Deed of variation and proprietary/promissory estoppel

Keep_pedalling

Assuming the 4 beneficiaries appointed this solicitor, the solicitor can’t really act for any of the beneficiaries over a despite as that would be a conflict of interest. If the disgruntled beneficiary wants to take action he is going to have to both get his own independent legal advice, and resign from being an administrator, as and executor or administrator cannot make a challenge against the estate they are administrating. The other 3 beneficiaries would also need to take legal advice but they can do that jointly.

Frankly I think a claim has vertically no chance of succeeding especially as he has formally made a DoV. Personally I would I would call his bluff, but don’t spend any money on legal fees unless he actually starts legal action.

NorthYorkie

Keep-pedalling: We don't know whether the disgruntled beneficiary is an Administrator or not - Namu isn't responding on this point.

Namu

Hi again to try and clarify
The solicitor dealing with this is the lead administrator and also has the letters of administration and is meant to be acting for all four of us with no bias.
What happened is after the deed of variation was agreed and signed the acting solicitor offered the four of us an advance of monies from the estate prior to final disbursements. Myself and the disgruntled cousin took the advance offered the other two beneficiaries decided to wait until completion. Subsequently the solicitor sent out final accounts as a courtesy before final disbursements. It was at this point the disgruntled cousin decided he wanted a larger share of the estate and now the solicitor thinks he might have a case re proprietary promissory estoppel. I personally believe the solicitor is scared of being sued .

Goose_Grass

Namu said:

Hi again to try and clarify
The solicitor dealing with this is the lead administrator and also has the letters of administration and is meant to be acting for all four of us with no bias.
What happened is after the deed of variation was agreed and signed the acting solicitor offered the four of us an advance of monies from the estate prior to final disbursements. Myself and the disgruntled cousin took the advance offered the other two beneficiaries decided to wait until completion. Subsequently the solicitor sent out final accounts as a courtesy before final disbursements. It was at this point the disgruntled cousin decided he wanted a larger share of the estate and now the solicitor thinks he might have a case re proprietary promissory estoppel. I personally believe the solicitor is scared of being sued .

Thanks for coming back and clarifying.  I think the last bit of advice given above by @Keep_pedalling is even more relevant now.

Your present solicitor can only act for you all if you are all in agreement, and this is no longer the case.  In addition, he's suddenly in the position of holding letters of administration for an estate that may be contested.  So his caution is warranted, including with advice and disbursements.

Your cousin may make a legal move with his own, new solicitor.  But he may also do nothing, especially if he is struggling to work out his claim.  It's been hard for us here to work out if he has much of one, the unsigned will being weak evidence.

I think you, your sibling and (maybe) your other cousin should be prepared to get another solicitor amongst you.  Perhaps someone (his sister?) can talk sense to the disgruntled cousin, and get this settled for free.   But maybe he'll need a minimum of a letter from your new solicitor telling them all to get moving, either distributing the estate, or challenging it.

mrschaucer

Namu said:

Hi again to try and clarify
The solicitor dealing with this is the lead administrator and also has the letters of administration and is meant to be acting for all four of us with no bias.
What happened is after the deed of variation was agreed and signed the acting solicitor offered the four of us an advance of monies from the estate prior to final disbursements. Myself and the disgruntled cousin took the advance offered the other two beneficiaries decided to wait until completion. Subsequently the solicitor sent out final accounts as a courtesy before final disbursements. It was at this point the disgruntled cousin decided he wanted a larger share of the estate and now the solicitor thinks he might have a case re proprietary promissory estoppel. I personally believe the solicitor is scared of being sued .

The solicitor should be able to tell you all what the time limit is for your disgruntled cousin to make any claim for p/p estoppel so you all know where you stand and can determine your next move?

TBagpuss

I suspect that the cousin would struggle to succeed in any claim - he doesn't appear to be claiming to have acted to his detriment in reliance on a promise from the aunt and the fact that he signed the DoV would, I think weaken his case as it would suggest that he agreed that having a 25% chare less 25% f the gift to the neighbour/carer was a fair outcome. 

That said, I think that you probably need to get some advice from different solicitor who deals with contentious probate,  and also perhaps to look at the figures - how much is the estate worth, and how much is cousin asking for?