Advice MIL died without leaving a will

Jim_in_devon

Your OH should send her a statement listing anything he took "after" his mothers death describing what he did with it and listing its value as Zero or close to zero

Spendless

A letter like that would just trigger my already OTT I'll prove you wrong skills -lol . I would list timeline the items given to your husband at the point their Mum was alive, back up with evidence eg photos if need be (eg a sofa might be on a pic that's on social media which would be dated. and send back to the solicitor saying 'I was gifted x y and z items by our mother sometime prior to date she moved into bungalow, I have enclosed/attached (any evidence you have) that these were in my possession prior to our  mother's death on date. . My understanding is any gifts given to me whilst my mother was still alive falls outside her estate but I would appreciate if you could clarify that for me. I also understand that any storage costs for furniture that belonged to my mother will come out of her estate before distribution to beneficiaries  so I would prefer not to contribute to storing items that are my sister's wishes to do so. As our mother died without making a will,  and also had never expressed to myself any wishes I would prefer the  legal rules of intestacy to apply to my mother's estate.

I'm sure someone else will make other suggestions too.

I haven't commented about the monies your husband has allegedly not passed on as you've not mentioned anything about that. . 

Dave_5150

The letter from your DH’s solicitor set out a need to follow the intestacy rules and split the estate equally between the two siblings because there was no will, it clarified any attempt to share differently may result in a legal claim against her and it asked for confirmation within 14 days that the intestacy rules would be followed.

She has not complied with that request so I suspect your DH will need a follow up chat with his solicitor and a further letter.

uknick

Jim_in_devon said:

My understanding is that beneficiaries can sue the administrator of the estate if there are unjustified delays in distributing the assets

It's called the Executor Year and in theory gives an executor 12 months from date of death to distribute the estate as per the will.  If a beneficiary can show the executor acted tardily in their role then interest can be added to their legacy; the interest rate is set in legislation and as of today is about 3% per annum.  There is a also chance the beneficiary will also be able to recover their legal costs.

But, I believe it is quite rare for such a case to be brought against an executor.  Probably because the size of the possible legal bill scares the executor into acting.

paul2louise

Thank you. He left a message with solicitor to try and talk to. He needs to get another letter sorted asap. She seems to be on another planet. We have nothing of his mum's. She was involved in the house move and clearance of her bungalow. She is obsessed with the idea my OH was stealing stuff from his mum in a attempt to take things to the tip when we were downsizing her before she moved to retirement bungalow. He didn't take anything except some of his dad's coins that she wanted him to take. Sis took everything else. She was greedy taking all the furniture for her kids and now claims it's costing her money to store it. We could have got a local house clearance or charity to empty the bungalow but she hired a van and took some of the furniture to her daughter's house in Liverpool. The rest of the stuff she put into storage. 

paul2louise

I think she has lost the share certificates. She has never asked him before to provide info. She has all the bank details for all accounts as she is the Executor.

Singlemummy_2

Wouldn’t it be a good idea to respond anyway to her points.

list as someone has suggested what happened to stuff

say that you happy for items in storage to be itemised and a cost put to them / go to charity / keep by the sister and take storage fees out of the final estate as a cost

Make contact with the banks, then forward the response/letter/date

at least if the points are responded to, she has no comeback to those 

bobster2

paul2louise said:

So my OH chased up the solicitor for a response from the sis. 
This is the letter she replied with. I hope u can read it. 
He was given a few bits by his mum while she was alive before she moved into retirement bungalow. His sis cleared the retirement bungalow of furniture for her kids to start up their new home after she died. He took nothing from the bungalow after she died.

Surely she had, and reported, a net value for the estate when she applied for and obtained Probate several years ago?

ukmaggie45

paul2louise said:

I think she has lost the share certificates. She has never asked him before to provide info. She has all the bank details for all accounts as she is the Executor.

Most shares are dealt with online now. The companies concerned will doubtless have details and will be able to provide them to the Executor. If there were any shares or is this yet another scam from the sister? She's certainly rather grabby!

paul2louise

I think all the things she is talking about are delaying tactics. Mil died in 2020. It's 3 years and I know she delayed sorting things because she was claiming benefit and couldn't get round to sorting things out. She is perfectly aware of all the details of accounts and never mentioned she was missing any details until my OH said he didn't want her to divide his share amongst her kids. All of a sudden she has found problems. If she was so bothered before why invite us to her wedding next month. We have been un invited now. Ironically her daughter,  our niece is also getting married next year and we are invited to her wedding.