Sister in law greed

Stubod

...you admit you owe money for a loan, haven't paid it back but call your SIL "greedy"...sounds a little unfair to me ?????

Sorry but if I was in your SIL position I would be doing exactly the same thing.

getmore4less

What were the repayment terms of the loan?

Sea_Shell

getmore4less said:

What were the repayment terms of the loan?

I wonder if any interest was charged?    20 years ago, at say 5%, and no (or few) repayments ever made, could be quite an outstanding amount!!

Be interesting to know how much the loan was for too.


There was a thread here (somewhere) quite a while ago now, where a fully documented secured loan, had been arranged between friends (I think), with an actual charge put on their property.   It had a high interest rate (in comparison to now) and hardly any of it had been paid back.   We did the maths and the total "owed" now, would have run to millions!!!     

ETA - found the thread.   Not sure it ever got resolved.   

Second charge on property to a deceased friend — MoneySavingExpert Forum

Malthusian

The debt may be statute barred. We have very little information but if this loan was made 20 years ago, it's possible that the brother didn't receive any payments, any acknowledgement of the debt or make any attempt to enforce it for six years. (Assuming this is England, Wales or NI - in Scotland the rules are slightly different.) If that's the case the sister can still ask for it to be repaid but has no way of enforcing it.

The OP doesn't seem to be able to carry out the job of a trustee (the statement that the SIL is "withholding funds" doesn't make sense - the OP and her brother are the ones withholding funds as they are the trustees). The other trustee, the OP's brother, also seems to have washed their hands of it.

That makes the trust effectively rudderless. I am not surprised that the SIL is trying to gain control of the trust to secure the interests of her children, who are also beneficiaries. The OP certainly doesn't sound very interested in their welfare despite being a trustee for them.

This is clearly a very messy situation. It is difficult to suggest anything constructive because of the lack of specifics, but one way to resolve it would be to sell the trust's land for whatever can be got for it, wind up the trust and distribute the funds to the beneficiaries, who are apparently all compos mentis adults. There is no obvious benefit to anyone from mixing up their finances in this way.

Then, as a separate matter, the OP can repay the debt if it's still enforceable.

She has two children one of which is on a mental health spectrum and the other is a lost soul. She has got them to sign a document to say that she has their permission to make their decision's.

That is perfectly normal. Every adult should have Lasting Powers of Attorney in place. Appointing a parent is not ideal (as you would generally expect them to lose capacity before you do) but if you don't have any other trusted family or friends you could appoint, which wouldn't be unexepcted for a 30-something with mental health issues, it's better than nothing.