Could my mum's reckless action (failure to take any action) actually cause physical harm to anyone??

powerspowers

Oh what a sad & stressful situation. 

It sounds like your mum can’t cope with getting things sorted, like a previous poster I wondered if your dad had been the “doer” in your family. It also sounds like your sister is similar, so maybe no one in your family was a “doer”.

However, you’ve offered help many times and mum doesn’t want it. It seems like she has capacity to make that decision even if you/we feel it’s the wrong one. I don’t believe social services would get involved unless there was risk to your mums health- the neighbours property isn’t their concern. 

All you can control is how you respond. You can offer to help (which you have) but ultimately your mum needs to deal with things herself or deal eventually with the consequences of not doing anything. I think walking away is a sensible but hard decision, but you might think about reducing contact with your mum for your own health and refuse to discuss the house. I think counselling would be incredibly useful for you to unpick this and work out some healthy boundaries. 

herebeme

It’s interesting…

You are owed a huge sum of money and are basically just shrugging and saying “let’s see what happens”. Sound familiar?

Executors have a legal duty to fulfil. If they are not doing that duty there are steps you can take that might help (google it). 

london21

Christmas and new year around the corner.

Leave everyone's problems behind and enjoy your OWN life. 

RhondaD

Absolutely you need to follow the legal route when executors are not fulfilling their legal duties. I think you need to get legal advice to get the ball rolling with your inheritance and just ignore the pair of them as you already know they can't be relied on to sort anything out. Let your solicitor deal with getting your money.

With regards the house, walk away. All her evasiveness is not going to help her when the neighbours sue her for damages, which they will eventually. In fact she's lucky the previous tenant didn't sue her for evicting them for asking her to do some repairs. You can get in a lot of trouble for revenge eviction these days.

I know it's hard for you emotionally but there needs to be the point you say enough is enough and stop jumping all over her self inflicted problems. Make now that point and start reclaiming your sanity. You seem to be the scapegoat in this family dynamic but be careful you aren't actually putting yourself in that position by dropping everything every time there's another issue caused by her negligence.

You've given the neighbours her number. Give them an address to serve legal papers on her for damages regarding the house. My guess is she'll sell up but drag that out as well but none of it is your problem. You need to distance yourself from the whole thing.

Anonymous868

herebeme said:

It’s interesting…

You are owed a huge sum of money and are basically just shrugging and saying “let’s see what happens”. Sound familiar?

Executors have a legal duty to fulfil. If they are not doing that duty there are steps you can take that might help (google it). 

I have already reviewed the legislation & processes surrounding this matter, extensively.

Unfortunately though, whilst my sister is not performing her duty as an executor...
It is not simply a case of me ''filling in a form, submitting it to the local council/court :: And her then being forced by the court to prove she is doing the job, or else be removed from the role by the court''.

(If it were that easy & simple I would of done that months/years ago)


The ONLY way to have an executor removed is if the a formal legal case is filed against them, to the High Court.
This would require me to hire a solicitor, to file & pursue the case (which would cost tens of thousands of pounds, paybable by me to the solicitor upfront, that I physically simply don't have).

Moreover the court will only remove an executor if I can prove they have actually committed an offence (such as stealing from the estate).
Simply ''being extremely slow'' to do anything in regards to processing the will is not sufficient or valid basis for the court to remove the executor.


Therefore I do not have any options available to me which I can pursue regarding getting my share of the inheritance :: No matter how 'pro-active' I am prepared to be.


#


Citation source:

How can you apply to court to remove an executor of a will?

These types of applications are difficult, and a court will not remove an executor lightly because they will have respect for the testator’s wishes in appointing them to act.

In general, the court will only remove an executor if there is evidence of the following:

1. The executor has been disqualified since the deceased appointed him, ie has been convicted of a crime and sent to prison.
2. The executor is incapable of performing his duties, eg has a mental or physical disability, whether permanent or temporary, which is preventing the executor from performing his/her duties.
3. The executor is unsuitable for the position.

‘Unsuitability’ is more of a complex issue and generally occurs when there is serious misconduct or a conflict of interest, for example:

• stealing from the estate
• failing to keep accurate accounting records
• failing to comply with a court order
• wasting or mismanaging the estate

Unfortunately, being unfriendly towards beneficiaries is not enough, and a slow executor or an executor who will not send you certain documents (excluding an inventory or account) is not unsuitable for those reasons alone.

If the court is satisfied with the evidence provided, it has a discretionary power under section 50 of the Administration of Justice Act 1985 to appoint a substitute executor or to terminate the appointment of an executor. Often a professional executor is appointed instead to avoid the potential for a further family dispute. 

DE_612183

where does you mother live now if not in that house?

elsien

Is your sister an executor though? If all the executors stood down and there were no replacements in the will then someone - mum or sister should have applied for letters of administration instead. It's really unclear from your post whether or not this happened. Referring to your sister as executor when she may not be is confusing. 

RAS

If you read the very complicated backstory, there are two houses, and the family encouraged the executors to renounce.
Then mum "appointed" sis to be executor, but sis did nothing. It was explained that this was a legal impossibility and mum was the best person to administer the estate.

Sis then asked mum to sign a POA. Mum didn't want to act as administrator because of the family issues. 

Between threads, the OP encouraged mum to "renounce" administration and sis has taken responsibility and done nothing.

It appears that much of the "estate" is in joint names, so probate isn't needed to deal with them anyway.

There are "16-20 accounts in dad's name" but the OP and her siblings don't seem to take any notice of the fact that many of these would pay out without probate.

I'd have been inclined to have found out where dad had some accounts, collected enough to cover my inheritance with a copy of the death cert and will and let sis sort out the rest.

So I guess the wreck is the other house?

Anonymous868

Hello, in regards to the above 3 posts:

1. Mum lives in her own seperate house.
   (The damaged house was one she & my father had rented-out to tenants for the past 30+ years)
   
   
   
2. Sister is now the official executor.
   Mum signed the form relinqishing herself from the role 9-months ago / Sister signed a form appointing herself as the new executor.
   
   
   
3. I was informed that sister had been granted probate back in September/October :: But there has no 'updates nor activity' since then. (All requests for such have been ignored)
   
   
   I was not aware that any bank and/or savings & investment fund would pay-out money from a deceased person's estate, directly to the beneficiaries named in the will, simply on receipt of a copy of the death certificate & will?
   
   My understanding was that they will only communicate directly with the named executor, and only pay-out money directly to the executor?
   *As ultimately I personally am only 1 of the 4 beneficiaries named in the will (alongside 2 sisters + mother), and therefore as the division of assets in-accordance with the will is the job of the executor... Would a bank be prepared to pay the entire sum of an account directly to just 1 beneficiary, bypassing the executor entirely?
   
   

RAS

If sis has been granted probate then dad's will etc is on www.gov.uk/search-will-probate for £1.50. If it's not yet been on-line, then you can get it by post.

And for the nth time, your sister is not an executor. She's the administrator.

And you were advised on a previous thread that probate would not be necessary to release the money in accounts under the bank's threshold.