I am no contact with the rest of my family (sib + mother) as I did not agree with them putting my paternal grandmother in a home and tricking her into signing over her property to them (which they turned into a holiday let). Then when this grandmother (and then other relatives) died and, under Scots law, I was entitled to legal shares of the estate, they wrote to me to say that I was not entitled to a share (I was living abroad at the time and recovering from a serious operation).
I finally put two and two together - this began back in the days when not all that much information was available online - and, after much trouble, secured a percentage of what I was owed (they use a dodgy solicitor who hides things off the balance sheet, so it was only half of what I should have got). But there are further cases where they have used double accounting (especially in relation to croft ownership) and I just do not have access to all the ways and means of getting to the bottom of things. There are also immovable items/family heirlooms which I was left in codicils in wills which appear to have just been destroyed. Their solicitor was actually once struck off, but managed to get reinstated; complaining to the Law Society and ombudsman is pointless, believe me, I have tried.
The money is of no real matter to me, as I have always been independent and am happy with what I can make myself. But I would be willing to pay a certain sum to try and do the detective work of exposing the whole scam so that it can be laid out in black and white (I have probably been watching too many Miss Marple films!). However, I have been unable to find a solicitor in Scots law who seems to be canny in these things - or am I barking up the wrong tree and it is not a solicitor I need, but someone else?
In any case, I would love to know if anyone has any recommendations for a really good solicitor in Scots succession law, as I will need to write my own will under Scots law now myself anyway, so at the very least there would be that. Many thanks in advance to anyone who can assist/recommend.