1.5 years since father died | Sister is Executor but not processed the will/Mother won't take action

Anonymous868

I will try to keep this as brief as possible.

My father died 1.5 years ago.
The estate is worth 7-figures (when including the 2 properties).
The will stated whatever the IHT threshold is, myself & 2 siblings are meant to be given 1/3 of that sum (so £108,333 each), with the rest of the estate going to my mother.

The original executors weren't suitable to handle a complex estate (the sheer amount of time it'd take to handle all the admin involved), thus with agreement from them/my mum/my sister, they relinquished being executors / my sister took over the role.


That was nearly 1.5 years ago now... But yet the estate/will still has not been processed.

My mother has sent her approx 6-7 emails over the past 1-year asking for updates regarding the progressed, with the previous 2 emails requesting my sister to stand-down as the executor, so the job can be given to a legal firm :: But yet my sister just ignores all the emails, and when she speak with my mother (they speak via phonecall every few days), she has apparently just refused to stand-down from being executor, saying that she wants to finish the job herself, and is doing things as fast as possible around her own life... ect


This cycle has been going on for 1.5 years now, and so could easily just keep going on for many more years | As my sister knows my mother cannot 'force' her to stand down from being executor, and would never actually file a cort order against her (as she simly would never do anything like that against one of her own children, no matter what they did).


But so whilst that is the sad reality - Is there anything which I personally can do?

elsien

Do you know what they have done/how far they have got so far? 

Rodders53

Why not talk to your sister and offer to help progress things with her?

Has she submitted the paperwork to HMRC and Probate Court? 
Has the Grant been issued?  https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

If not where is the Original Will and any renunciation paperwork (PA15)?  

Marcon

Anonymous868 said:

The original executors weren't suitable to handle a complex estate (the sheer amount of time it'd take to handle all the admin involved), thus with agreement from them/my mum/my sister, they relinquished being executors / my sister took over the role.

That was nearly 1.5 years ago now... But yet the estate/will still has not been processed.

My mother has sent her approx 6-7 emails over the past 1-year asking for updates regarding the progressed, with the previous 2 emails requesting my sister to stand-down as the executor, so the job can be given to a legal firm :: But yet my sister just ignores all the emails, and when she speak with my mother (they speak via phonecall every few days), she has apparently just refused to stand-down from being executor, saying that she wants to finish the job herself, and is doing things as fast as possible around her own life... ect

But so whilst that is the sad reality - Is there anything which I personally can do?

Sounds like your sister has bitten off more than she can chew but can't bring herself to admit it. You know your sister; is there any way you could help? The best starting point is likely to be starting from the premise she's not actually done anything - that way anything she has done comes as a bonus for you and doesn't make her feel quite as inadequate as she probably feels now.

On the other hand, if you need to take some definitive action and know the above suggestion just won't work, time to do something positive: application for Inventory and Account to get some action. https://sintons.co.uk/personal-family-probate/inventory-and-account/ gives an explanation of what that is.

Keep_pedalling

Another complication is that your father’s will was almost certainly written many years ago prior to transferable nil rate band being introduced. Those sort of clauses have been obsolete for decades and may now actually increase the amount of tax payable rather than save it as was the original intention.

With joint assets in excess of £1M some IHT planning would be wise. For instance if your mother is in good health then it would have been better for you 3 siblings to complete a deed of variation passing on his entire estate to your mother. This would keep the transferable NRB unused allowing her to leave £1M tax free. In addition she could make substantial gifts to the 3 of you which would become exempt from IHT if she lives another 7 years.

There are other options and would recommend that as a family you should take some profession advice on IHT planning from an IFA. It will cost you but with an estate this size it will be worth it. Don’t delay however you only have 2 years from the date of death to make a dead of variation.

Anonymous868

Hello everyone & thanks for the messages.

My mother has sent my sister multiple emails & messages over the past few months/weeks requesting updates on the progress of processing the estate | And subsequently then requested a few times over the past 2-months for her to stand-down as the executor.

My sister has however ignored almost all those messages; But has simply refused to stand-down as executor.


Thus far the only action that has been taken is what was done in the 6-8 weeks following my father's death (so 1.5 years ago), when we filled-in an online service form which notified approx a dozen high-street banks that he had passed away, and thus his accounts with them were presumably frozen.

It is now 1.5 years on though, but the estate still has not been put into probate, nor have all the life-insurance policies which he had been acted upon.
*I personally am unsure as to where his cash assetts from his various banks & shares accounts currently are residing, and have no way of 'finding-out'.


Myself & my mother have now looked at the process of having her removed as the executor by a court order,
however that appears to require us to hire a Solicitor, have them file the order, and then us try proving ''misconduct'' has been committed?
-Although from my research simply ignoring emails / not providing info to the beneficaries / being extremely slow... Are not sufficient to constitute 'misconduct'?

Keep_pedalling

Anonymous868 said:

Hello everyone & thanks for the messages.

My mother has sent my sister multiple emails & messages over the past few months/weeks requesting updates on the progress of processing the estate | And subsequently then requested a few times over the past 2-months for her to stand-down as the executor.

My sister has however ignored almost all those messages; But has simply refused to stand-down as executor.


Thus far the only action that has been taken is what was done in the 6-8 weeks following my father's death (so 1.5 years ago), when we filled-in an online service form which notified approx a dozen high-street banks that he had passed away, and thus his accounts with them were presumably frozen.

It is now 1.5 years on though, but the estate still has not been put into probate, nor have all the life-insurance policies which he had been acted upon.
*I personally am unsure as to where his cash assetts from his various banks & shares accounts currently are residing, and have no way of 'finding-out'.


Myself & my mother have now looked at the process of having her removed as the executor by a court order,
however that appears to require us to hire a Solicitor, have them file the order, and then us try proving ''misconduct'' has been committed?
-Although from my research simply ignoring emails / not providing info to the beneficaries / being extremely slow... Are not sufficient to constitute 'misconduct'?

You and your mother should certainly consult a solicitor for advice on how to proceed. Just a letter from a solicitor threatening her with legal action might just be the kick up the backside she needs. Misconduct is not the only reason she can be removed, showing that she is incapable of performing those duties would give you grounds.

Insurance policies often fall outside the estate, in which case it may be possible for you or your mother to progress those. This applies to polices written in trust, and such policies are not the responsibility of the executor, and can be claimed by the named beneficiaries.

Pennylane

What happens if the executor never gets round to sorting out the estate?  As far as I remember my Brother in law took over two years to sort out my MIL’s estate which was very straightforward and his siblings had to keep sending him messages to get a move on or I think it would never have been sorted.