Brother incompetent to be executor?

[dejarderoncar]

Hello, don't know if this problem really has an answer, but here goes.

I have a friend whose mother died nearly six months ago. Her father died some years before.

Mum has left her entire estate equally to my friend and her brother. They are of similar age. It is quite a complicated and substantial estate. This is in England, by the way.

My friend has a few years to go to her retirement age, put back now to 67. She works as a carer, it's hard physical work at times. Her pay is MW and she has little savings. She would like to stop this work as she now has arthritis. Her Mother used to help her financially quite regularly, but of course that all stopped when Mum died.

For completely sexist reasons, only the brother was named as executor, along with a male finance professional who had been advising Mum. Women obviously can't do this kind of stuff.

The brother is living in the family home, (half of which goes to the sister) and has substantial separate financial resources, thanks to a previous legacy. He has retired.

The problem is this: brother has Aspergers/HFA (not officially diagosed, but beyond doubt).

He will obsessively trawl through every single piece of paper, of which there are thousands, that were left in the house. Mother was also on the Spectrum and was obsessive about certain projects, which amassed mountains of paperwork.

He refuses to let the professional help him, has no feelings of empathy towards his sister's situation, although they are on good terms and it is of no consequence to him if it takes the rest of his life to be able to apply for probate.

Meanwhile, his sister is really struggling- Is there anything she can do?

[squidgyapple]

Disclaimer am not a solicitor/legally qualified but I believe there are steps someone can take if they believe the executor to a will is incompetent or not acting correctly.

your friend could go to the CAB for advice.

[dejarderoncar]

squidgy thank you. It is more that he is acting correctly in the sense that he understands what needs to get done and is capable of doing it: just that he can only do it in his own way and in his own time, which could take for ever, and he refuses help.

He is intelligent and very high functioning, but can make mistakes which he then recognises and spends days sorting out. He is a bit of an immovable object IYSWIM. My friend does not think he would be considered legally incompetent, she would like him to accept help so things could be progressed faster. But only he 'understands' Mum's papers etc.