Worried about My late mother's house

Bhaje

Hello

I would welcome advice on how to deal with problems created by children of beneficiaries.

My late mother did not leave a will, so two family members were made administrators of her estate, and they have died without doing the job of distributing the assets.

there are two surviving benefactors myself and my elder brother, At the time of my mother's passing there were six children.So four have passed away.

I am currently in contact with HMCTS regarding myself becoming the administrator and waiting for a response. (have raised a complaint about their lack of service).

My elder brother moved  in to my mother's house after his divorce and has lived there almost for next to nothing and wrongly claiming that the property belongs to him, which has caused a big rift in relations. I recently learnt that he has been put in a care home because he is unable to look after himself (nearly 80 years old) his children do not want to give any information about him and cut off all communication with me.While he was living in the house it has fallen into disrepair, he never maintained it. But has accumulated large savings  I guess. . Prior to his admission into care home  he was in hospital for a few weeks , discharged and moved into care home and I have been told that the house is not fit for him to be moved back there.I don't know who is paying for the costs of his care.

As I have a right to access my mother's property I have been aggressively refused my request for the keys to see the state of the property. His children has access and social services too. I have visited my brother and my view is that he has early stages of dementia.

I am worried that his children( all above30 years) may willfully damage the place . How do I set about getting access to the property? Do I get the social services, solicitors and  police involved? Can I get an injunction...etc?? Not sure what to do.

I'll appreciate some guidance on this problem. Thank you.

Flugelhorn

If your mother died without leaving a will then the laws of intestacy come into play - the estate will be divided between the offspring and if the case of any brother or sisters of your who have died, their share will go to their children -

so it sounds like there were 6 shares? If say child 1 has died but left 2 children, their children will get one twelfth each, if there are 4 children then it is one 24th.

Have any of the deceased children got surviving children - if so then it gets complicated. Someone needs to start administering the estate (appreciate you have tried)

Have you checked what the Land Registry says about the property ? Who does it belong to now ? have any changes been made?

elsien

Ownership of the property isn’t really anything to do with social services, as such.
They would be looking at a) whether the property is habitable for him to return to because they will presume he has the right to live there unless there is any evidence to the contrary and b) Any assets that might count towards a financial assessment.
Social services can’t give you any information about him without his consent. However there is nothing to stop you from phoning up to say that the property ownership is in dispute,  needs sorting and he does not have sole ownership of the house. What makes him and his children believe otherwise?

How long ago did your mother die and how long was he living there for? 

Depending on your brothers capacity, and whether there is a power-of-attorney for finances in place or not if he gets the stage where he’s not able to deal with selling his share of the house, someone is going to need to apply for deputy ship on his behalf which is a very long very drawn out process at the moment.
I agree that your first step should be seeing what the land registry says and also registering an interest in the property so you get an alert if someone tries to sell it.

RAS

Assuming England or Wales

Have you started by downloading the current deeds from the Land Registry? Cost £3 only. 

Have you downloaded the details of your mother's estate administration? Cost £1.50.

Under the rules of intestacy your mother's estate is divided between all six children, unless there were others who died before she did? If so, they are included.

For those "children" who died, the rules depend on whether they had wills. If they did their sixth goes to their estate and be distributed by their executors. If not, the deceased children's sixth is split equally between their children.

So you really need to start talking to your nieces and nephews who are descended from your deceased siblings as they are also being disinherited. If you all tackle your elder brother's family together, you can resolve this.

Be prepared to approach a solicitor collectively.

SevenOfNine

As well as purchasing a copy of the deeds as RAS has suggested, register here https://propertyalert.landregistry.gov.uk/ to keep an eye on anything that might be happening regarding the property, ownership/sale etc.

RAS

Just realised this has been going on for nearly two years! 

Was your elder brother one of the two administrators?

Flugelhorn

RAS said:

Just realised this has been going on for nearly two years! 

Was your elder brother one of the two administrators?

yes just seen the old thread    

poppystar

RAS said:

Just realised this has been going on for nearly two years! 

Was your elder brother one of the two administrators?

I believe the OP said they were both dead.

I second the getting together with the children of the deceased siblings. It may be that they are executors or representatives of their late parents so they not only have their own interest in this matter but also a legal requirement to deal with the estates that would have inherited from your late mother. They will have been unable to do this or may even not been aware that the estates they are dealing with should have contained part of the house - especially if they have believed the elder sibling and think the house is his.

theoretica

Bhaje said:

I am currently in contact with HMCTS regarding myself becoming the administrator and waiting for a response. (have raised a complaint about their lack of service).

As I have a right to access my mother's property I have been aggressively refused my request for the keys to see the state of the property. His children has access and social services too. I have visited my brother and my view is that he has early stages of dementia.

Do you have a right to access the property?  You have not yet been appointed administrator so currently one of the issues seems to be that of nobody having rights.

If your brother's care is being financed by social services, rather than his savings, than it might be relevant to make sure they are aware he is due 1/6 of the sale price of this property (maybe more if any of the deceased siblings left him a share either in their will or through intestacy). That might put pressure on his children to facilitate getting the sale done.  But if he is self finding this will be irrelevant.

Bhaje

Oh Thank you! so much for your responses. Below are the answers to your questions/queries:

1. I have checked the Land Registry; it shows my late mother's and the name of building society which gave her an interest only loan which was used to pay for repairs to the property.

2. Both the administrators have died, my eldest sister and my elder brother (next one older to me, I am the youngest) they did not leave a will as far as I know.

I'm of the view that the previous administrators were negligent , no accounts or records were kept, particularly my deceased brother ,who worked with other peoples estates and wills, was fully aware of what needed to be done.

I had requested via a solicitor, that the matter be dealt quickly but was met with hostility and he stopped all communication including his children with my family.

@ elsien: I have spoken with social services and pointed out  ownership of the house is in dispute.

The care home my brother is at mentioned that his stay is temporary and will be moved back when the repairs are completed and that was three weeks ago.I have no idea what repair work is being done or who is carrying out this work his children are being uncooperative and very confrontational! apart from one and he thinks his father is incapable of looking after himself living on his own.

 My brother's ( he has four children) eldest son set up the paperwork for LPA, one for financial affairs and one for his health care ready to be signed and at the last minute two of his siblings tore up the forms saying that it was fraudulent! and a heated argument ensued .The eldest son is the only one I can reasonably talk with. So he has fallen out with his siblings ( families eh!)

The children of my other deceased siblings are very supportive in my attempt to resolve this matter.

Bhaje

PS My mother died in Feb 1992.