Update on Estate administration

BreakfastTea18

Further to several discussions, not much on the way of progress, caveats remain in place but now one of my nephews is now claiming the house as his main residence.

My brother, my potential joint administrator, has told his solicitor that his son moved in months before my mum's death and all the utilitieshave been transferred into his name !  His son has a house with a mortgage with his partner in another county and definitely doesn't live full time in my late mum's house. 

The utilities remain in the name of The Estate of the deceased...., and are accruing debt due his usage in the property.

I cannot understand why my brother would lie so blatantly to his solicitor when these facts are provable and checkable. Ive sent the necessary evidence and pointed out he is essentially occupying without permission.

I've no idea what the pair of them are trying to achieve other than wilfully obstruct the administrationof the estate. 

His solicitor is suggesting the appointment of an Independent Joint Administrator but i am reluctant as I can do the task myself, save for the obstruction by my brother and his sons. It will be less costly and I won't cheat my brother out if his inheritance, unlike how he would treat me. 

My brother won't cooperate with anyone, has lied consistently about his position in the process (claimed he owned my mum's land and his solicitor didn't bother to check title deeds, he does not) 

Just venting really, it all feels so difficult and painful as I can't properly grieve my mum's passing with this hideous situation.

p00hsticks

I'm not familiar with the whole backstory (it sounds a nightmare) , but can you not get your brother to follow up on what he claims and get the utilities put in their name (if they are not already as he claims) to save the estate a bit or money ? 
Note that if there is someone living in the property then you lose the Class E council tax exemption. 

BreakfastTea18

Local Authority have already issued a new bill based on occupancy. The utilities can't be changed unless the debts are paid and can't do that as I don't have LoA. The property and land has to be sold and the occupiers evicted 

Brie

Do the local authority deal with all the utilities?  I would have thought that was just council tax.  

How about asking for the utilities and water to be turned off while you await the house to be sold.  Supposedly there is no one there.  Then once son leaves you can go in and change the locks and deal with the rest??

Sorry for your loss btw.  Families can be supportive in troubled times or not.  You seem to be getting the "or not" side of this.  

Cairnpapple

It may be worth finding out more about the Independent Joint Administrator option. I understand that it would be easier/cheaper if your brother would let you do the administration but it seems like he won't agree to that, just like you wouldn't agree to him doing it. If he would agree to a professional, then at least something might get done.

BreakfastTea18

Oh I would work with him, that's not the issue, he is the one in conflict by claiming,  wrongly, he owns some of the assets.

 Whether I do it or a IJA, he will find a way to subvert the process. My concern is he will, with coercion from his sons, try to use the Joint administration process to lodge a meritless challenge and deplete the assets on legal fees. 

He has already said I will have to kill him first before I get anything from the estate.  I can't think of any other reason that his son is now claiming he lives in the house, any reasonable person knows this is rubbish and my brother could stop this but he is encouraging it. 

 He is complete unsuitable to administer the estate by way of competence, addiction issues and conflict of interests. 

I will explore the IJA but also to look at how the estate could potentially be exposed to excess legal costs due to his potential actions. 

BreakfastTea18

Brie said:

Do the local authority deal with all the utilities?  I would have thought that was just council tax.  

How about asking for the utilities and water to be turned off while you await the house to be sold.  Supposedly there is no one there.  Then once son leaves you can go in and change the locks and deal with the rest??

Sorry for your loss btw.  Families can be supportive in troubled times or not.  You seem to be getting the "or not" side of this.  

Hi Brie

The water cannot be turned off, I've checked. Only if the house was being demolished. I've checked this twice on 2 separate calls to the supplier.

I can apply to have the mains electric supply  disconnected by the network  but technically, as I don't hold LoA, I'm not really allowed to do this. If the case comes to court I want to be seen as above board and following due process.

The local authority have issued a council tax bill from the date of mum's death as the property is occupied. I can't even get in to start emptying it as my nephew has parked a huge HGV on the drive blocking access and has changed the locks. 

I'm dealing with lawless thugs who have never been told no to anything. There's much much more I could say about this but not here.   

As for the 'or not' my brother didn't even bother to turn up to mum's funeral despite threatening me with an Injunction via his solicitor if I didn't hold a public funeral. Mum wanted a direct cremation but to appease him I changed it 2 days before she was due to be cremated and he didn't turn up.  

He completely disappeared and was uncontactable for weeks after she died despite me trying to Include him in the 'death admin' and funeral aarrangements. I had to do it on my own. 

I've tried to include him, but he's only interested in what he thinks is his, and that is the entire estate. 

Savvy_Sue

I would have thought that an IJA would be unwilling to allow the wool to be pulled over their eyes. But is that to act Jointly with you, or Jointly with him, or Jointly with both of you involved? 

In some ways, it is a shame that your parents did not appoint solicitors to administer the estate. You're now in a situation where he gives instructions to his solicitor, and generally solicitors are required to believe what their clients tell them, so you're having the challenge the story his solicitor has been told. 

BreakfastTea18

Savvy_Sue said:

I would have thought that an IJA would be unwilling to allow the wool to be pulled over their eyes. But is that to act Jointly with you, or Jointly with him, or Jointly with both of you involved? 

In some ways, it is a shame that your parents did not appoint solicitors to administer the estate. You're now in a situation where he gives instructions to his solicitor, and generally solicitors are required to believe what their clients tell them, so you're having the challenge the story his solicitor has been told. 

Hi Sue. My mum died intestate, having had my dad's estate passed to her 4 years ago when he died.. Neither made a will although my mum was going to do so 2yrs after dad passed, she then cancelled the appointment due to illness and never got around to doing it.  

I knew this would happen due to family dynamics and how other family members have acted over the years. It was always going to be complex and my mum knew that,  might be why she didn't make a will as she knew whatever she wanted would be challenged by my brother anyway. She said to me a year ago, you'll both sort it out between you. No chance of that now. 

I think my brother wants us both to step out of applying for the Grant of administration and the IJA to fulfil the role without is involved  but really that's daft, I'm more than capable of doing it. 

Given he still claims he owns a significant part of the assets I'm not clear how he will accept the estate being sold and his sons and their business evicted because that's what needs to happen to give vacant possession. Trust me,they won't go willingly.  

It's all a mess. 

Sea_Shell

Sorry to hear what you are going though.    Although it's a little hard to follow, as it's split over 4 threads.*

If the house is in such dis-repair, is the value of the estate ~£600k, or is that optimistic?    Is it the land that is making it worth what it is? 

If the value of the estate was smaller, my suggestion would be to walk away from the whole sorry mess, but with so much money at stake, I can see why this wouldn't be an option for you.   


However, without their cooperation, it's going to be a long and expensive road, to have them all evicted through the courts, and then followed through with, even once a court order is obtained.  



*Is there any way the Mods can merge them?

BreakfastTea18

Morning  SeaShell. The value of the estate is around the 600k figure, due to location and the size of the plot, just under an acre. 

As a potential development  plot its worth a lot more. The planning application, if it succeeds will probably double the value of the land on its own due to the scarcity of a plot that size in the area with that type of planning class. 

Walking away is not an option, not only is this my Inheritance, it is my children's too. I plan to gift them a sum each that will be really helpful to them all. 

 My parents did not favour one child over the other one in terms of Inheritance, despite not making a will. If I walk away the whole lot goes to my brother who will just hand it over to his sons excluding their cousins. That is not what my parents wanted despite not willing it. 

My poor dad grafted into his late 70's to buy and maintain that house and garden then used the equity to buy the plot of land. 
He always said 'you'll both be OK when we're gone'. They would be turning in their box of ashes to see whats happened.