Executor removing property

[TutiFrutti]

Elderly uncle and aunt, no children of their own.
Original wills from over 15 yrs ago state own savings to go to each respective family and house to remaining spouse.
Fast forward to now, aunt has early dementia but some capacity, uncle diagnosed with terminal cancer. In his home country of Wales, all her family in England.
His family arrive, she is now saying she signed documents but doesn't know what and they've been removed from the house. Turns out her will has been changed to his family's favour and notice has been served on her to split the tenancy on the property.
Uncle has passed away and his executor has arrived at the house while aunt is out, taken the car and shown an estate agent around, all without her knowledge.
Car registered to uncle. Is that part of his estate or a joint asset that should pass to her and can we legally change the locks?
Sorry that was so long 😔

I should add, she now has a solicitor, capacity has been reassessed and new lpa and will are being drawn up.

If she has a solicitor and capacity, and a new will is being drawn up, why are you asking on here? She is being properly advised and looked after.

I agree let the solicitor take the lead.

The one area I can add to is the potential severing of joint tenancy. If I understand your post correctly, your Aunt and Uncle owned the property potentially as joint tenants. Following his death your uncles relatives got your Aunt to sign a form to sever the joint tenancy.

It is really important to understand the ownership on the date your Uncle died. If it was joint tenants this trumps the will(s) and the house passes to your Aunt because they each owned 100% of the property. Severing the joint tenancy after death is irrelevant as your Aunt owns 100% of the property and a deceased person can’t become a tenant in common.

I suggest you

• get a copy of the register (£3) https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry This will confirm if it was joint tenants or tenants in common.
• update the register to include either your Aunts or the POAs email address (free) https://www.gov.uk/registering-land-or-property-with-land-registry/update-or-correct-the-register Note: emails can’t be intercepted like snail mail.
• Register for a property alert (free) https://www.gov.uk/guidance/property-alert

Whilst the solicitor will handle this these steps mean you will be alerted to any attempts to sell the property.

Thanks for the replies, I realise I may have confused things giving too much detail, I was just trying to preempt any questions!
my uncle severed the tenancy just before he died, it's done. And yes the solicitor is dealing with the wills/lpas.
My question really was about the car, would that not be a joint asset to go to her? We have asked the solicitor, I just thought I'd seek views here too.

@TutiFrutti IANAL but I believe you can change the locks. The house is your Aunts home and she owns at least 50%. Your Aunt has a right to decide who enters her home, the executors can’t just barge in there.

WRT the car this will depend on your Uncle’s will and who is the legal owner, who paid the insurance etc. I really think your solicitor is best placed to advise.

Thanks for replying, I appreciate it. I'm sure we'll get to the bottom of it all in the end. Her solicitor seems good x

Gets more complicated by the day, the executor has put the house on the market without my aunts knowledge. Her solicitor has contacted the estate agent who confirmed he was not made aware of my aunt and has removed the listing.
I'm now worried they duped her into signing over her half of the house when they changed her will.
I'm thinking we need to involve the police now.
No questions, sorry. Just needed to put all this down somewhere. It's so shocking

This sounds like financial abuse. As well as police, you could also contact the Office of the Public Ĝuardian to raise concerns about the behaviour of the Executors.

@TutiFrutti as I said IANAL but had a thought (I’m sure your solicitor is on this) if they have got your Aunt to sign over her half of the house they are unlikely to have made sure she had independent legal advice.

Whilst you don’t have to get independent legal advice it could be grounds to show possible coercion or more likely deception I.e. they didn’t tell her what she was signing.

I know it’s difficult but if your Aunt’s solicitor is on the ball he is best placed to assist you.

This is bloody horrible. The same kind of thing happened to a close relative. Unfortunately the absolute c*nts managed to get everything.
Don't let this happen to your Mum.
Keep fighting and the best of luck 💐