Statutory Demand

SaveSmartly12

Our father died September 2017. He engaged a Will writing company to be his executor and we had an initial meeting with her and exchanged a few emails which gradually dwindled to nothing. We didn’t receive our inheritance.

Fast forward to this year and she has sent less than a third of it in November with the promise to send the rest this month. In the meantime she has left the country and no one else in the company will help.

There is still over £200k owed to us and she gone silent again. My question is can we make a statutory demand from her and force her to declare bankruptcy so that her finances can be looked at? I’m not a legal person so I don’t know if I’ve understood correctly. I know there is a 6 year limit but we’re hoping some allowance will be given for Covid.

The other option will be to go to small claims court but that will cost us £10k and I really need to keep as much as the money as possible.

Thanks in advance.

Marcon

destype said:

Our father died September 2017. He engaged a Will writing company to be his executor and we had an initial meeting with her and exchanged a few emails which gradually dwindled to nothing. We didn’t receive our inheritance.

Fast forward to this year and she has sent less than a third of it in November with the promise to send the rest this month. In the meantime she has left the country and no one else in the company will help.

There is still over £200k owed to us and she gone silent again. My question is can we make a statutory demand from her and force her to declare bankruptcy so that her finances can be looked at? I’m not a legal person so I don’t know if I’ve understood correctly. I know there is a 6 year limit but we’re hoping some allowance will be given for Covid.

The other option will be to go to small claims court but that will cost us £10k and I really need to keep as much as the money as possible.

Thanks in advance.

If you have a corporate executor (and you say you engaged 'the company') then the terms and conditions will almost certainly preclude any right to take action against one of their employees. 

Six years seems excessive, and the current 'nobody else can help' position is ridiculous. If there's a complaints procedure on the company's website, you need to get on and implement that. Is there any sort of regulatory body shown on their letterhead/website? If so, copy them in.

Otherwise this is one of those rare occasions where a letter to one of the investigate financial journalists such as https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/columnist-1471833/Crane-Case.html might be the quickest and cheapest way to move things forward.

SaveSmartly12

Thanks Marcon. My father employed them before his death not us. They are not regulated and there are many google reviews about them fleecing people for money but they are still operating. This is what I don’t understand. To me this seems a criminal offence. 

SaveSmartly12

Do you think the bankruptcy thing isn’t going to work? 

fatbelly

Issuing a statutory demand will force her to respond. I imagine the response will be that she has no debt to you, certainly not in a personal capacity

There is no limit to how long an executor has to process an estate. Trying a nuclear option against her without even trying a court claim is likely to make her relegate you file to the back of a filing cabinet.

SaveSmartly12

Thanks fatbelly. The problem with going the legal route is that it would cost tens of thousands to sort this out. I’m sure she has a legal background so will know that she doesn’t have to act on a solicitor’s letter. There’s no way to complain about them, no regulator, nothing. I can’t believe that an executor can take as long as they want! Do you think small claims court would be a better route?

Keep_pedalling

destype said:

Thanks fatbelly. The problem with going the legal route is that it would cost tens of thousands to sort this out. I’m sure she has a legal background so will know that she doesn’t have to act on a solicitor’s letter. There’s no way to complain about them, no regulator, nothing. I can’t believe that an executor can take as long as they want! Do you think small claims court would be a better route?

The amount involved is too large for the small claims route. Did the will name this individual as the executor or the will writing company?

If the later then any legal action you take needs to be against the company not the individual. 

fatbelly

destype said:

Thanks fatbelly. The problem with going the legal route is that it would cost tens of thousands to sort this out. I’m sure she has a legal background so will know that she doesn’t have to act on a solicitor’s letter. There’s no way to complain about them, no regulator, nothing. I can’t believe that an executor can take as long as they want! Do you think small claims court would be a better route?

I do not think a money claim is appropriate.

If the situation continues you may have to file a dispute claim. Ultimately a court could replace the executor under AJA s50

SaveSmartly12

Can you tell me what an AJA s50 form is please? I can’t see it on a quick google search. Thanks. 

SaveSmartly12

Actually I’ve found it but it’s the application to the high court which would cost us thousands. 

SaveSmartly12

The individual was named as the executor not the company.