky process to have her removed as executor. She is insanely abusive and irrational - not sure how much proof the courts would need to prove that she’s not “mentally capable” of carrying out her duties according to the will.  Legal advice needed I think.

Keep_pedalling

cathychips said:

Thank you everyone.  I’ve followed the link to the website about executor duties.  Sounds like a tricky process to have her removed as executor. She is insanely abusive and irrational - not sure how much proof the courts would need to prove that she’s not “mentally capable” of carrying out her duties according to the will.  Legal advice needed I think.

I do not think you need to prove that she is not mentally capable, you already have concrete evidence that she has deliberately acted against the interest of the beneficiaries. 

Socajam

One think you need to start doing is tape her when she calls, so that you have evidence of her abuse etc
Make sure that she is not aware of this.
Also do not engage her in anyway, because she is trying to engage you and break you down, that's bullies for you. 
Once she starts becoming nasty on the call, politely let her know that you will speak to her when she is not upset and put the phone down, turn it off if you have to.  If she leaves texts and messages, make sure to save them.