Probate advice needed

[SickWithWorry123]

I posted on here last year about a Probate/Inheritance issue with my Sister and received very good advice, if I can ask a few more questions please.

I am holding funds from my Grandmothers estate that were due to be paid my Father, he passed away before her estate was finalised and I was the remaining executor.

My Father died without a will. I have no relationship with my Sister who has apparently now applied for probate and she has been made ab executor of my Dads estate. I do not have any proof of this.

She has sent me a letter saying I have 7days to transfer the funds I am holding as executor and trustee of my grandmothers estate to her bank account as part of my Dads estate.

My Dad was not married and there are 3 sisters who will inherit equally. For many reasons I know she will not transfer my third of the money, one of the reasons is that she verbally told me I would get nothing.

I have 2 questions

1. should I transfer the money to her without proof that she is executor? 2} can I transfer 2 thirds of the money to her keeping the remaining third that I am legally entitled to as one of his 3 children?

If there are any legal experts that can advise I would be very grateful as there was some amazing advice last time.

An SAR will confirm that her employer holds the information she used. It is unlikely to confirm that she accessed it. But, if she has got hold of information at work that she has then used to try and impersonate you, that is a massive breach which you need to raise with her employer.

You should talk to your solicitor about the possibility of having her removed as administrator of your father's estate.

You are still executor of your grandmother's estate and hold funds. If you instruct a solicitor to look into things, then their bill can come out of the estate and you yourself won't have to pay it. If I were you, I would contact the solicitor who dealt with your grandmother's will, explain the situation and pass over all the communications you have had from your sister so far. They will then ask her for the necessary paperwork.

@prh47bridge I wasn't sure about the SAR and what information that would provide. I'm going to do some investigation and see if there is a way to raise a formal complaint and ask them to confirm if she has accessed my records through her job. It's not somewhere that you can easily call and speak to someone

If she has done that then you need to report that to the relevant DPO in the organisation. This is a disciplinary offence and will be very seriously treated. A SAR won't actually check this necessarily.

There will.be a data protection officer for the organisation. You can usually find this on their website alongside their privacy notice. They are independent to the main organisations reporting lines and will take this very seriously

Definitely do this in writing btw!

Statement has been made and the potential fraud will now be investigated.

She has taken to contacting my partner, by text message, threatening criminal and civil action against me for my "lies" , not sure what lies these are but she is still giving me unreasonable timescales to transfer the money. Sometimes it's 7 days, then 3 days, then 24 hours. Now she has said to transfer it by Wednesday!

I can't see my Solicitor until the 27th and she had advised to do nothing until then. But the pressure and constant threats of her turning up here are hard to deal with.

Not sure whether to get my Partner to send one last text saying that she will here from my Solicitor after 27th? Or whether to just leave it? She knows I am seeking legal advise.

She doesn't know about the potential fraud case at the minute as the Police need to obtain the CCTV footage first.

Also, on advice from the Police yesterday I have submitted a claim for a non-molestation order due to the previous death threats, harassment and coercion tactics. I need to wait to see if it's accepted and then to see if I am able to get legal aid.

Just leave it. It'll drive her nuts to be ignored and it's all more evidence for you. She might start covering her tracks if you reveal too much about your next move.

Edit: Sorry I meant don't reply to the texts and don't tell her about the solicitor appt date, not 'leave it' about the police!

Suggest DP just replies and says that he is not involved and then blocks her.

Good luck OP. Sounds tough

Thank you both. I'm not going to respond. If anything she will turn up at the house and I have been told to call 999 if she does this. In a way I hope she does as it's more evidence of her harassment.

Update for those that helped previously and request for a handhold please as I'm not in a good place.

A solicitor was instructed by myself 2 weeks ago and a letter has been sent to my Sister which she will have received today outlining my stance on transferring the money to her.

The solicitor has advised that it is reasonable, upon production of a verified set of estate accounts, for me to transfer 2/3 of the money to her. If there are surplus funds held by her after the final accounts have been drawn up then she is to distribute these equally between the 3 beneficiaries. She has also confirmed that they are happy to hold the funds and will provide an undertaking if this is what my Sister prefers, either way she needs to provide interim accounts.

I know she is going to flip at some point and I'm absolutely dreading the fall out if she comes to my house like she did last time, my nerves are shot every time I hear a car pull up or any bangs/noises outside, I'm literally a nervous wreck!

A formal statement was made to Police weeks ago about the harassment and attempted fraud and the only thing I've had is a text from the officer investigating to say he is going on annual leave and will "look into it" on his return!

Well done OP. You've got the solicitor involved and now the ball is in your sister's court.
Hopefully the threats will die down because now she can see there's no point in threatening the solicitor.
In fact for peace of mind you could even transfer the 2/3 funds to the solicitor and the you can honestly tell her you don't have it!

We had a situation 20 years ago.

My uncle died intestate, unmarried no children. His siblings, my late father, another brother and two sisters. We heard on the grapevine our late father was being excluded from the declaration to the solicitor handling the estate.

We were estranged from the family due to my brother taking legal action against the uncle still living, an industrial tribunal, my brother won and got a settlement.

We waited until probate was granted, which gave us the information of which solicitor was being used. We wrote to the solicitor informing them of the missing late brother and the fact he had children.

Solicitor wrote to me asking for details of myself and siblings, my brother had sent the letter to the solicitor and other than the number of children my father had, no names or addresses.

The house had been emptied and lots of valuables had been distributed, the house was listed for sale £65k but later after our involvement reduced to £22k, one of the aunts had removed the Aga, thus making the house have no cooking or hot water system, we were told not mortgageable.

We got a small share of the estate each, I think the vile aunt who was in charge should have been prosecuted for attempted fraud. I would have loved to be a fly on the wall when the solicitor got the letter regarding the missing brother and the vile aunt trying to explain. We had sarcastically said in the letter, perhaps it had slipped their mind.

@SickWithWorry123 thank you for the update.

I am sorry you are going through this. You have a good solicitor and I hope your sister realises she needs to act lawfully.

Thanks all, I know I'm doing the right thing and my Solicitor is great. It's just hard when you are dealing with a narcissist who wants her own way with everything!

I've shut myself away at the back of the house today in case she turns up.