Possible dispute over jointly inherited house

xylophone

You mention that he has a close friend - is there a property near the friend  available for sale and within a suitable price bracket? 

Skiddaw1

I'd go with the formal letter to his solicitor approach and then leave the ball in their court. It might just be that he'll listen to independent legal advice. What a complete nightmare....have to say, your brother reminds me of someone I know, who I am certain would have behaved in exactly the same way under these circumstances. Hope it all pans out. Do keep us posted won't you?

t0rt0ise

If this carries on there won't be any money to argue over.. solicitors, both for administration and advice cost a fortune.

Sea_Shell

t0rt0ise said:

If this carries on there won't be any money to argue over.. solicitors, both for administration and advice cost a fortune.

Well yes, if the solicitors bill exceeds any cash in an estate, then they'll be the ones forcing a sale of the house!!

HampshireH

This is going to break your relationship with your brother. You will need to be a very forgiving person for it not to and if you are then you will be taken full advantage off.

How anyone can see all the cash values laid out Infront of them and still insist that it's not "fair" to not go halves on the cash despite wanting full residency of the house (,and therefore tying the whole funds up) Is either lacking in intelligence (which your brother clearly isn't) or knowingly robbing you of your inheritance.

I'm sorry but I can't see this ending well.

I too was wondering how he could afford a solicitor. But let him crack on. Tell him you will wait to hear from them and in the meantime seek your own advice.

DepositSaver

t0rt0ise said:

If this carries on there won't be any money to argue over.. solicitors, both for administration and advice cost a fortune.

It'll be his money paying for his advice, it won't be coming from the estate. And if I decide I need advice I'll be paying for it myself. For the moment I'm going to wait and see what his solicitor says them send them a formal letter with the options I'd consider.  

DepositSaver

HampshireH said:

This is going to break your relationship with your brother. You will need to be a very forgiving person for it not to and if you are then you will be taken full advantage off.

How anyone can see all the cash values laid out Infront of them and still insist that it's not "fair" to not go halves on the cash despite wanting full residency of the house (,and therefore tying the whole funds up) Is either lacking in intelligence (which your brother clearly isn't) or knowingly robbing you of your inheritance.

I'm sorry but I can't see this ending well.

I too was wondering how he could afford a solicitor. But let him crack on. Tell him you will wait to hear from them and in the meantime seek your own advice.

It wasn't just not going halves on the cash and him having full residency of the house and tying the whole funds up - it was him owning the whole house and me just getting the cash, which would be a very uneven split in his favour. I pointed out the actual figures to him and asked him how on earth it wasn't fair and he wouldn't explain. 

I don't think he is lacking in intelligence, but I do wonder if he doesn't appreciate that the house has actual monetary value, and that if he stays in the house he will be benefitting hugely from not having to ever pay any rent or mortgage payments, or ever save up a mortgage deposit. He has never had to do any of those so far in his life, and has just paid board to my dad (probably the equivalent of what he is currently paying on bills and food) and had a home provided for him. Him carrying on living in the house rent and mortgage free is just a continuation of what he has always been used to, so possibly doesn't feel like an inheritance. I think perhaps he sees cash as more of an inheritance, because it's tangible, hence him thinking it unfair if he gets no cash. 
You're right, this probably isn't going to end well for our relationship. We get on fine when see each other, but we only do (did) so a couple if times a year due to distance. The fact that I am trying my best to come up with all sorts of options which allow him to have a home, even if they mean he gets more/much more of the estate than I do, while he has acknowledged that owning half a house doesn't allow me to benefit from my inheritance, yet is insisting on me owning half the house, makes me wonder if cares about me as much as he says he does.  

Flugelhorn

I think you have hit the nail on the head there. He feels he should be better off having had the inheritance and doesn't appreciate that he is if he has the house, he feels he ought to have some cash too then would feel he really has something. if he has to move or has no cash then he will be feeling worse off. It is just not understanding that the property has significant value

TBagpuss

I think a t this point it would be reasonable to say to the solicitor acting as administrator that you do not wish to buy the house so believe it will need to be sold, and leave them to deal with it.

I would not make the other offers at this stage as your brother apparently can't or won't understand how extraordinarily generous you are being to him.

I suspect that he has not seen a solicitor - he would not get legal aid for something like this and if he did see someone, they would likely be advising him that he is entitled to 50% of the total estate per the will.
Although it is possible that he could make an Inheritance Act Claim and argue he was dependent on your dad I think it is unlikely that he would succeed in a claim that effectively deprived you of any realistic inheritance.

If you do chose to put forward any other offers i would make sure that you make them on a strictly time-limited basis - e.g include in the letter that you are willing to agree a split where he gets £100K and you have a charge over any new property for the different between that and his actual entitlement,  but that the offer is only available until [date] and will automatically be withdrawn if not accepted within that time, and that it is conditional upon the house being marketed within x months and sold within y months, and on condition that he is solely responsible for all costs and outgoings on the house until sale. That way, if he continues to be wholly unreasonable you can still revert to a fair split at a later stage, or at least avoid losing out if you wind up with a lot of legal costs .

Sea_Shell

How's it going OP, has your Brother seen sense yet?