Brother made offer to settle then changed his mind.

RonsDaughter

Hi everyone! Many of you will have seen the continuing saga and probably wont be surprised at this new development... 

My brother and I are both executors for, and the only 2 named beneficiaries of our Mother's estate (50% each according to her will). If either of us had the house, they would have to make up the shortfall from their own funds. He wants the house and agreed to make up the shortfall but kept arguing over the current value of the house and chattels.

After much disagreement my brother made me an offer to settle the estate. It could either be expressed as 53% for me and 47% for him, OR, he would give me a lump sum and some chattels. He offered a lump sum and some chattels. 
 
I accepted the lump sum after pointing out there isn't enough money in the estate to cover what he was offering ( I also clearly told him how much was available for distribution) and he would have to make up the difference, he said he knew that, and we both signed a written agreement which has been given to the solicitor.

My brother has now realised it doesn't benefit him financially so has told me he didn't understand what he was doing and has made a mistake because he hadn't taken into consideration the updated estate statements the solicitor has sent to us both, and therefore based his decision on the value of shares owned by mother at the time of death.

The last two statements clearly show there has been a loss of value when the shares were sold and there have also been significant legal fees which he says he didn't realise he would be paying for if I have a lump sum. So, he now wants to withdraw his offer. Obviously this will be massively expensive and as his behaviour has already cost the estate £k's I'm not inclined to mess around. Those of you who have read previous posts will know he is an executor from Hell. 

So my question is... Can I insist he honours his offer? Can he legally withdraw his offer on the grounds that he now says he made a mistake, even though we were both given the same information?

JGB1955

I can't answer your specific question but would be tempted to tell him that, if there is no agreement, you will instruct an estate agent and put the property on the market.

Brie

others will come along with better opinions no doubt but my worry if you insist he honour it is he will say he will but you won't see the money and will need to take him to court which is going to cost massive.  

does he already live in the house? (sorry haven't read the saga!)  if not then I expect it will need to be sold at market value and you split that.  

RonsDaughter

As things stand, he can't take possession of the house until he pays the shortfall through the solicitor, either on finalisation of the will, or by mutual agreement of a transfer of property date. We both have keys to the house but neither of us live there. 

Selling the house on the open market presents a problem due to

i) Brother still wants to buy the house "at the right price" and will keep changing his mind about selling it. I doubt if he would ever accept an offer on it.
 
ii) Mother was a hoarder (antiques and collectibles) and the contents will have to be disposed of but my brother keeps changing his mind about auctioning the chattels because he wants to have them to sell himself as he thinks he can get a better price, but it will take time... 
  
iii) I suspect that whatever we decide regarding the house, he will panic again and change his mind.

So, if I can't hold him to this agreement, it will carry on ad infinitum.

Like I said, executor from Hell.

Malthusian

I can't see how it would be "massively expensive" except in the sense that you will get less money. Drawing up the agreement can't have been that expensive relative to the total bill, and the same applies to redoing the numbers in the agreement if it comes to that. If you don't renegotiate, you will end up getting half the share proceeds (and therefore taking the hit on their fall in value) anyway.

Unless the difference between the withdrawn offer and new offer is massive - enough to justify taking him to court - one option is to agree to renegotiate, on the understanding that if the top-up payment is not in your bank account by a given deadline, the agreement is void and the house is put in the market so the estate can be distributed as cash, no further messing about.

The other option is to skip that bit and just put the house on the market and stop messing about. He had his chance to come to an arrangement with you and blew it. He could still buy the house off the estate (albeit he'd need more ready cash).

Under both options you are going to take half the hit on the shares' fall in value. The only option where you don't involves a very expensive and lengthy court case to try to enforce the original agreement - and it involves extracting money from his wallet, not just the estate, which makes it even harder.

RonsDaughter

Malthusian said:

I can't see how it would be "massively expensive" except in the sense that you will get less money. Drawing up the agreement can't have been that expensive relative to the total bill, and the same applies to redoing the numbers in the agreement if it comes to that. If you don't renegotiate, you will end up getting half the share proceeds (and therefore taking the hit on their fall in value) anyway.

Unless the difference between the withdrawn offer and new offer is massive - enough to justify taking him to court - one option is to agree to renegotiate, on the understanding that if the top-up payment is not in your bank account by a given deadline, the agreement is void and the house is put in the market so the estate can be distributed as cash, no further messing about.

The other option is to skip that bit and just put the house on the market and stop messing about. He had his chance to come to an arrangement with you and blew it. He could still buy the house off the estate (albeit he'd need more ready cash).

Under both options you are going to take half the hit on the shares' fall in value. The only option where you don't involves a very expensive and lengthy court case to try to enforce the original agreement - and it involves extracting money from his wallet, not just the estate, which makes it even harder.

It would have already been cheaper to take him to court! So, if he can be held to his agreement it would suit me fine as the lump sum he offered me is more or less 1/2 the original probate value which we would both have received in the first place.
The trouble is, whatever we negotiate and agree he panics and changes his mind, and as an executor he can do this apparently.

TBagpuss

Perhaps remind him that as an executor he has legal obligations and that includes getting in all of the assets and distributing them to the beneficiaries, so if he is not going to honour the signed agreement then the house needs to be marketed and the contents cleared and sold at auction to obtain the open market value. 

Your solicitor will be able to advise about the enforceability of the signed agreement . 

RonsDaughter

Thank you all for the answers so far, they are much appreciated.
Unfortunately my brother panics and changes his mind a lot.
I need to pin him down to an acceptable agreement and now that he has made an offer that I can live with, and signed a letter to this effect which the solicitor now has, I need to know if he has to honour it. There is little point in trying to renegotiate or put the house on the market as he will just change his mind again or spend so long deciding that the values will change and he will want to renegotiate. This is exactly what happened when he bought my share of the house when my father died (but neither of us were executors on that occasion) so it's not speculation!

Malthusian

There is little point in trying to renegotiate or put the house on the market as he will just change his mind again or spend so long deciding that the values will change and he will want to renegotiate.

If you put the house up for sale and distribute the estate as cash there is nothing to negotiate, you are just distributing the assets as per the Will. He could obstruct the process but the eventual outcome would be that a court would remove him as executor and force him to pay the costs.

For as long as you are trying to divvy up the estate in non-identical (not necessarily unequal) portions, there is more room for negotiation and renegotiation. Only you can decide whether you've had enough of that or whether it's time to stop messing around and put the house on the market.

As no money has changed hands yet and I assume no penalties were agreed for backing out of the agreement, it seems likely that he has little to lose by backing out. Part of the problem is that enforcing the agreement means you would have to compel him to pay the agreed sum out of his own wallet - what if he says he hasn't got the cash? Are you prepared to go all the way to sending in the bailiffs?

Putting the house on the market and distributing the estate as cash by contrast is fully under your control. And his, but he will lose his control if he doesn't play ball as he would be removed as executor.

RonsDaughter

Hi and thank you everyone! 

I've just spoken to an independent solicitor. In short, their opinion is that, as my brother made the offer and then signed the agreement, he would have to honour it as he has got all the financial statements etc the same as I have, and saying he made a mistake/didn't understand/didn't read the updated statements etc won't be enough to get him out of the agreement.