Inheritance property dispute with my brother

ontheroad1970 · 27 October 2020 at 8:17PM

JJN2881 said:

ontheroad1970 said:

If he doesn't want anyone else living in your father's house, then they should move in there and leave you the other house.

Yes we discussed this but he says it is too upsetting as he found my poor dad on the day he died. which I completely understand and is really distressing.

Looks like you will have to threaten him with court action. It's not reasonable for him to not have anyone else living there and yet not him living there.

RAS · 27 October 2020 at 8:36PM

This thread has been duplicated in the Wills and probate

RAS · 27 October 2020 at 9:14PM

See the other thread in families for basic details and respond here

pphillips · 28 October 2020 at 12:21AM

JJN2881 said:

Mojisola said:

JJN2881 said:

No the solicitor dealt with the probate and after we paid the bill she never contacted us again. I guess it is because it would be another department that would deal with the transfer of the property.

So the estate has been finalised and both houses are now owned by both of you as tenants in common - presumably a 50/50 split?
You do have the option of forcing a sale but, again, it would involve court costs.
Maybe if he knows that you can do that and he wouldn't have either property to live in, he may come to some agreement with you.

It was finalised in December 2019 but the house has not been transferred to our names, it is still under my dad's estate because of the dispute between us.

What was finalised? The estate was not finalised, the house still belongs to the estate because the executor is refusing to act. He has three options:
1. He buys you out and keeps the house for himself
2. He sells the house and gives you your share
3. The house can be transferred into your names if you both agree
You don't agree to the third option, so he has to choose between options 1& 2.

ontheroad1970 · 28 October 2020 at 3:14AM

pphillips said:

JJN2881 said:

Mojisola said:

JJN2881 said:

No the solicitor dealt with the probate and after we paid the bill she never contacted us again. I guess it is because it would be another department that would deal with the transfer of the property.

So the estate has been finalised and both houses are now owned by both of you as tenants in common - presumably a 50/50 split?
You do have the option of forcing a sale but, again, it would involve court costs.
Maybe if he knows that you can do that and he wouldn't have either property to live in, he may come to some agreement with you.

It was finalised in December 2019 but the house has not been transferred to our names, it is still under my dad's estate because of the dispute between us.

What was finalised? The estate was not finalised, the house still belongs to the estate because the executor is refusing to act. He has three options:
1. He buys you out and keeps the house for himself
2. He sells the house and gives you your share
3. The house can be transferred into your names if you both agree
You don't agree to the third option, so he has to choose between options 1& 2.

The OP is happy for the brother to take full ownership of the more valuable house while they take full ownership of the other. From the sounds of it, the brother is basically running both houses down, which should in my non professional view strengthen his case. In civil cases, what an average person would find reasonable is usually a test of reasonableness - the so called 'man on the Clapham omnibus'. It's in the OP's interests to settle this out of court if possible and mediation is a sensible route for this. A court will often insist on this, and can threaten to award costs against the plaintiff, even if the case is decided in his favour.

Sea_Shell · 28 October 2020 at 8:28AM

JJN2881 said:

Hi thanks for your reply.
The property is owned as tenants in common. Therefore it would go to my husband. The solicitor has advised me to claim for half the rental value that I'm owed over the last 13 years but that would make things a lot worse. As he tends to turn to aggression and emotional blackmail. He feels that as my name is on the deeds that should be enough. He often says "what more do you want" !! The only way to push the sale is to take him to Court but this would end up him having one and a half houses, the will states the estate is split equally. I have told my brother and his girlfriend that they can live in the house if they want to stay there for the long term future but they need to transfer dads to me and i will obviously do the same.

Regarding the BiB (my bold).

I wish you luck in getting this sorted, because if it drifts on for too long, and you are unfortunate to pre-decease your husband, then this whole problem will become your husband's to deal with.

This similar scenario has happened, in another thread, whereby the "widowed spouse" has ended up owning property jointly with their "in-laws", and it's causing a whole heap of pain.

TBagpuss · 28 October 2020 at 3:37PM

OP, I suggest that you talk to a solicitor who specializes in litigation and contentious probate.
As executor of your Dad's will, your brother has a legal obligation to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries - he is not allowed to act in a way which benefits him over other beneficiaries, and I believe can be personally liable if he does so.

If the other house is in your joint names you can apply under the Trust of Land and Appointment if trustees Act (ToLATA) for the house to be sold, and will also be able to claim your costs from him if successful.

A firm solicitors letter setting all of his out for him may be needed to move things forward. You may be able to have your solicitor tell him you want occupation rent for the time he has been living in the house and that moving forward as he is preventing a sale of your dad's house in breach of his obligations as executor you also want him to be responsible for the 200% council tax and other expenses as well.
There would then be nothing to stop you from agreeing a different deal once he starts to take things seriously. Your solicitor will be able to advise - it may be (tactically) in your interests to offer him the larger house / agree not to pursue him for back rent on a 'without prejudice' .

At present he is being unreasonable - if he did as he should as executor and sold your dad's house then he would be able to afford to buy out your interest in your grandma's house if he wants to stay living there, and the two of you jointly could either use some of the funds to put a kitchen in, or the price at which he bought you out would be lower due to the property not having a kitchen.
If he finds the ides of seeing someone else living in your dad's house upsetting, and finds the idea of moving into it himself upsetting, then it may make most sense for both properties to be sold (probably dad's first, then grandma's with some updating) and for him to use his share of the proceeds to buy elsewhere where he won't need to watch the new owners making changes to your dad's home. This might be sensible anyway - if you have your Dad's house and he stays n your grandma's house, I can see issues with him potentially trying to sabotage a sale to stop anyone moving in, which could quickly become a neighbour dispute you would have to declare to buyers.