Contentious probate + intestacy

BreakfastTea18

Hi, 
My mum died recently and I knew she didn't have a will. Myself and younger brother will Inherit the estate. Estate worth around 600k 

There is a house and also a large plot of land on separate deeds which my parents, then my brother and now his son is running a business.There was always permission for the business side of things, even if my mum.overlooked the legalities. 

The Business has no planning consent, doesn't pay rent or rates. 

My brother, fir some deranged reason believes he owns the land and it isn't going to go through probate. He engaged a solicitor but failed to tell him he was lying about owning this land (solicitor should have checked title deeds but didnt)  and he is now threatening me with an Injunction preventing me from going onto the land as this is a 'business premises'. It's a piece of woodland with lorries and plant and bonfires on it ! 

The house is being used almost daily and at night by my nephews who use it as hotel between jobs. One has a key to the back door. 

I've been subject to harassment , intimidation and assaults by my brother as he is so obsessed with this yard. He is also a long term coke user so he is very paranoid.  For the first week of mum's death he disappeared and I had to do all the 'death admin' and make the funeral arrangements- he just absented himself from all the stuff that we should have done jointly. He didn't even bother turning up to her funeral. That really upset me but he is so unstable, it didn't surprise me. 

I've instructed my own Solicitor which has said they have no adverse possession claim on the land as they had permission to be on it.

Hoping to remove brother from applying for letters of administration due to a conflict of interest and unsuitability to administer the assets. He has now Harris Fenced off right through the garden for some mental reason only known to him.

I know my legal bill will be thousands but hoping if court is involved we can ask.for a costs order.

Just wishing to vent really 

RAS

I presume as a starting point that you have actually got copies of the deeds from the Land Registry? It costs £3 per property unless there are leases, as long as you use the gov.uk site. Just to make sure mum didn't sign them over to him before she died?

Was your mother widowed, or was she divorced or single. That affects whether IHT is due.

You need letters of administration in the absence of a will, and either of you can apply. You may want to do so before your brother does?

With respect to the business, have you checked the local planning portal? Again to make sure exactly what permissions have been granted. 

BreakfastTea18

Hi RAS,

Tittle is absolutely in my late parents favour, mum never took dad off when he died 4 urs ago. I checked in Nov last year as I had a feeling come mum's death things would get tricky. Tricky is an understatement. 

She was widowed and the IHT threshold is 1m , so we're under that. 

Ive applied for LoA, but we both have a caveat on the application so neither gets it. My brother says he wants to jointly administrator but so far all he's done is allow the property to be used by his sons and basically deny that the separate parcel of land is part of the estate. His capability to do this task is significantly impaired (substance misuse) 

Planning consent for change of use was put in a fortnight ago, not by my brother but one of his sons. This isn't a surprise as the LA have been aware they have been operating without for 2 years and have pretty much backed them into a corner.

I've objected as has the LPOA for the homeowner next door, she's gone into nursing care and property needs to be sold. There will be an issue with that due to a huge Industrial lorry park/builds yard in use 24 hrs a day 7 days a week. 

It's going to be long, messy and expensive