Advice MIL died without leaving a will

RAS

In which case, failing to distribute the estate is gross dereliction of duty. Has he asked for the estate accounts? 

Has she in fact still got the money?

The_Unready

RAS said:

Has she in fact still got the money?

Good point! The more cynical amongst us might suppose that she's already spent a chunk of the money and is now looking desperately for excuses not to have to pay it to you! ☹️

Hopefully that's not the case......

paul2louise

RAS said:

In which case, failing to distribute the estate is gross dereliction of duty. Has he asked for the estate accounts? 

Has she in fact still got the money?

i dont think she has the money as she problems getting a solicitor to sort it intially and then they passed it on and they were sick bla bla. he has got details of lady dealing with it now. He said he will give sis a couple of days to reply and if she doesnt then he will contact the solictor and tell her get on with the 50/50 split. 

Spendless

Do you know my mind hadn't gone to the above and it should have, I've read another threads on hereto know when there's a delaying tactic there's usually a reason behind it!

OP - Was the estate a property that needed selling? If so do you know when the sale went through? I should imagine that's easy enough to find online or was it money in various bank accounts?

RAS

He can't tell the solicitor to do anything if sis has been appointed administrator. He'll be lucky if she agrees to speak to him.

And this really highlights why sis shouldn't have been allowed to get administration. Unless there was a big IHT bill or some very specialist assets, doing probate in England or Wales is within the capacity of any reasonably competent adult who can manage their own finances. If there's a particularly difficult will, it's usually easy to DIY and pay for legal advice on the specific issue(s).

paul2louise

yes the house sold Oct 2020. We were in charge of that as the property was close by

paul2louise

RAS said:

He can't tell the solicitor to do anything if sis has been appointed administrator. He'll be lucky if she agrees to speak to him.

And this really highlights why sis shouldn't have been allowed to get administration. Unless there was a big IHT bill or some very specialist assets, doing probate in England or Wales is within the capacity of any reasonably competent adult who can manage their own finances. If there's a particularly difficult will, it's usually easy to DIY and pay for legal advice on the specific issue(s).

sorry got the wrong info, Its an accountant that is sorting it. Dont know if that makes any difference

RAS

That's better, solicitor's fees for probate are huge compared with DIY.

Why is the accountant involved?

Sea_Shell

The_Unready said:

RAS said:

Has she in fact still got the money?

Good point! The more cynical amongst us might suppose that she's already spent a chunk of the money and is now looking desperately for excuses not to have to pay it to you! ☹️

Hopefully that's not the case......

Sadly, that does happen ☹️

Huge chunks of cash hitting someone's account or under their control is overwhelmingly tempting for some.

Fingers crossed that isn't what's happening here. 🤞

Tucosalamanca

If probate was granted in 2020, it's fair to assume that everything was identified and in order.
Once probate was granted it should just be a case of collecting and distributing funds.
Find the value of the estate, divide between the two siblings and you should have an approximate value due to each person.
Search probate records for documents and wills (England and Wales) (probatesearch.service.gov.uk)

Were the proceeds from house sale paid into an Executor's account?
It all sounds very dubious to me, particularly as you've already been given excuses.
Personally, I wouldn't delay. If the sister isn't totally upfront, it's a fair assumption that something has happened.