Family rift and solicitor conflict of interest

[seoladair]

Can someone please advise me whether the family solicitor is likely to have a conflict of interest?

MIL is a very tricky character (estranged already from her daughter and her step-son) and now we have had a rift with her.
She owns outright 50 % of family farm and farmhouse. She is life tenant of the other 50 % and DH is the expectant heir, trustee of FIL's will trust and executor of FIL's will. (FIL died just over 2 years ago)

DH is low contact with her, but is keeping in touch regarding farm issues.
She has sent an apparently nice email which says that DH should no longer contact the farm manager, and all DH's queries about farm issues should be directed to her. The farm manager has obviously been given this directive, as he wrote a very terse email to DH and ignored most of his queries.

We feel that DH is now being frozen out and we are worried that MIL might accrue lots of debt/take deliberately bad decisions to damage DH's inheritance.

Is it worth speaking to the farm solicitor? She has been involved with the farm for many years, and dealt with probate as well. Should we ask her what rights DH has to be kept in the loop in his capacity as trustee and heir? Or will this be a conflict of interest with MIL who is director of the farm company?

I remember your troubles. Sorry it's still going on, although it was never really going to go away, was it...

Instruct your own solicitors. There's little chance a farm solicitor can advise you correctly on this anyway, as it's touching so many different areas of law. Law which has been stretched or violated a few times at least, if I remember your story correctly. That doesn't say much for the solicitor, does it?

Furthermore, your MIL will be tipped off by any approach!

By the way is there any limited company involved in owning or running the farm in which your husband is a shareholder? Probably not but if so might change things.