Rules on Letter of Administration and Probate

Zfid

I wonder if anyone can help me here.
I do not have the means to go to a solicitor to get them to act on my behalf.

My mother died in March 2020 leaving 3 surviving children, of which I am one, with a fairly basic will splitting her estate equally between us.
Due in part to covid, we could not meet and the will was not discussed in person until Sept 2021. All 3 of us were named executors with my brother applying for and getting letters of administration.
Probate was applied for and granted in August 2022.
Her estate consists of a 90% percent share in her house (my brother owns the other 10% and my sister moved herself and husband and subsequently son into the house after my mother's death) plus some possessions valued at £5K according to the information sent for tax. No rent has been asked for or offered wrt to my sisters occupancy.
Since probate was granted, there has been no movement nor information on how we can resolve the execution of the will, at least until recently when I asked (as my circumstances have radically changed). 

My questions are:
What should I be asking my brother (as he has letter of administration) in terms of finding out exactly what is in the estate, eg there has been no 'reading of the will' and no confirmation of my mothers 90% ownership. I have a copy of a solicitors letter from 2019 stating that my brother wishes to keep a 10% share in the house (there was a 'house swap' which I can go into if relevant) and a copy of the letter sent by my brother to HMRC wrt my mothers estate value which correlates with the 90% but does not explicitly say so. Also, it isn't explicitly stated that they owned the house as tenants in common, although I think so based on a land registry search and phrase used.

My second question is, can I, and if so how, apply for letters of administration after probate has been granted and my brother has been granted administration already. My purpose in doing this would be to examine my mothers estates' finances as there is quite a bit of money claimed to have been lent to her and costs to a care company. Both may well be true but I've lost faith in my siblings wishes to execute my mothers will at this point and would like to at least focus their attention

Thirdly: Does anyone know if a solicitor would be prepared to act on my behalf and be paid out of my share of the estate (btw under 6 figures but not by much) or would this be either too costly or not worth it to them? I have never had to have legal dealings and am very unfamiliar with costs, although I hear they can be prohibitive. I understand the best way would be to resolve this between ourselves, but I feel that they have prevaricated.

Sorry if this comes across as a rant, but I really have very little means and don't really know what to do.

If you got this far many thanks for reading

Keep_pedalling

As there was a will you brother will have been granted probate not LOA. Reading of wills only happens in Agatha Christy stories.

Your brother needs to get your sister out and the house sold so he can distribute the estate. Write to him asking for an update and what he is doing about getting the house sold. if you get no answer or an unsatisfactory one I am afraid your next step is to consult a solicitor. I know you said you don’t have the means to pay for it but an initial consultation and a letter to your brother threatening legal action wound be too expensive and if this ended up in court costs would either come out of the estate or would be awarded against the non performing executor.

Zfid

OK thanks for the swift reply. I intend to write to him anyway but want to know as much as possible first. I appreciate the 'reading of wills' bit, but surely there should be some kind of document given to beneficiaries detailing their share of the estate etc? I have had to piece things together from the land registry (still showing our late mother and my brother as owning the house) and obtaining a copy of the will via the gov.uk website after probate.

Sadly I may have to consult a solicitor but had felt this was really a last resort

poppystar

You are entitled to a copy of the estate accounts when it is distributed as you are a residual beneficiary.

Meanwhile can you clarify if you renounced your executorship or reserved your power? This would have to have been put on the probate application if you are all executors in the Will. 

elsien

If you are an executor, unless you reserved your powers, you should have access to the relevant information anyway. Have you not had to sign anything as executor as part of the probate process? 

Zfid

Thanks for taking the time to comment.

I've now had opportunity to look back through my emails and remind myself on the situation.

To Poppystar and Elsien:
I have not renounced nor reserved my power. 

Probate was granted last August, my brother was the one named by the email ad he emailed us (my sister and myself) to inform us that he has paper copies of various documents which allows him to access bank accounts etc. So as Keep_Pedalling says above, he has the correspondence relating to probate and the execution of the will but not LOA.

It's probably a basic question but essentially does he have probate or do we have probate?

Zfid

Elsien: Apart from the online application to become one of the executors, I have not had to sign anything at all. Indeed I have had very little information from my brother, and virtually nothing relating to the will since August last year until I sent whatsapp messages to them last month.

Flugelhorn

Not sure hoe he applied for probate without stating that you had either renounced or reserved your executorship

elsien

Sorry, but I’m confused again. Why did you need to make an online application to be an executor if you were already named as an executor in the will? Are you sure that there is a will? 

Zfid

Elsien: Sorry for not being clear. There is a will and I have bought a copy from gov.uk website. It simply states that the estate is to be split between the 3 siblings as equal beneficiaries. It does not mention who is to be executors.

Due to the covid situation (My mother died the week before the first lockdown) and other family issues, I did not receive a scanned email copy until Summer 2021.

The three beneficiaries met to discuss in Sept 2021
My brother then started the process and I was contacted via email by HMCTS who asked if I wished to be an executor. I replied yes. A few months later I got an email from my brother saying "Probate has been approved" and a copy of the email sent to him from HMCTS

"Dear My Brothers name....

We approved your probate application.

We’ll send you a grant of probate in the post. You should receive the grant within 10 working days.." etc

As I have no experience in legal matters, and probate etc, it is not clear to me who is liable to do what, and as I gather I myself have a legal responsibility to execute the will (which is also in my financial interests) I want as much information and understanding as possible so that when I write to my brother I can ask the right questions and if necessary get hold of any paperwork required to move forward.

poppystar

It is still confusing from the information we have…so…

When you bought the Will did it not also come with a copy of the Grant of Probate or Letter of Administration? It’s either or not both, hence some of the confusion. This will set out who the executor (probate) or administrator (administration) is. This will confirm whether you actually are an executor.

If you are and your brother is too then you should have been working together to deal with the estate. It may be that he has been able to do some parts of it without your involvement or it may be he hasn’t done anything. You will only find this out by asking him. As executor or administrator no one will tell you what you have to do when you just need to work through all the deceased assets- property, bank and savings accounts etc. All executors need to work together not independently.