Sister & solicitor stonewalling me over Will

[Magmum75]

Mum died in July, leaving behind two daughters. Me, busy working mum, lives far away. Sister, single, lived at home with mum (very co-dependent relationship) feels I abandoned them both. Looked after mum when she was ill & dying and I am very grateful for that.

Sister emailed me the news and same day contacted the solicitors holding the Will, arranged appointment and instructed them to act on her behalf. She organised the funeral according to the Will (pre-paid plan) said there was no need of financial contribution from myself.

Almost a month later I had a letter from the solicitor with a copy of the Will to say I am Joint Executor - something my sister didn't tell me.

I admit I was and am furious at being excluded and send irate emails to both my sister and the solicitor. Sister has chosen to ignore me (she has always been selective about responding to me about mum). Solicitor is being uncooperative probably because I have called them out on their error of not contacting me at the outset and just trying to push me to hand over reins to them as my sister has.

I'm getting no-where with both - what should I do? I have told both I want to be involved going forward but I'm just hitting a brick wall.

Are you saying you do not benefit under the will?

What is is you are wanting to do? A solicitor has been instructed, they will come to you when they need something. It generally just ticks along until it's time to sign something

We are both beneficiaries but I'm unhappy about being kept in the dark and no a part of the decision-making. The solicitor just wants me to hand over executorship to them so they make more money from the estate.

You're being very unclear. Does your sister want to hand over executorship to the solicitor? If she does and you don't then just say no, you'll do it yourself and take over from here.

I am not a lawyer. Are you saying that you and your sister are joint executors and she unilaterally decided that the solicitor would do all the work? She should definitely have consulted you as this will cost money. I'm surprised the solicitor didn't contact you to confirm that you were happy with this arrangement.

Having said that, if you don't want the solicitor to do the work of getting probate, who is going to do it? You live far away and your sister doesn't want to do it. Would it be simpler, if more expensive, to get the solicitor to do it?

Also, what's going to happen about your mother's house? If your sister was living there, is she going to buy out your share or is it going to be sold? I can foresee possible complications either way.

Good luck.

Well so far it sounds as though the only thing that has been executed is your mothers wishes for her funeral. Presumably your sister was aware of those arrangements which is why they went ahead without you needing to be heavily involved in the organisation.

Presumably the next steps are applying for probate and informing banks,pension providers, potential legacy recipients etc etc of your mothers death, all of which are again quite straight forward processes after a death and ones which a solicitor would advise on or complete on your behalf. If everything is straightforward then there is little for the executors to do at this stage.

I am sorry for your loss, it sounds as though your mother arranged everything so as not to put too much of a burden on you and your sister. I would let the solicitor carry on with sorting out the will, however you and your sister will have to join forces to deal with your mothers personal items and the house, I am assuming that this, rather than the execution of the will, is the thing that is actually causing you distress.

Report the solicitor to the SRA.

My sister didn't consult me, just went ahead and signed over her Executorship to the Solicitors - given how pushy they seem to be I imagine she was easily convinced to do so. No the solicitor did not contact me to check I was happy with the arrangement. Both of them gave me the impression she was Sole Executor.

There are lots of worries about all sorts of things going forward. I think my sister will bury her head in the sand about moving out (house to be sold and split 50/50), the solicitor riding rough-shot, mum took care of all the bills I don't now if sister is up to doing the admin stuff that the solicitor won't do. There are bits we need to join forces over.

What is SRA please?

Do you want to take on any Executor duties or would it be easier just to let them handle everything now.

I want and I think I need to.

Unless the estate is worth a lot and there is tax and complicated stuff then I wouldn’t instruct solicitor to do anything. Probate is a very easy form to fill out for property and everything else, you just send death certificate and they will release funds

As I said, I'm not a laywer, but I don't see how she could have resigned as an executor without your knowledge, let alone agreement. I believe there's a form you have to fill in right at the start to say you're not going to act. Surely the law says that the other executor(s) have to get a copy of that form?

Is it possible that she is still one of the executors, but has authorised the solicitor to do the work and charge for it? As I said before, that I also don't understand because the solicitor knows there are joint executors so would need to know exactly what's been agreed and can be charged for.

Your sister doesn't want to be an executor so handed this responsibility over to the solicitors so now you and so,incisors are joint executors so you should be involved I. Decisions if that's what you want to do but there's a lot to do especially with you being far away. Do you want that responsibility. Has mum's death all been registered with the appropriate people. Did mum never ask you or tell you that you and your sister were joint executors or discuss her plans.

The OP says "The solicitor just wants me to hand over executorship to them so they make more money from the estate."

It's not terribly clear but sounds perhaps as if DSIS has gone to the solicitor to ask for help with probate. The solicitor has said "I can take that off your hands, just sign this form and let me do all the work" DSIS has done that, the solicitor has then taken another look at the will and realised that the OP is actually joint executor and her agreement is required, hence the letter. OP hasn't given specific details of what the solicitor has done wrong, so it's hard to say whether reporting to the Solicitors' Regulation Authority is appropriate.

OP doesn't have to agree, but life will be very difficult if DSis isn't cooperative, and a professional third party might be useful. Does the will require the house to be sold and the proceeds split?

Unless it's a complicated estate with trusts and residuals etc you do not need a solicitor. report the solicitor to the solicitor regulator for failing to contact one executor and taking instruction from only one. If at a later date you need help, use a different firm

Mum had never spoken about a Will to me.

Sorry when I said signed over I meant that she has instructed them to act on her behalf on administering the estate. They have taken over doing probate etc before even contacting me, only now writing to me pushing me to sign their T&C to act on my behalf too. I don't like the way they have and are acting.

The Will isn't complicated, sale of assets and 50/50 split and I am sure I can do much online. Sorting out the house admin, mum's jewellery will I imagine need to be valued, personal effects etc is another matter.

What it probably means is that nothing much at all has happened yet. Perhaps key staff members have been on leave. Your sister may have given the impression this was a joint decision.

Is your sister not allowed to hand her executorship over to a solicitor without consulting you then? I would have thought that you and the solicitor are now joint executors?

It sounds like she (sister) has chosen not to take up the role - which must be legal surely?

i doubt the solicitors have done anything beyond - getting asked to take over the admin side, by one exec - getting the KYC and documents together to onboard the client - realising the will had 2 executors, so asking you to confirm their appointment too.

So not sure what you'd report to the SRA?

i'd just ask their cost - see if it seems reasonable and then either use them/use another firm or agree you will do it all yourself.

Have you asked the solicitor what his fees will be? My MIL had the solicitor and my DH as executors it's very common to include a solicitor as well as close relatives (are you sure he wasn't also named?). We sorted out all the paper work, list of accounts and how much was in them, all the utilities, life insurance, pension, etc and gave it all to the solicitor and he contacted everyone, collected the funds for probate, dealt with the charity donations in the will and distributed the funds, we also used him for the house sale. I suppose it would have cost a bit more for him to find all the accounts, etc, but I think they just send out searches to financial institutions to check for accounts. We were also a long distance away, but had a couple of trips to discuss various things, he was extremely helpful, and it did not cost a great deal. I was fairly surprised how reasonable the charges were.

It will be weeks or months before he gets responses from everyone and starts to collect the funds, so there will be little to get involved with. Is he going to handle the house sale? You really need to arrange a meeting and go to see him to discuss what needs to be done and what is in hand.

Not sure how they make more money if you are not an executor, they get paid for the work they do.

You are now joint Executor along with the Solicitor, don’t sign their letter, which is probably an engagement letter, unless you want them to handle Probate and the sale of house. As Solicitor has the original Will they will want to submit Probate Application.

Honestly, I think you should just swallow this and let it go. It does smack a bit of someone who couldn’t be arsed with their family until there’s money to be had.

If you want to be involved in divvying up the jewellery etc, go and visit. Otherwise, I’d let them sort it between them. You’ll get your share in due course.

If you want to continue as a joint executors write and tell them. You need to ask what has been done so far with regards informing the authorities, banks, utility companies, house ea and probate valuations, bank statements, pensions, assetts and debts , house insurance, her bank account will be frozen and usually bills are sent to the executor to pay and get reimbursed or put on hold until funds are released after probate. Do you know how much her entire estate is worth, do you need probate. If the house is to be sold your sister either buys your share or you sell and share the profit, you need to know what her plans are, how long she intends to stay in the house and all that. Are you planning on visiting to meet with the solicitor and your sister and also to see if there are any possessions you'd like. If there are jewellery and valuables we just shared them amongst ourselves, the executors were happy with that and only really needed to know if anything was more than £250 value. There is a lot to do as an Executor, what's your understanding .

I think most Councils now do a one stop death notification, when you get the death certificate you can opt for them to automatically notify pensions, benefits, council tax and whatever else so you don't have to contact a dozen different agencies and send off endless copies of the death certificate. If those are some of the admin tasks you are thinking of, the solicitor will do most things if you want. I would have assumed you and your sister would agree on splitting your mother's jewellery between you if it's not itemised for each of you in the will? If you couldn't agree then I suppose selling it all would be the solution. If the two of you are not the only beneficiaries you may have to get it valued and buy it out of probate with part of your inheritance, the solicitor could organise this.