My brother has sold my deceased parents house without telling me

[Coffeecup123456]

Not sure what to do or where I stand. My brother who I chose to go nc with & I were made joint executors. I relinquished my role after my DM died as he is very untrustworthy and I was concerned about my name being attached to probate & him not doing things as he should. He is very controlling and would not have involved me at all. Since then I discovered that for 3.5 years he was renting it out. Solicitor said I could only regain some control if I followed a lengthy /costly process of renaming myself to be an executor. Without that it was down to him doing the right thing by informing me of what was happening with my parents assets. Out of curiosity I just looked up their house. It has been sold within the last 6 months. There is many reasons that I won’t go into here that I have avoided my brother at all costs. I would love to know if there’s anything I can do or somewhere I can go to find out more. He would not willingly share any info and would be prone to lying.

Ok so you relinquished your role (odd)

but if you were named as inheriting property on money etc then fact your relinquished your role is irrelevant

I'd sue the arse off the fucker, tbh. If you were named as equal beneficiaries, it's pretty cut and dried. The details of the sale and price will be available from the land registry and the will will be lodged with the probate registry.

Mind you, actually getting the money off him might be a different matter.

Roughly how much do you think he's robbed you of, OP?

Are you certain the house wasn't repossessed and auctioned off by the bank?

He rented it out for 3.5 years before selling it

Relinquishing any executor role makes no difference to your legacy entitlement unless you were specifically excluded in any will. My brother was the executor of my Dad's will and did fuck all.

Is there a way of finding out who sold the house? The gov website doesn’t say. In terms of NC he is a very unstable person and wasn’t calling me up for chats. The only contact I received was aggressive and controlling. He didn’t fulfil his role as executor as he was supposed to inform me of any sales etc… I am not surprised and again I’m not tied up by the money. More the injustice I guess. My DH just searched further and found a debt collection agency did a search and then application then a solicitor did a search and application. Then two separate banks did applications. I’m not sure what this all means having rented all my life but it sounds like maybe it went to the banks.

You seem confused. Relinquishing her role as executor does not mean she forfeited her inheritance.

This simply does not make sense

you relinquished your role. Ok.
this would have had ZERO impact on your 50/50 inheritance

your brother could not have sold the property with your permission

added to which, even not as executor you would have needed to have been very aware of probate progress as 50/50 beneficiary

There is a lot more to this but we won’t get it from the Op I suspect

without your permission

@Ohthatsexciting Definitely not odd if you knew this would tie you to him. He’s violent been in prison and not a ‘d’b.

I would not think this is the case because the brother rented it out for 3.5 years
If the bank needed to repossess the property I don't think they would wait years to do it
Having said that I may be wrong just my thoughts

Yes
You can pay £3 for this via the gov website

but if you inherited 50:50 - then you would have been a joint owner

do you own a property already op?

Ok fair enough

but the rest - nonsense

So you knew 50/50 but never got involved in the property and now discovered sold. But he could not have sold it without you. Fact.

Can you look on RightMove to see how much it sold for. Do you know roughly what debts there were?

i’d like to think if he claims there was no money left he needs to prove this if asked, so be able to show payments to people.

@Ohthatsexciting totally hear your confusion I’m not out to hide anything here. Just looking for perspectives & a bit of support.

yiu are right in an ideal world I would have gained 50/50 if a) he fulfilled his executor role and kept me informed. And b) There was even inheritance to share.

“your brother could not have sold the property with your permission” - he must have done…

“added to which, even not as executor you would have needed to have been very aware of probate progress as 50/50 beneficiary” - he will fully didn’t share anything. I didn’t have the money or the headspace to challenge him.

• wilfully

www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/search-the-register

£3 to find who sold and who purchased

Do you know who the solicitor was who dealt with the estate? Contact them as a beneficiary and ask where things stand.

So you knew 50/50 but never got involved in the property and now discovered sold. But he could not have sold it without you. Fact.

not fact @Ohthatsexciting

When the executors sell a property they do not need to inform the beneficiaries, the sale money goes into the estate and the estate is then distributed as per the will

If he was renting the house out then any income less expenses belongs to the estate I think. Of course if debt significantly exceeds the value then that possibly won't have helped much.

Your decision to withdraw from being executor looks to have been the right one.

But it’s not a matter of him simply doing it

the hoops you have to jump through during probate if a solicitor doesn’t handle is incredible!!

do you own a property op?

Wrong.

the executor is ensuring the terms of the will are fulfilled.

so if the mother had stated that 50% of the property belongs to her daughter

the executor can’t sell without her permission

No, of course the executor can sell the property. This is completely wrong.

OP, you're getting some terrible advice on this thread.

@Coffeecup123456 if you had continued to be a joint executor you would have been able to access information. Unfortunately, even as a beneficiary, you don't have that right. My brother was able to sell our mother's house without any input from the other 3 siblings. He accessed her bank accounts without anything from us. As an executor he had those rights. He should also have kept the beneficiaries updated with the accounts and dispersed any inheritance. Thats the part my brother has failed. I would have to hire a solicitor, take him to court and get a judge to award it. Its incredibly costly so make sure its worth your while, but you might be able to get the court to award your costs. Speak to a solicitor ASAP, and good luck!

the hoops you have to jump through during probate if a solicitor doesn’t handle is incredible!!

@Ohthatsexciting I don't understand this - I've done it a few times and it was really simple!