Executor not acting, what can we do?

BrokenOwl

My Auntie is sole executor of a will and is racking up bills/ charges and not selling the house in order to give my mum her share. 

Is there anything we can do? 

My Gran passed in 2020. 

My auntie and my dad were executors of her will and had a 50/50 split on the house.

In late 2021 the house sold but during the sale my dad became ill and passed away. 

While my dad was in hospital my auntie pulled the sale of the house. We only found out because the estate agent called asking why we had pulled the sale. We contacted my auntie and she said it was because the buyer wanted to know how long probate would take and she couldn’t say. 

Probate had already been granted but she claims she didn’t know. The estate agent says my auntie knew because she had informed her. 

In 2022 she said she had decided not to sell the house. Instead she would sell her house- have my grans house valued so she could give my mum her share of the money. 

In early 2023 we’d heard nothing. We drove past the house and saw my Grans house was up for sale. She hasn’t contacted us or informed us. We called the estate agent and they confirmed they had just accepted an Offer. 

We contacted my auntie and told her we knew the house had been put up for sale and she had accepted an offer.

The house sale was pulled again
She has ignored all contact since. 

It’s been another year and we don’t know what to do?

elsien

If she really won’t cooperate, the only option would be to go to court to have her removed, but that’s going to be expensive and would eat into the share of the estate.
However going to a solicitor and paying for them to send her a letter giving notice that she needs to start acting properly might be enough to get her moving. Particularly if it includes a reminder that any legal costs might need to come from her share of the estate, if she is acting improperly. 

Keep_pedalling

Who ever is administering your father’s estate needs to take legal advice as suggested above. This could become very expensive but your aunt risks have having to pay all those costs so hopefully just the treat of legal action will get things sorted, but you must be willing to follow through if that does not work.

Hoenir

A solicitors letter may well rattle the cage. Executors have very clear legal responsibilities. Court action would not be in the interest of your Aunt. 

Sea_Shell

It may be that your Aunt mistakenly thinks that the whole of Gran's estate is hers now, after your Dad's passing?

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Flugelhorn

Sea_Shell said:

It may be that your Aunt mistakenly thinks that the whole of Gran's estate is hers now, after your Dad's passing?

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certainly possible or maybe she just thinks she ought to be the sole beneficiary

Who is the exec / admin for Dad? they are the ones who could letter from a solicitor to chase this up

elsien

You could also put an alert on the land registry for the property so you are notified on any changes.
Property Alert - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  
And after this length of time you might want to pay the £3 fee to check how the property is now registered with regards to ownership. 

Flugelhorn

elsien said:

You could also put an alert on the land registry for the property so you are notified on any changes.
Property Alert - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)  
And after this length of time you might want to pay the £3 fee to check how the property is now registered with regards to ownership. 

good idea - just hope it is still in Gran;s name

SVaz

From googling, legal costs can be around £15000 to remove an executor and they can be made to pay the costs.
A letter to the Aunt pointing this out might wake her up.
It must be costing her a fortune, she’ll be paying double council tax by now, plus the bills, unless there was a fair bit of money in Gran’s bank account. 

https://www.irwinmitchell.com/personal/will-trust-estate-disputes/contentious-probate/challenging-an-executor