Partial Loss of Inheritance

Cave_Sparks

I need some advice. I have tried to keep this as simple as possible.

My father passed away nearly three years ago and many years before that mother also. I am now in effect, due to issues, estranged from my blood family. I am mentioned in the will to receive an equal quarter of my father's estate. 

During his short illness and death, the silence, actions and comments from family members ensured that I felt a need to stay as far away as possible.

From the outset, I have asked that the entire property be auctioned off with a reserve price attached (which was refused). From very early on I have been suspicious as to the motivations and actions of all involved. I have only the subtle mistakes of others to make me suspicious, but things such as not being included in legal documents even if later corrected by the solicitor concern me.

For over a year I heard nothing and after requesting an update from the solicitor acting as co-executor (acting with my eldest sister) I received no and then limited responses. Understanding a little of these matters I took a calm and distant approach to avoid any personal complications of the law.

Over a year later, In simple terms, out of the blue, I am then given what is almost an ultimatum as to how I will proceed. In simple terms, again, my sister the executor has twisted my father's confused verbal wishes to claim that his grandson (her son) was to purchase part of the estate and indicated that he was doing so to live in. I am then at the same time given false information about inheritance tax and told that we as relatives should purchase the other part of the property to avoid inheritance tax. I ask several pertinent questions in relation to this matter and dispute this verbal expression of wishes. And, this is the point at which things start to go very wrong.

Again, in simple terms, or as simple as I can make it, I ask many pertinent questions to clarify how our ownership of one of the homes will happen and be managed by the four of us. In response to these questions I receive very angry-sounding responses, no direct response to my questions or just no answer at all.

In the end, I stood my ground, and I insisted that the house be sold as in his will. But, I felt forced to agree that properties are sold at under-market value. So, both homes were then sold (at the point of writing this some time ago) to a beneficiary and to my father's grandson (Co-executors son). I am happy at the time that members of the family wish to live there.

Now, at this point, there is much more that is wrong. This includes a solicitor (the co-executor) blunt comments, and denials (by action) that my sister has given me full information and answered all pertinent questions.

So nearly three years later and after nine weeks of being told (not for the first time that an interim payment was to be made) I still have no inheritance. And, it is worth mentioning that this is an inheritance that has been heavily eroded by apparent day-to-day legal costs and repairs.

Now, the icing on the top of the cake. I then discovered, by an accident of others, that these two joined homes have been sold on, for in one case about £750,000 (I can’t remember the precise figure) to a developer. The sale of these two near-identical plots would I assume create a sum of £1.4 million.

I believe that beneficiaries have conspired with others to maximise their own inheritance at the expense of my own. I always thought that this was a possibility and tried to establish what was going on from the outset. I feel very hurt by the actions of others.

Can anyone please advise or look at my records in relation to this? Do I have any chance of recovering some or all of the money lost due to poor and misleading advice?

doodling

Hi,

On the face of it no, you are unlikely to recover any of the money you believe you have lost.  You state that you agreed to a sale at less than market value and now you are complaining that that has happened (as evidenced by a subsequent sale at a much higher value).

Whose advice was "poor and misleading" - unless it was someone you were personally paying for advice then they are unlikely to have any obligation towards you in relation to its quality.  Solicitors are expected to act in a professional way and would be expected to be truthful in supporting an executor, if they have not done this then you may have a claim against them (but you would need to show that they actually intended to mislead rather than, for example, being misinformed by the executor or other beneficiaries).  You also need to remember that a solicitor will be supporting their client (the executor in this case) so they are unlikely to have been advising you but would perhaps be explaining how their client is likely to proceed.

Did you actually agree to that less than market value sale?  If rather than agreeing to the less than market value sale you said nothing then you have the possibility of claiming that the executor(s) failed in their duty to maximise the value of the estate for the beneficiaries.  That may be a difficult case to make (for example, the value of a property in probate with the executors / beneficiaries arguing over its value may be less than the same property offered in a more conventional sale) and your first step would be getting professional legal advice.

Your attempt to insist that the property be auctioned was never going to succeed, unless there was something preventing a normal sale from taking place (e.g. the property was un-mortgageable for some reason).

How has the value of your inheritance been eroded by repairs?  That is something that could have been challenged at the time but doing it well after the event may be unsuccessful.

Overall, whilst it may be worth a discussion with a solicitor, it doesn't sound like there is much you can do at this point and it may be less stressful to just let it go (especially as proportion of the other side's legal costs will be coming out of your inheritance if this did go to court).

Malthusian

So both properties were sold, for cash, and you are due a quarter of that money, and you haven't seen any of it?
As doodling said it may be very difficult to claim a loss for the property being sold at less than market value, especially if you explicitly agreed to it.
However if the executors are withholding the cash that you are due, it seems worth speaking to a solicitor to hurry them up.