Executors gone silent

I understand that the OP needs some advice, it is a complicated story. Very upsetting when there are family members who "take over" in dealing with property and ashes etc.

Sorry I was reading the post and then got called away and when I refreshed the page to see if there were any comments, the original post had gone.

The post was very muddled and difficult to understand. From what is said I doubt anyone on here could really help much.q

I read the full post earlier and though it was lengthy it the meaning and queries were clear enough.

To precis: The OP's father (or stepfather) had recently died. He lived in a rented house and had few assets other than a collection of "collectible" toys - mainly Lego sets of some kind which the OP believed had some value. During his lifetime he had said that the collection and his other assets should be split between the OP and her 18 year old sister.

There was a will and the Executors were the father's two sisters and a solicitor. Relation between the father's sisters and the OP and her sister were not good but at the funeral they had been told that the collection and personal items would come to them as promised.

Sometime later they received some money from the father's pension scheme but no mention of the collection and personal items. Things dragged on for months until eventually the Executor sisters informed them that everything had been sold or disposed of to pay for the funeral and they would be receiving nothing further.

Op's younger sister was very distressed by this and the main question was what could they do about this. They wished to see the will to find out if the items had been specifically mentioned but had not had the opportunity. They had done a probate search and found nothing. They did not know which solicitor was a joint Executor.

Op - is that a fair summary?

Unfortunately I think your options are very limited. If you are not an executor you have no right to see the will unless it becomes public due to probate being granted.

It the father's assets were very limited and no property was involved it may well be that probate was not required to deal with the estate so the will will never become public.

If the Executor sisters have disposed of the collection and personal effects there is very little chance of getting hold of them.

The only positive I can see is that if one of the executors was a solicitor rather than a family member you can be more certain that the terms of the will were fairly actioned - that's unless they were asked to renounce of course.

As for the ashes unless there's anything specified in the will it is up to the executors what happens with them.

SeniorSam wrote: »

I believe that anyone can obtain a copy of the Will by application to the appropriate office, particularly as family members. In this case it would seem that as some pension has been already paid, then they were probably named beneficiaries. Perhaps the pension company may give a lead?

The copy should then show the beneficiaries and the Executors. From there, contact can be made with the solicitors to ask for information. In the event of the sisters not being named in the Will, the solicitors have no obligation to help.

Only if it has gone to probate