Executor refusing to provide final estate accounts

AmaniA

Hello, I really hope someone can help to steer me in the right direction on this very difficult and emotive subject.

My mother died in May 2017 leaving quite an estate worth a few million £.

My brother is the executor of the estate as well as a beneficiary. My sister and I are also beneficiaries. The 3 beneficiaries are entitled to one third equal share each of the estate and the Will is clear and simple.

When my mother died my brother was caring for her and lived with my mother full time in her home with his wife. It was his only residence. My mother’s home was a property worth approx £1M and was a major estate asset. The other main asset was a commercial property which generated rent on a monthly basis.

Probate was granted within a year of my mum’s death and my brother paid the tax bill in full from my mum’s cash savings funds. He refused to pay rent on the home he was living in and used estate funds to maintain the house where he was living, to buy furniture, gardening equipment etc. He also insisted we had to sell the commercial property first so he had enough money to be able to move. When my mum died, I was advised this situation would only be short term of around 6 months, so I agreed.

However, after a year and a half he was still refusing to sell either property and he hadn’t even created a full list of chattels or put a notice in the Gazette for potential creditors. After much protesting from my brother I finally managed to get him to get the notice in the Gazette and after it was done he accused me of manipulating him into it. 

My brother also told beneficiaries at one point, just as I was starting to question the length of time things were taking, that we had to destroy all the copies of any estate bank statements we had been given to date because another bank account in his name had been hacked. This set off a huge alarm bell to me. Needless to say I didn’t destroy anything,

I pushed my brother and started to question the time it was taking and he very quickly got nasty and unfortunately my Sister for reasons unknown sided with him.

I hired a solicitor in 2019 who has been critical in forcing my brother to carry out his duties including to move out of my mother’s former home and sell both it and the commercial property. Because of my solicitor, I have now received most of my share of the residual proceeds. 

When I hired a solicitor, my brother, despite having used a solicitor he called the ‘estate solicitor’ in the months after my mother’s death to advise him on probate and tax etc., hired a completely new solicitor from a new firm to represent him. 

He used estate funds for the fees and built up a cost to the estate totalling just over £50k …mostly because every time my solicitor asked that he carry out his duties we would receive a number of long retaliative ranting solicitors letters from his side before he eventually acted. Eg. It took 5 letters to get him to agree to move out of the house, we gave him an alternative to pay rent and 8 months notice but he declined. The solicitor he used in my opinion certainly viewed him as a cash cow and charged substantially more than the solicitor I have been using - more than double the cost.

During the last couple of years, my solicitor and I also found approx 40 discrepancies of varying amounts in the interim accounts my brother provided to beneficiaries. These discrepancies were differences in the inventory of transactions provided by the estate solicitor used in 2017/18 and the transactions list for the same time period provided by the new defense solicitor in 2019.

We advised a number of transactions were missing from the new paperwork inc a sum of £700 the original earlier inventory showed had been paid in error to my brother’s son and then paid back a couple of days later. The bank statements I received later after pushing showed it actually in fact hadn’t been paid back. Via his solicitor the excuse that came back was unreal - he said two later transactions for insurance or some such were overpayment mistakes and had been mislabelled. These apparent overpayments however didn’t total the £700 taken and so he then paid the £400 odd difference and acted like I should be grateful.

My brother then started to accuse me of bullying my sister. I hadn’t been in contact with her at all but somehow me hiring a solicitor to correspond with him was vicariously bullying her, Covid hit and because the main assets were being sold now I decided to keep an eye on everything but not address the accounts again and the other discrepancies until the final accounts were provided. Also I needed to minimise my legal costs. So my solicitor didn't’t reply to any more correspondence as it was unnecessary. I kept my solicitor to oversee things but my brother stopped using his.

Now the estate has been settled, my brother is refusing to provide final accounts. He says I first have to provide him with info of all the transaction discrepancies I’ve found in interim accounts because he says they don’t exist. He has also in the past provided bank statements without a running balance so I don’t have a full picture there either, but he denies this too. He says black is white and has started to send long 20 page emails personally insulting my solicitor telling him he’s rubbish etc and should step down, - my brother is writing direct to my solicitor now without a solicitor’s help. Luckily my solicitor doesn’t charge for reading these,

So, what should I do?

My solicitor has advised we should not send info of the other discrepancies at this stage as we’ll just get more lies and I will be even more out of pocket with more game playing and long winded back and forthing, He wants us to ignore these emails, which he says a judge would be less than impressed with and if we don’t receive final accounts by end of July we should petition the court to get them. We’ve warned my brother we will petition the court for final accounts but his response is we don’t have a leg to stand on and my brother just keeps sending my solicitor long emails…

I trust my solicitor but my brother’s actions in the face of tangible evidence make me wonder too, (I realise that's probably his objective), so hence reaching out here.

elsien

What exactly is the question? 

Whether you should petition in July or not? 

Seems to me if you have a solicitor you trust, it makes sense to go with their advice rather than that of anonymous people on a forum?
Or was it more that you were looking to see if anyone had had similarishbexperiences? 

AmaniA

I’m looking if possible for reassurance that I should be petitioning the court and that my brother has to by law supply final accounts - I’ve had some great advice on here before. Unfortunately the relentless deny, deflect, project tactics and 3 years of bullying and aggression from the executor is having an effect on my confidence and I’m second guessing everything. And yes anyone with similar experiences would be helpful too.

MalMonroe

I am sorry for your loss.

This will drive you crazy. You are dealing with family. I was brought up to believe (and still do believe to this very day) that family comes first. Almost like the mafia. 

All your sibling rivalries and arguing and fighting, as you report them, make me feel quite ill.

Importantly, you said, "Because of my solicitor, I have now received most of my share of the residual proceeds."

So you have received 'most of' what is rightfully yours. Your brother and his wife lived with and looked after your mother. I have to tell you that that is no small task. He probably deserves everything he has. All the infighting really should stop. Just think about it for a while. Your sister probably sided with him because she knows that looking after an elderly parent is no picnic. Just don't be greedy where family is concerned. Be the better person. All inheritances are a bonus. Some people receive nothing when their parents die - some people may say you are lucky because you have a large inheritance. But I don't think you are lucky because you don't have family now.

Let it go.

elsien

There’s a thread on legalbeagles which has some similarities -clear as mud to me, but may make more sense to you given what you’ve already done. The gist seems to be the executor has to give final accounts to residual beneficiaries if ordered to do so by the court. 

https://legalbeagles.info/forums/forum/legal-forums/wills-probate-and-bereavement/71626-executors-duty-to-provide-beneficary-with-accounts-when-requested

RAS

AmaniA

I disagree with MalMonroe; sadly I would not let my sibling in the house, ever. Not least seeing how he manipulated older relatives to his advantage.

It may be that your brother thought you and his sister would be happy to let him stay in the house? It is definitely the case that sorting out the paperwork for an estate of that value isn't a piece of cake. In fact, the Gazette advert helped protect the executor so your brother should be grateful, but all three beneficiaries could still be chased for debts.

Whatever, it seems trust was lost between you by 2019. And you are all poorer because of it.

You are entitled to see the estate accounts, but there come a point when querying every small issue become counter-productive. Our legal managed to find a £4 insurance policy from the 1950s; heaven knows how many £100s that search cost.

Frankly, a third portion of a couple of thousand isn't worth arguing over in the scheme of things unless you are really broke because it'll be eaten up in fees.

I suggest you send your brother a message saying you will petition if he doesn't produce the accounts as required by law, but you'll not be querying small discrepancies.  That may take the heat off enough for him to comply.

AmaniA

Thanks for your replies.

Without going into too many details, unearthing all the skeletons and understanding that every family is different, my siblings and I have never been close. There’s a big age gap (I’m the youngest) and until my mother died we didn’t even have each other’s contact info. There was no animosity at all, but we only saw each other about once every 5 years when one of my parents arranged a get together. Now having been on the end of some truly vile treatment and abuse from both of them over the last few years, I’m not lacking anything with them not being in my life. I have a wonderful husband and friends who I consider my family who are the ones who are always there for me and vice versa. 

The discrepancies we’ve found total a lot more than a few thousand but it’s less about me personally gaining more money and more about fulfilling my mother’s wishes and not letting someone get away with fraud. 

Saying I should be grateful for what I have is a little like advising a mugging victim who is already well off that because they have a healthy bank balance they shouldn’t report the crime. 

Re my mother’s care, my brother was about to be made homeless because his career had suffered a nose dive so he had no choice. Up to that point my father had allowed enough money in his Will to provide excellent round the clock care for my Mum and she had a wonderful carer, who my brother promptly sacked when he moved in to save money.

Marcon

Talk to your solicitor about making an application for 'inventory and account'.  That should do the trick.

SevenOfNine

Don't feel obliged to justify family relationships. All families have different dynamics & sometimes, family or not, when it's toxic it's best to let it go!

Long story short: My BiL was fleecing his widowed, dementia dad for over a year to the tune of £12k. Even when the old guy was in hospital for a week dying, BiL went to the cashpoint & withdrew money 4 times. The 4th time was when the old guy was in the MORGUE!

It came to light in the lead up to probate, which my husband took control of. The way the Will was written meant his brother had 'cheated' the other beneficiaries out of £9k. It would certainly have been possible to reduce BiLs 'share' & distribute the funds as they should have been, with each getting their proportion of the £9k, but it simply wasn't worth it. The end estate total was £240k, the estate accounts showed clearly what BiL had done, ALL beneficiaries got a copy so they could comment.

My husband cut him out of his life right after he distributed the inheritances, hasn't spoken to him for over 4 years & no plans to start, even though it's his only sibling. He's absolutely disgusted with him mainly for drawing cash while their dad was dying & even worse, when he was dead. Unforgivable.

Though I certainly 'get' that you are talking about estate funds in a whole different ballpark to ours.  You must ask yourself whether something underhand has gone on, do you really believe money been siphoned off, have you had your proper 'share', how badly do you want answers, would you rather just get on with your life? Yes, you should have a copy of the accounts, do you want to keep going or move on. Macron's suggestion may work.

Weigh it up & choose what's best for YOU, not to punish, aggravate or infuriate him, or because you're entitled to the accounts. It may be water off a ducks back to him & just lead to more lengthy, ranting, emails.