what happens if the beneficiaries of a will can't agree?

[mouldyironingboard]

My cousin is one of three beneficiaries. She and her brother get 75% of the estate and their half-sister gets 25% (as she will inherit money from her own mother). The main part of the estate is their late mother's house which was rented out to tenants until recently.

My cousins want to sell the house as soon as possible but their half-sister refuses to agree. She wants to continue to rent the property out, despite having problems with tenants and extensive repairs being needed.

Can the executors of the will force a sale to go through? Can their sister stop the sale going ahead? She's currently threatening court action and my cousin is very upset about it.

In all honesty, the only people who will gain from this situation will be the lawyers. The longer it goes on, the more all of them will lose. I'd remind her of this.

That's a good point, LadySybil. I dread to think how much their legal fees are going to be, especially if it ends up going to court.

I've read cases where people have lost everything, £80 for a letter, £80 per unit (6 minutes work) all mounts up. You should speak to her, mediation may help (and it's cheaper then the lawyers).

It will probably be the executor's duty to sell the assets of the estate and then distibute the proceeds in accordance with the will. If the beneficiaries agree the executors can transfer the property to them in specie, but she would still hold a minority interest, and no owner could prevent the others from wanting a sale. They'd have to take her to court, but would get their costs back from her.

£800 per hour? Not even the most expensive commercial lawyers charge that!

The firm I used to work for charged that.

What type of work? Was this in the City?

Commercial property, not in the city (shockingly).

Wow, I have worked in the City in a magic c in a specialist team (so higher charge out rates than corporate) and they were charging £700 per hour for top partners (admittedly 3 years ago, but doubt it's increased much in view of the current climate). £800 in commercial property outside the City? Who on earth were their clients??

Anyway, yes usually the Will states that the executors hold the estate on trust for sale, so would be normal to liquidate the assets unless the beneficiaries want to have them transferred over (although sometimes assets might be transferred over to the bens for tax reasons before a sale).

They had a few clients, businesses mainly. I only worked there for a few months, they said I had a bad attitude towards work I would have tried to understand, but they didn't give me anything to do. I used to send emails around the office, asking for work.

High street probate lawyer - around £200ph. So £20 per letter.

In answer to the OP, an executor has a duty to act in the interests of the beneficiaries. This doesn't mean they have to do what they say. If there is a dispute, provided all beneficiaries ate aged over 18 years and have an absolute entitlement, the executors would probably sell. If they are feeling particularly generous, and the other beneficiaries agree, then they can offer it for sale to the beneficiary who wants to keep it.

Thanks Sittinginthesun. I've told my cousins they have to talk to try to reach an agreement, but if they can't then the executors will have to make the decision on their behalf.