Probate and Mortgage mess advice

Big_dog

I was speaking with a friend over the weekend and discovered a living nightmare, and wondered if anyone could help with advice.
Basically his grandfather entered into a mortgage late in life and died before it was paid off. He left the property to his wife and his deaf benefit was paid out. Unfortunately she became ill and was sent to stay at a care home and the deaf benefit was used for her care whilst she was alive.
She has since died and left the property to her son.
Whilst she was in care her son moved in to the property and continued to pay the monthly mortgage, this has been kept up for the past 6 years.
His name was never on the original mortgage and the estate entered probate. That was 6 years ago and the bank have evicted him and closed down the property leaving him homeless. Also as he is the executor, all of the bills associated with the property are his responsibility.

He has been to at least 4 probate solicitors and none can help him.
Can he instead sue the mortgage company for his money back... it's about £25k 

user1977

Sorry, you haven’t explained what the £25k is?

What was the result of the repossession - was there still a shortfall due to the bank, or a surplus due to the estate?

Big_dog

user1977 said:

Sorry, you haven’t explained what the £25k is?

What was the result of the repossession - was there still a shortfall due to the bank, or a surplus due to the estate?

Hi User1977 The £25k was what the son contributed to the mortgage after his mother became ill as she was unable to pay the mortgage. The repossession attempt is because there is still £100k owing on the property, but its worth is about £350k if sold on the market.
Right now nothing has happened other than it being boarded up and that was done a few years ago... so it's empty.
As far as I'm aware the mortgage repayments are still up to date, they have never been missed.

user1977

So nobody is marketing the property? Why not?

Why does he think he can get the £25k back? It’s gone to the mortgage account - he can’t have his cake and eat it.

Keep_pedalling

I think your friend has not given you the whole story here and it seems he totally failed to administer the estate as he should have done which is what has caused all his problems. 

Big_dog

user1977 said:

So nobody is marketing the property? Why not?

Why does he think he can get the £25k back? It’s gone to the mortgage account - he can’t have his cake and eat it.

He obviously can't have the property as that has been taken by the bank. So if they won't recognise him as a contributor to the mortgage why can't he ask for his money back. He certainly isn't having his cake and eating it. Right now he has neither

Big_dog

Keep_pedalling said:

I think your friend has not given you the whole story here and it seems he totally failed to administer the estate as he should have done which is what has caused all his problems. 

Any clues? There is no contest to the property, the mortgage is up to date and he has had 4 probate solicitors trying to sort it out.

user1977

Big_dog said:

user1977 said:

So nobody is marketing the property? Why not?

Why does he think he can get the £25k back? It’s gone to the mortgage account - he can’t have his cake and eat it.

He obviously can't have the property as that has been taken by the bank. So if they won't recognise him as a contributor to the mortgage why can't he ask for his money back. He certainly isn't having his cake and eating it. Right now he has neither

What do you mean by "recognise him as a contributor to the mortgage"?

You've said he's the executor. Who are the beneficiaries of the estate? Why had the bank ended up repossessing, rather than him selling the property? Repossessions don't happen without a huge amount of warning.

Keep_pedalling

Big_dog said:

Keep_pedalling said:

I think your friend has not given you the whole story here and it seems he totally failed to administer the estate as he should have done which is what has caused all his problems. 

Any clues? There is no contest to the property, the mortgage is up to date and he has had 4 probate solicitors trying to sort it out.

Not really, the whole thing sounds odd. Why did he not inform the bank of the death of the owner? If he had done they would have given him the time to sell or pay off the outstanding mortgage and keep the property. 

Bigphil1474

None of this makes any sense. If the son is the executor, he should be able to do the probate himself. DIY probate is easy unless it's a complex estate. Even if not, no bank would repossess a house where the mortgage is being paid, board the house up for a few years and leave it to rot. He is also not responsible for the bills of his mums estate - the estate is responsible for the bills and if there's no money in the estate to pay the bills then he doesn't have to pay them until probate is sorted. If the son isn't capable of sorting it out, he needs to find a better solicitor, and tell them the whole story.

Bookworm105

Big_dog said:

user1977 said:

So nobody is marketing the property? Why not?

Why does he think he can get the £25k back? It’s gone to the mortgage account - he can’t have his cake and eat it.

He obviously can't have the property as that has been taken by the bank. So if they won't recognise him as a contributor to the mortgage why can't he ask for his money back. He certainly isn't having his cake and eating it. Right now he has neither

but he was the executor of the estate and the estate was still liable for the mortgage, so payments made were from the estate, not from him

you say no probate solicitors will take the case. That tends to suggest there is no money left from which to pay them?

either you need to step in and hold his hand and get a lot more info, or just leave it alone 
a) how much does the estate owe? o/s mortgage + unpaid care home fees + ???
b) what money does the estate have? potentially 340k house + ?

was there a will and who inherits under it?