Executor of will has gone awol along with inheritance funds

[guestofclanmackenzie]

Posting on behalf of my sons girlfriend

Her grandmother died last year and her Auntie was named in the will as executor.

Long story but grandmothers assets including funds from house sale were distributed according to her wishes which was divided up between her children and grandchildren. A solicitor was involved in the case. She is 19 years old and the sum in question is £46k.
My sons girlfriends portion of money for some reason was bank transferred to the Auntie by the solicitors instead of her directly as at the time my sons girlfriends bank was having problems accepting the large amount deposited in there due to it having restrictions with it always having been a child's bank account. It was agreed that once she had opened up a regular bank account, the funds would then be transferred to her by her Auntie.

Problem is a week later, having opened up a regular bank account, the Auntie has now gone awol. She is refusing calls, texts, emails from grand daughter chasing her up asking for the money.

Her father passed away last week and she is estranged from her mother so she is emotionally a mess and doesn't know how to deal with this and has turned to us for support. She is living with us until my son and her get sorted with their own place. She has no money as she has just relocated to our area and very recently started a new job, so DH and I, and my son are supporting her financially.

She has contacted the solicitor but cannot get the person who handled the affairs to speak to her. On the one time she managed to get past the receptionist, she was told that they are no longer involved as the funds have been distributed and the case has been closed.

I have no idea what to advise her. Any ideas? I suggested citizens advice but any other ideas?

Police? I don't know but I might try them. Does she have the paperwork saying she inherited x and it was sent to Auntie temporarily?

She has a copy of the will but I don't think she has anything in writing to confirm the funds were sent temporarily to her Auntie. To be honest, she was surprised the solicitor sent them to her Auntie as it was only a matter of the solicitor holding the funds for a few days before her new bank account was opened.

It sounds as if she has a clear claim for negligence against the solicitor and given they have insurance, it's probably easier for her to pursue them, and let them deal with finding larcenous auntie

This is a pretty simple matter. Report this as theft to the police. I'm sure that the aunt will suddenly be very eager to make the transfer. If the doesn't work call the solicitor and tell them that you intend to report them to the SRA and the legal ombudsman, this may or may not spur them on to get involved. If they still won't help just hire a soliisitor of your own. This is very open and shut.

Sue the auntie for breach of trust and sue the solicitors for assisting a breach of trust/negligence. She needs to seek legal advice from a solicitor asap before the money has gone. The police will not be much help. You may have to apply to freeze the aunt's assets but whatever you do, don't delay.

Thanks.

How do we go about suing the solicitor and the Aunt?

I doubt the police will help but I suppose it's worth a try.

Otherwise I'd go after the solicitors for paying out the bequest to the wrong person. The stuff about the child's bank account etc. doesn't matter, they should have hung on to the money until it could be paid safely to the beneficiary.

OP Don't think in terms of suing yet. The matter can probably be settled in negotiation - the solicitors will have insurance. You could possibly involve the Law Society by means of a formal complaint, but a first step would probably be for your son's gf to contact the solicitors by letter, ensure they are aware of the situation and make it explicit that she holds them responsible for failing to ensure the bequest reached her, in breach of their duty as executors.

If that gets nowhere, it's likely she will have to instruct another firm to take the matter up on her behalf.

IANAL.

Wholly I dunno- if there is suspicion that the aunt has done a runner, they need to act fast. Basically, unless the solicitors were also executors, they may not have been negligent in paying the funds to the executor. I just re-read the OP and it says the agreement was that the aunt would pay the DD direct.

It is the executor's duty to distribute the estate according to the terms of the will. If she has disappeared with the money and there is no negligence claim against the solicitors, the DD really needs to ensure that she takes urgent legal advice. If the money has been spent and the aunt has no assets to enforce against, she will have problems.

I am not saying issue an injunction today or anything but I would definitely say that if it really is the case that the aunt is now missing, that she needs to urgently see a solicitor about how she can protect her position.

How do we go about suing the solicitor and the Aunt?

You need to take legal advice. Don't try to do it yourself.

I suggest she calls the solicitors firm and asks for the email address for their practice manager and managing partner as she wants to make a complaint. Then email them to explain that they have distributed assets incorrectly and ask for an explanation. Say she will refer this to the Solicitors Regulation Authority if you do not receive a satisfactory response within 7 days.

I am a solicitor but not in this area but an email to these two people would cause them to query it with the solicitor who acted and she will receive a response.

I cannot see how it is negligence as I do not think the solicitor owes your son's GF a duty of care. However it could be a breach of trust as mentioned above.

I would also put something in writing to the aunt to say the money needs to be paid to her within 7 days or she will issue court proceedings.

Again, I do not work in this area but I would expect any solicitor to put something in writing to both the above parties before you could take any court action so she may as well get the ball rolling.

I don't think it's an issue for the solicitors who did the estate, as the young woman authorised them to pay her share to her aunt.

She did not agree with the solicitors to pay the funds to her Auntie. They went ahead and made the transfer without her knowledge. When she found out they had transferred the funds to her Auntie, she was told by her Auntie that she would transfer the funds to her.

Which she hasn't done.

Ah, I misunderstood.

Then absolutely, as suggested above. Complain and demand recompense. Were the solicitor appointed executor or were they instructed by the Aunt as executor?

@mcsleepy

She has contacted the solicitors today and requested the email addresses of the manager and told them that she is putting in a formal complaint and told them why.

She got transferred to the manager who advised her that they have distributed the funds correctly..there is a note on their system that the executor of the will authorised the payment to go to..the executor of the will.

When she told them that the executor has disappeared with the money instead of transferring the funds, the solicitor said "oh dear"

I've written a strongly worded text to Auntie on her behalf at 11am this morning. Auntie has replied for the first time all week saying that coincidentally she is currently in a queue in the branch about to make a chaps payment. She also stated she did not want to go down the route of legal action.

Then at 3pm she replied to a later message from DD saying " I'll have to do a BACS transfer for £10k now (maximum amount) today as I've missed the cut off time for a chaps payment." So basically the queuing in the branch at 11am this morning was a load of rubbish.

Again, as I type this, nothing has come through.

I feel so sorry for DD. She is very insecure and lacks a lot of confidence and comes across as very meek. All other parties have received their inheritance with no problems.

Police. That's plenty of evidence she is acting in bad faith.

Glad she's got you in her corner - sadly you sometimes have to get tough.

Keep on at the aunt and threaten legal action.

Yes, unless the solicitors were the executors themselves, they only have a duty to pay it to the executor who then has a duty to pay the beneficiaries.

Therefore, it is really important that she gets the money now. If the cheque from the solicitors has cleared, there is no reason she cannot send the full amount. Make sure you don't let it lie because there's nothing that can be done once the money is spent.

The police probably won't be interested. This is a breach of trust- not theft. The correct procedure is a civil action, not a criminal one. Also, the police won't get the beneficiary her money back.

Give her 48 hours to transfer the funds- send her an email- and if she has not done that, go to see a solicitor and get them to write a strongly worded letter to her.

Save those texts.

I think it's probably right that a solicitor can distribute all the money to an executor. I know this was done when my dad died and also when my grandmother died.

Do any of you live near the Aunt and could go see her personally. She is stalling and the longer you leave it the less chance you have of getting the money back as it will be spent or she will disappear.

Did Aunt have her own 46k as well?

Has she paid anyone else their share?

I would issue a deadline. Payment by Monday 5pm otherwise you will going to the Police and reporting her for theft.

Aunt lives in a different part of the country otherwise I'd have been visiting her personally.

Everyone else has had their share of the inheritance, including Aunt, apart from DD.

I've mentioned in the strongly worded text this morning that we are taking legal action and also taking this matter to the police.

But still she has not sent the funds.

If it is a breach of trust and not theft and the police won't be interested, then where does DD stand?

She doesn't seem to be fazed by anything!