Solicitor as executor - advice please

[custardbear]

Hi
Any solicitors out there - can I have a bit of advice please. Ongoing saga with my late mum and now let step fathers estate.
My step dad, due to Covid and then living abroad (Australia) appointed their probate solicitor as executor. My brother was always executor as the eldest of all the children on both sides.
We feel that since September last year we've received no physical evidence about their assets, solicitor has just told us the amount of money they had in savings and it doesn't seem enough.
I'm going to use some resources from another thread that people suggested using, but is it reasonable foe a solicitor acting as an executor to send all paperwork over to prove what was in the estate? Or can that solicitor say no, she's the executor and we just get what's given?

There is a query over the fact that my step dad has gifted an amount to his niece which actually adds up to double the amount of money being given to each of the children from the physical savings (excluding property sale) - that was never agreed by my mum and makes it now significantly unbalanced as per the original will
Thanks in advance

If probate was only obtained in September last year, it is likely to be several more months before the executor is ready to distribute the estate.

The residual beneficiaries (i.e. those who receive a percentage of the estate after any specific bequests have been dealt with) are entitled to receive a copy of the estate accounts. This will show what asset were in the estate and where the money has gone.

I'm not clear what the query is relating to the amount given to his niece.

Thank you. I think our worrying that as things are progressing it seems there's significantly less money than when my mum was alive. It's fine if step dad spent it, but solicitor was telling me that there wasn't much money when my mum died and that didn't make sense.
The niece part is a new person that was added to my stepdads will post my mum dying. Fine if it's coming from 'his side' as the agreement was the will was to be split half and half to the children (2 each side) when the last surviving partner died, it this seems to have changed to this new person getting a lump sum and the children getting a quarter of what's left

If your mother left her estate to your stepfather, she had no control over what he did with it in his will. Any agreement they had was not legally binding. He could have cut you out of his will completely and you would have had no legal comeback. If your mother wanted to be sure you inherited as she intended, she should have left him a life interest with you inheriting when he died.

Yes that's what it was - a life interest - I think what we're concerned about fundamentally is a dodgy solicitor to be frank, not giving info - we've now asked fir it (financial transparency) - is she able to say sorry you can't see anything as you're not the executor, or does she have to share that info?

As per my earlier post, if you and your siblings are the residual beneficiaries you are entitled to see the estate accounts. However, they don't have to be shared with you until the estate is finalised.

If you mother left your stepfather a life interest in her estate, it should now be distributed in accordance with her will. Your stepfather's will is irrelevant. That only applies to that part of his estate that did not come from your mother. You need to make sure the executor is aware of your mother's will.

Thank you very much that's really helpful @prh47bridge

Just checked, my mums will talks about life interest in respect of the property, and describes 'property' in its widest possible meaning. It says about property, on his death it transfers to clause 3, the residue part. Residue she mentions it being split equally across the children in stepdads death
Step dad did a codicil in the few days before he died to then include this niece who wasn't mentioned in my mums will

The codicil affects the distribution of his own estate. The property in which he was given a life interest is not part of his estate. It must be distributed in accordance with your mother's will. The codicil is irrelevant to that. If affects his will, not your mother's will. There is no mechanism by which he could divert any part of your mother's estate to his niece. However, you do need to make sure the executor is aware of this or they may assume that it is all part of his estate.

Note that what formed part of your mother's estate depends on how things were owned. If the house was owned as joint tenants, it did not form part of her estate. He owns it outright and her will is irrelevant. However, if it was owned as tenants in common, 50% of it was part of your mother's estate. If she owned it outright, 100% of it was part of her estate.

Thank you @prh47bridge that's really helpful - very much appreciated

Hi - ongoing saga
The solicitor who is acting as executor (because of Covid and the fact the estate is in Australia and the children are in England), has been asked to provide transparency with regard to the money held in bank accounts but we've been fobbed off. She saying that she's finalising the estate account and deed of release and indemnity which were not happy to sign until we get full disclosure - can we ask for this - ideally we want back account details back 9 years when my mum died to see what was in the accounts then and if it's vastly different now then why.

The reason we're suspicious is mainly that This solicitor seemed to spend a lot of time in hospital with my step dad prior to his death which seems a bit strange, unheard of in fact, so what was she doing?

No paperwork or details have been forwarded to us when we asked - like she's hiding something

The solicitor suggested when my mum died there wasn't much money on their accounts but I know there was

The solicitor intimated that we should be lucky my step dad had left us any money at all because he didn't have to leave us anything (mum died first) so we should be happy

Are we able to ask for such transparency?
My brother was executor til pretty much the day my step dad died when he signed a codicil changing his will so there was another benefactor, and also the solicitor was then appointed as executor

I'm confused but it all feels strange and wrong