Solicitor and BIL are executors.

Metallicace

My mother in law left house and funds to be split into the 3 adult Christmas (one is my wife), minus a sum for each grandchild (4 of them).
The executors are the eldest son and the solicitor that's dealing with the will.
So firstly and maybe most importantly, can my wife ask the solicitor any questions about the will, in complete privacy? Her brother is a bit of a bully and she doesn't want to upset him. 
Basically our eldest lived with my mother in law, looked after her etc etc. now she did borrow 10k a few years ago and had been paying it back, but still 4k to pay. Nothing in writing etc.
My BIL wants to take that 4k that she owes out of her inheritance. Is this legal!? 
This is why we'd like to ask a few questions to solicitor.
Another thing is we found a letter from MIL that said the eldest brother was loaned 24k around 15 years ago and 2/3 was to be paid back when father in law died 4 years ago. 
Can we question was this ever paid back!? 
Sorry for the long story.

Metallicace

*Christmas, it's children, sorry

Mark_d

Solicitors have a duty of confidentiality so there should be no issue asking questions such as this.

Alderbank

Do you mean your mother-in-law died last Christmas?

You've confirmed that your eldest owed £4k to her grandmother when she died. She now owes that money to her grandmother's estate. The executors not only can but should recover all debts owed to the estate, just as they have an obligation to pay all debts which the estate owes. That is part of their duties.

Your wife seems to be a residual beneficiary (she gets a share of what is left once all other payments have been made). At that point she would be entitled to see the accounts of how the estate has been administered. In law she's not really entitled to see anything until then and I would be surprised if the solicitor administering the estate would discuss the will with her.

You believe a loan should have been paid back to your mother-in-law about 4 years ago, some years before she died. Can you ask about it?

You can ask her eldest son or other family members about it of course and about the letter you 'found', but you have absolutely no entitlement to do so. Expect to be told to mind your own business.
The solicitor will probably know nothing about that loan, but even if he does he will absolutely not discuss it with you.

ETA

In these pages we often say that for most wills appointing a solicitor as executor is an unnecessary expense. However in this case I think it might have been a wise move by your mother-in-law. The solicitor will make sure that the estate is managed exactly according to the will and to the law.

Hoenir

Metallicace said:

My BIL wants to take that 4k that she owes out of her inheritance. Is this legal!? 

Technically it's money owing to the Estate of the deceased.  How you do think it should addressed. That's fair and equitable to the other named beneficiaries. 

Metallicace

Alderbank said:

Do you mean your mother-in-law died last Christmas?

You've confirmed that your eldest owed £4k to her grandmother when she died. She now owes that money to her grandmother's estate. The executors not only can but should recover all debts owed to the estate, just as they have an obligation to pay all debts which the estate owes. That is part of their duties.

Your wife seems to be a residual beneficiary (she gets a share of what is left once all other payments have been made). At that point she would be entitled to see the accounts of how the estate has been administered. In law she's not really entitled to see anything until then and I would be surprised if the solicitor administering the estate would discuss the will with her.

You believe a loan should have been paid back to your mother-in-law about 4 years ago, some years before she died. Can you ask about it?

You can ask her eldest son or other family members about it of course and about the letter you 'found', but you have absolutely no entitlement to do so. Expect to be told to mind your own business.
The solicitor will probably know nothing about that loan, but even if he does he will absolutely not discuss it with you.

The solicitor has a copy of this letter tho

p00hsticks

Alderbank said:

Your wife seems to be a residual beneficiary (she gets a share of what is left once all other payments have been made). At that point she would be entitled to see the accounts of how the estate has been administered. In law she's not really entitled to see anything until then and I would be surprised if the solicitor administering the estate would discuss the will with her.

If probate is required (which it appears that it will be as there is mention of a property), then as soon as probate is granted  the contents of the will become public property and anyone prepared to pay the princely sum of £1.50 can purchase a copy
Search probate records for documents and wills (England and Wales) - GOV.UK

poseidon1

Alderbank said:

Do you mean your mother-in-law died last Christmas?

You've confirmed that your eldest owed £4k to her grandmother when she died. She now owes that money to her grandmother's estate. The executors not only can but should recover all debts owed to the estate, just as they have an obligation to pay all debts which the estate owes. That is part of their duties.

Your wife seems to be a residual beneficiary (she gets a share of what is left once all other payments have been made). At that point she would be entitled to see the accounts of how the estate has been administered. In law she's not really entitled to see anything until then and I would be surprised if the solicitor administering the estate would discuss the will with her.

You believe a loan should have been paid back to your mother-in-law about 4 years ago, some years before she died. Can you ask about it?

You can ask her eldest son or other family members about it of course and about the letter you 'found', but you have absolutely no entitlement to do so. Expect to be told to mind your own business.
The solicitor will probably know nothing about that loan, but even if he does he will absolutely not discuss it with you.

ETA

In these pages we often say that for most wills appointing a solicitor as executor is an unnecessary expense. However in this case I think it might have been a wise move by your mother-in-law. The solicitor will make sure that the estate is managed exactly according to the will and to the law.

In all fairness to the OP and with regard to eldest son/ executor, she is entitled to know whether he will be scrupulously honest with regard to any outstanding loan he owes to the estate whilst at the same time being insistent on the OP' s daughters loan being offset against her legacy.

I would be less than happy to have to await the circulation of the final published estate distribution accounts, to discover how the eldest brother navigated his potential conflict of interest as executor/ residual legatee as regards the loan he had received in the past.

Incidentally, I say this as someone in a not too dissimilar position as the eldest brother. I hold as bare trustee a sum of money on my mother's behalf, but to ensure this arrangement did not get lost in the mist of time, I executed and circulated to my siblings a declaration of Bare Trust documenting this arrangement, since I will ultimately ( if I don't predecease her ) be the executor of my mother's estate. 

Like Ceasar's wife, an Executor 's actions should be above suspicion, and the exsistence of a solicitor as co executor is not necessarily a gurantee of this ( depends on the competency of solicitor concerned, which frankly cannot be assumed ) .

mattojgb

poseidon1 said:

Alderbank said:

In all fairness to the OP and with regard to eldest son/ executor, she is entitled to know whether he will be scrupulously honest with regard to any outstanding loan he owes to the estate whilst at the same time being insistent on the OP' s daughters loan being offset against her legacy.

I would be less than happy to have to await the circulation of the final published estate distribution accounts, to discover how the eldest brother navigated his potential conflict of interest as executor/ residual legatee as regards the loan he had received in the past.

Beneficiaries are only entitled to see the final estate accounts. The executors may decide to keep them in the loop, and the beneficiaries may express their concerns. However with a solicitor as executor I don't imagine they would want to disclose anything prematurely.