Contentious Probate

Fluffyermie

My mother in law died in March without leaving a will.  My husband and his mother were not on speaking terms for about the last 5 years.  He also does not get on with this sister and so they are not on speaking terms either.  At some point his sister arranged for his mother to go into a nursing home, but my husband was not made aware of this.  Neither was he made aware his mother was about to pass away and so was never given the option of seeing her for the last time.  We've received a letter from his sister advising all the money in the estate was used up in care, only leaving £16,000 to split between them.  We have no proof of this and the amounts she uses seem to be exactly round amounts.  Are we entitled to ask for evidence of monies spent in care?  His sister has given him a deadline of 2 weeks before she closes her mothers accounts and puts his share into an account for solicitors to hold (at his expense).  Is she able to do this?  Should we engage solicitors to look into all the money aspects of the estate to ensure she isn't doing him out of his rightful inheritance?   Thanks 

Flugelhorn

I am sorry to hear that this has happened. difficult when families are not in touch and perhaps the sister just got on with things as best she could. 

as your husband is a residuary beneficiary then he is entitled to see the estate accounts (this is only for the money left after MIL died, not what was going on to pay for care etc)

Did she have a property? did she have assets that were likely to be a lot greater than 16k? 

If not then it might not be wise to engage a solicitor as the whole 16K could be swallowed up in fees

Fluffyermie

Thanks for the reply.  

No she didn't have any property left, apparently this was sold to pay for care costs.  Again we only have the sister's word for that.  Just seems strange that it's an exact £16k left over.  Just don't trust her to be totally honest about what has gone on.  She could be telling us anything and we wouldn't know. 

I don't like ultimatums, so curious to know exactly what she is allowed to do.  I've lined up an initial consultation with a solicitor to find out what options we have, if any, and it's its worth pursuing further.  

badmemory

The £16K could have been what she had left over when the local authority started funding.  Care homes are very expensive & in some areas it would cost over £50k per year.

uknick

You say she had a property that was sold to cover care home fees.  If you're suspicious as to how much was left in the estate you can do the following.

First, look at a website such as Zoopla which has prices properties sold for.  Then try to find out how much your MIL's care home costs.  From that you can easily see how much could have been left in her bank account.

If it looks like it has all gone in care home fees, not much else you can do.  However, if there is a large discrepancy I'd ask the sister where the money went to and on what authority the property was sold. For example did she have an LPA for her mother?

I'd do all this before spending money with a solicitor.

With regard to getting legal help, you're look at at least £10k for the initial stages of a contentious probate and this can rise to about £50k depending on the complexity of the case.  I've spent nearly £1k just to get the solicitor up to speed (there was a lot for them to read before we met), meet with them for about 90 minutes to discuss the case and then the letter they sent me giving their advice.  Also, don't assume your legal costs can be recovered if you win.  That is down to the judge and also if there is money in the estate to pay the costs.

Keep_pedalling

Administrators often talk in round figures until the estate has been wound up and all assets and expenditure has been finalised. You are entitled to a set of estate accounts, but not the expenditure when she was alive. 

Why is she going to put his inheritance to a solicitors account rather than direct to him?

Unfortunately there is little you can do if you have suspicions but no evidence. 

unforeseen

Keep_pedalling said:

Why is she going to put his inheritance to a solicitors account rather than direct to him?

I would think because she is expecting him to refuse it. He has 2 weeks to accept it., probably because she doesn't want it to drag on. 

 His sister has given him a deadline of 2 weeks before she closes her mothers accounts and puts his share into an account for solicitors to hold (at his expense). 

Flugelhorn

definitely look to see if the property was sold - can use the land registry database https://landregistry.data.gov.uk/app/ppd/ or zoopla or rightmove 

Pennylane

So your husband was never concerned enough about his mother to keep in touch?  Not speaking to his sister either. It sounds like she was doing all the care work and organisation.  Why should she inform him of anything concerning his Mum if he can’t ask?  I’m sure she has enough to do without chasing after someone who won’t speak to her! 

You don’t say whether your SIL was Power of Attorney but guessing that’s the case.  Seems she is Executor so she can only provide you with Estate Accounts after she has paid any bills and worked out how much is left and finalised the accounts. Sounds like that is just what she is doing. She does not have to include any information about your Mum’s expenditure before she passed away.

How long was she in the Nursing Home?  Fees in these are even more than Care Homes and could easily be £1500-2000 a week. 

The siblings will only get approx £8,000 each and as someone else said that could be very easily swallowed up in legal fees.  I would just be grateful that your MIL did have someone looking out for her for those 5 years when your husband was not involved.  How sad would it have been if she was all alone?  

Daniel54

I’m very much with Pennylane on this

i can’t see that there is anything necessarily contentious about the probate process

By not talking to his sister or mother your husband removed himself from the knowledge you now suggest  he should have been given.It is immensely sad when familyrelationships break down in in this way,but the bottom line is that his sister took on responsibilities he was not prepared to accept

You would in my view  be very well advised to take the estate accounts as presented.

uknick

Should we be judging the OPs husband for not speaking to his mother for 5 years as we don't know what caused the rift?  It could be him, the sister or the mother who instigated it.  We also don't know what the mother had promised the husband with regard to her estate.  Did she always say it would be split equally which is why she didn't write a will?  Or, did she make it clear she wanted nothing more to do with her son?

If the mother did intend the estate to be split equally, I see nothing wrong with the sister accounting for the estate at time of death. 

I agree if the house was not of significant value care homes fees would have taken it in a few years along with any pension and benefits the mother was receiving.  Hopefully the OP will come back after some research and let us know the sister has been acting in good faith all along and she has been open and honest with her brother with regard to the estate.