Dad died without Will, brother now administrator

[Yorkie33]

Hi,

Just after some advice please. My dad died a number of years ago without a Will. I noticed from the Gov site (by sheer chance) that my brother applied and was granted letters of administration for my dad’s estate back in Feb 2025.

I haven’t spoken to my brother in years as he tried to argue over a previous Will and was really nasty and petty during that period.

I’ve had no communication nor any notification from the Probate office or him regarding this , despite him and me being the only beneficiaries (to my knowledge). I even wonder whether I was named on the probate form (PA1) but I’m not able to get a copy due to GDPR.

What would your advice be? I feel like it’s now almost fraud or at best withholding money- not that my dad had much but just the principle of the matter.

thank you for your time.
Sarah

Write a letter to your brother asking him to talk about your father's estate.

Thanks for your message. I’m not on speaking terms with him though.

Instruct a solicitor to write to him and ask.

You need a solicitor, instruct them and let them handle it. Wills and probate/private client sort of solicitor.

Contact the Probate Office and say that you don't understand how probate was granted to your brother without you being notified. I'm pretty sure that anyone applying for Letters of Admin has to list all the other people entitled to apply, for this very purpose. See what the Probate Office advise. You might get more out of them in a phone call, to start with. There will probably be prescribed steps you have to take to find out whether he has in fact committed fraud and benefitted from it. It maybe that you need to contact the police.

If your father died several years ago, it is odd that your brother has waited until this year to get letters of administration. You could, of course, have done so yourself.

You would not have been named on the PA1. Your brother was applying for letters of administration for himself, not for both of you, and the form doesn't ask about other relatives.

Your brother is required to distribute the estate in accordance with the intestacy rules. If your brother only obtained probate in February, it is far too early to accuse him of withholding money or fraud. You need to contact him, either yourself or through a solicitor, if you want to find out what is going on and how much, if anything, you will inherit.

If your brother has applied to be administrator then a copy of the probate certificate (in this case letters of administration) should be available online once it has gone through. It becomes a public document. This will indicate the value of your father’s estate.

Surely you can swallow your pride and write a letter? You can follow it up with a solicitor letter if you get no response.

What is in the Estate?

Is it worth taking action over it?

Why was nothing done about your father's estate until now?

If he was granted letters of administration in Feb he may well not have finished winding up the estate. You need to contact him to find out where he is in the process. I would give him the opportunity to respond before involving a solicitor.