Sister refusing to move, contentious probate

[Peaches1407]

Hi there, I inherited a property 3 years ago from my dad who passed away. The property was left to me and my sister, our names were on the deeds as joint tenants. Ive severed the tenancy so that we are tenants in common. My sister who has been living in the house by herself for all this time is now refusing to move and won't buy me out. She was also PoA whilst dad was ill and then executor and has taken the cash etc without declaring it. Am I able to contest the probate and force a sale of the house by law?

I would most certainly be making an appointment with a solicitor as the details here are going to be important

You can pursue this as far as you want to if you can afford the solicitor fees.

My concern is that fees will be high, but I guess she can be forced to account for every penny legally? I am hoping that the threat of having to do this gets her out the house.

Yes, if two people are left a house between them either one buys the other out, the house is rented out and profit shared or the house is sold and money split equally. You can force a sale. See a solicitor your sister is behaving in an illegal way. She should have paid you a rent for all the time she has been in your Dads house because you could have been renting it out for a commercial rent and getting half of that. If you wanted to you could sue your sister for rent for the time she has occupied this house.

If you do end up in court you will win and can claim your sister pays your solicitors bill. A solicitors letter may is enough to warn your sister into vacating the property.

Thank you. Does anyone have experience of funds going missing and how I can hold that over her head? She basically took all the money whilst she was POA

This isn't contentious probate. You aren't challenging the will. You don't need to contest the probate, as you put it. This is a straightforward property dispute. The fact you inherited the property is irrelevant. You and your sister own the property jointly. You want to sell. She wants to go on living there. If she isn't able to buy you out, the house will have to be sold. If she refuses to co-operate, you will need to go to court to get an order for sale.

One important aspect of this: how is your relationship with your sister? If you hope to maintain a good relationship then suing her might be a dangerous path to go down.

Why is your sister living there? Did she live there with your dad? If so, was she his principal carer while he was infirm? That probably doesn’t change anything legally but if she did most of the caring work and I didn’t then it might give me some pause.

Maybe not being very clear here. There is life insurance and savings that hasn't been distributed. The property is the other asset. I was wondering if there is a way to get her to account for everything that has gone missing in the past? She wasn't a carer, so that isn't something to consider in all this. Thanks so much to all of you for your advice so far.

The relationship has broken down.

As she is the executor, she is required to produce accounts for the estate. If there are assets that still haven't been distributed 3 years after death and she hasn't produced estate accounts, you may be able to take legal action to force her to do these things.

She is in big trouble if money has 'gone' and refusing to share. You need to get all the facts in writing and give her an ultimatum. Either she agrees to share it all without solicitors and all the costs involved- or you go the legal route. It will cost you both, but you will win and get your half.

It is going to be incredibly difficult to take action about any money spent when your DF was alive. Unless we are talking huge sums and very clear evidence of misappropriation, I would suggest focusing on any assets that she has misappropriated from the estate.

If you have concrete proof that she misappropriated funds whilst your parent was alive and she had POA, contact the Office of the Public Guardian and ask them to investigate.

I don't have concrete proof other than I have had nothing from the estate, and I know that my father had life insurance. Thank you x

She's a straight up thief. If I were you I wouldn't tell her that I am planning to deal with the theft. I would let her think she's got away with it and then come down on her like a ton of bricks when she's least expecting it.
The fact that you are asking us these questions suggests to me that she has gaslight you into thinking she might be in the right.

Life insurance may not have been part of the estate. If it was written in trust, the life insurance company would have paid it directly to whoever your father nominated. The savings you mention, however, would have been part of the estate.

Have you seen your father's will?

Did she record her PoA with the banks etc? Did she keep clear records showing that the money was gifts? Can she demonstrate where the money went to?

We’re in a very similar situation and going through the same thing. I understand we can get this person removed as executor and as this person didn’t do anything listed in my first paragraph (this was to the tune of ££££) we’re considering our next steps and will be speaking to a lawyer soon. Not sure if it’s the same in every part of the UK though.

The will only had the house but I've not seen it. I can't find it online either.

I don't think she kept records, she just kept withdrawing the money from the bank accounts is my hunch. Not sure how much there was but nothing was ever given nor declared as part of the estate or will. I've tried to see the will on gov.uk but it's not coming up.

How much, roughly, do you think the house is worth?

400k

You need to discuss this with a solicitor. Any fees of theirs can come out of what they recover from the estate on your behalf.

Agree - you reasoned to speak to a solicitor about this. As PoA she should have registered that with the bank if she was withdrawing funds - if she hasn’t then that’s serious.

I would treat your problems as two separate ones.

House - this is legally straightforward and shouldn't cost too much (in theory). Either one of you buys the other out or it's sold and you split the amount. A judge can force the sale, they can even decide on the minimum it is sold for so she can't keep refusing offers via the estate agent. Judges and solicitors are used to those games in divorces/partner breakdowns. See a solicitor to get this started.

Cash/savings etc is harder. You could end up spending your entire fortune pursuing this so unless it is millions it might be cheaper to walk away. You have no will and no paperwork regarding bank statements or insurance or anything so no proof. My DB hasn't finalised my DM will, refuses to show me the accounts and this was 11 years ago. I have no idea what savings she had. I've had to walk away knowing my brother is the worst kind of thief. You might have to do this too. Sorry.