Inheritance

bhavu

YoungBlueEyes said:

I disagree with the "circling for your share" comment too, that's too harsh.

You don't mention your father - is he still living? Without a will it may all go to him.  Without a will one of you will have to apply for Letters of Administration but it isn't automatically the controlling brother's job. 

If you know which hospital (?) your mother is in, there's nothing stopping any of you either visiting or ringing to ask how she is. 

I'd also say you all as siblings should be on the same page, if nothing else then to stand up to the controlling brother. 

Hi.  Father is no longer alive.  The other siblings will not stand upto him because if they do he will make it difficult for them to see our mother.

YoungBlueEyes

bhavu said:

Hi.  I have a mother who is terminally ill.  There are 6 living siblings and 1 deceased sibling who has children.  Now there are 3 brothers and 3 sisters.  1 brother controlling all of mother's finances and health matters.  None of the other siblings are able to ask questions to medical staff of mother's health.  Only what the brother wants to divulge.  To date none of other siblings know the worth of mother's estate.  As far as we know mother has not made a Will.  In light of the nature of the controlling brother who will no doubt place himself as executor and will not be willing to share any of the estate, what can we do to find out what the estate is worth and to make sure that the estate is distributed fairly?

My bolding. Ok let's go back to the start. The brother can't "place himself as executor", executors are named in the will. If your mother hasn't made a will then someone will have to apply for Letters of Administration, and that doesn't have to be the brother. There is a hierarchy of who can apply and as siblings you'd all have the right to do it. 

Is there a chance your mother saw all this coming and had a solicitor draw up a will and lodged it with them?

Just to repeat - unless your mother is being cared for at home the brother does not control access. If she's in a hospital anybody can ring or visit