When Executors refuse to execute a will and you are a beneficary

[redbluegreenyellowbrown]

I'll try and keep this short:

About 5 years ago my Grandmother died (age 97)
(My father had already died before she (his mother) did)
My fathers 2 brothers are joint executors. (My aunt, their sister is notan executor)
Brother 1 (77) is almost certainly neurodiverse and clearly has mental health issues although im not sure if these are diagnosed.
He has never had a relationship and always lived with my grandmother, and cared for her until she needed to go into a care home about 2 years before she died.

The house belonged outright to my Grandmother but in her will she left half to brother 1, and the other half to her other 3 children, (but as my father has died his share is split between me and my siblings) and this half that belongs to the siblings is in trust until my Uncle either dies or has to sell the house.

My Grandmother also had cash which is split equally between her 4 children, (but me and my siblings share my fathers share.)

Brother 1 does not get on very well with brother 2 (or my late father, or any one else either). (My late father and brother 2 were best of friends)

Brother 1 has never got over having to put his mum into a care home, and still can't accept that she has died. (if alive she would be more than 100 now).

As such he refuses to do anything involved in executing the will, and will not and has not found any of the documents for the solicitors.
(The house is a filthy revolting tip, which has not been cleaned since way before my Grandmother was admitted to her care home, and would be great for the program "how clean is your house". Its also like a hoarders house, so for anyone else to find anything would be close to impossible, but I would suggest it's almost as impossible for him to find anything either.

However he chooses to bury his head in the sand / do nothing / do it "tomorrow"

Brother 2 and my aunt have tried many times to tell him to find the documents, and offered so many times to help him find them (they are probably in the office, as many years ago my grandmother would have stores these things in an obviouse sensible place) but brother 1 simply refuses. He wants to do it himself.

Neither brother 2 or aunt want to force him, 1) because they can't anyway, and 2) because its simply too distressing for him.

Brother 1 quite simply can't deal with the fact that his Mum has died. (He also took my father, his younger brother, dieing about 10 years ago really badly, and simply can't deal with that either)

Meanwhile 5 years later me and my siblings could do with the £ which is has been frozen for 5 years and the solicitors "filed away the case" about 3 years ago, when they were getting no responce from the executor(s)

Does anyone know if there is a way we can force the will to be executed and us to get the share that my Grandmother left us?

Or is it likely to be so expensive that its better for us to wait until brother 1 eventually dies. (we are pretty certain he has no will and no money or inclination to make one as he can't / won't deal with anything at all).... because at that point we get our share of the house too.
It's a very large house, but it has not been decorated since the 90s (kitchen since the 70s) so will require gutting . I dread to think if the windows / roof function as they should, as my uncle can't afford to live in,heat or look after the house either, but he also can't face moving house (or even leaving the house on a day to day basis; he is not in a good place at all, but refuses any help)

We don't desperately need the £ urgently, but feel that after 5 years, we have been patient enough.
I also don't particularly want to really upset my Uncles who are not executing the will. I appreciate that brother 2 can't force brother 1 to find any documents etc.... he really has tried, but it's brother 1 who simply wont (can't) deal with it.... so he's just ignoring it too... as are the rest of the family.

(I live over 300 miles away and have not been in the house since before my Grandmother died, but it was revolting then, and according to my aunt and uncle it's much worse now)

You can take legal action to force the execution of the will.

I looked into it a couple of years ago when my father had taken nine years to pay out my portion of my grandparents will, but I never got a price.

thank you for your reply.

Did your father just do it in the end?

I assume any documents they need are not likely to be found, so there must be a way for solicitors to deal with this stuff?..... if the house caught fire there would be no trace of these documents anyway, so there must be a way to sort stuff if documents are destroyed, surely?

DISCLAIMER- I may have remembered wrong but from another thread, there seems to be a significant cost to getting rid of an executor (can't remember the term for it) and I recall £15000??
Maybe the brother can tell him this to encourage him to get his finger out?

I hope at least this bumps thread for you and someone comes along who knows more

I’m not in the uk, so laws will vary, but when the first named executor turned down the job, it came to my DH, who also turned it down. It wasn’t an emotional barrier, it was just a complicated estate with ongoing responsibilities. Instead, they designated a solicitor to act as executor. Estate funds paid the solicitor.

so my suggestion would be that rather than force a lawsuit, talk to them and ask if they want to designate someone else to take on the daunting task.

Has the Estate not been processed at all? You do know that interest on IHT starts being charged after six months? Five years on, the Estate could be running up a tidy sum to pay to HMRC. Presumably, Brother 1 hasn't made an interim distribution from the cash. Was the account frozen or does he still have access? If he's spent it and there's a big tax bill, the property will have to be sold and you may end up with a lot less than you think.

unsync.

I'm not certain as I'm not told anything.

I would imagine its under the IHT tax current threshold but not sure if the house has even been valued to make a judgement on its value at the point she died, 5 years ago. (TBH I highly doubt it as nothing has been done at all, as brother 1 can't accept she has died, so he wouldnt co-operate)

I believe that the cash is frozen, and im pretty certain my Uncle wouldnt have had access to it or spent it. (He has very high morals and he simply wouldn't behave like that)

If the house was done up it would be worth an awful lot more than what it would be right now. It would be a big project, but the house has potential to be a beautiful large family home. It would make a great episode on homes under the hammer!

Whilst the cash would be useful, its not worth £150,000, but its more the principle of them refusing to do anything that annoys me.....

I've had to be the executor for my fathers estate, so I've been there and done it..... I know its not nice or fun, but its the reality of life sometimes.... and while its not nice, it's not "that technically challenging" either. (I just paid the solicitor to do it all, which took a few years due to complex circumstances, but it was still essentially just signing stuff when required, with the odd witness signature here and there).

So given that I have done it myself, I don't think its acceptable to do nothing for ever!!!

I'd quite like to just take control and sort it myself!!!! (But I can't because i'm not an executor)

You (well brother 2) need to speak to a reputable solicitor. Look out for STEP and WIQs accreditations. If both brothers are appointed as executors brother 2 can act alone by sending the required notice to brother 1. It would require brother 1 to take action and formally object to prevent this. It sounds like he doesn’t have the energy to do this. He would have ‘power reserved’ but only brother 2 would be named on the grant. Brother 2 could the proceed with the estate administration. He would ideally need to obtain the papers to check for assets but there are also companies such as eststesearch who deal with asset tracing.

22mumsyett.

That is really really helpful. Thank you.

You are right, I'm sure brother 1 wouldn't have the energy or inclination to object so perhaps speaking to brother 2 is the best option and telling him to act alone if his brother can't / won't cooperate (which he clearly hasn't / isn't despite always planning on doing it tomorrow / soon etc).

I believe brother 2 knows about the assetts but just does not have access to any documents or paperwork as brother 1 wont let him into the house and he wants to find them himself.

At the next wedding / funeral I will suggest it.

Would it be reasonable to suggest I expect some progress by Christmas, and to insist that they tell me the solicitors they are using?

I know I'm a beneficiary...... I've had to give name and address for the solicitors when she died, (Gave to my aunt who was helping brother 1 and just asked me) but I've never had any communication (probably because it was never forwarded to the solicitors) but since then both my name and address have changed so even if the solictors had been given my details they are completeley wrong!

@redbluegreenyellowbrown

The advice given is sound. For more detail [if in UK] look up "Executor refusing to act" on the internet. It may involve court action if the executor resists.

Yes, what I have suggested above is the easiest way to get some action but does rely on brother 2 taking steps and brother 1 not objecting. If brother 2 also refuses to act then you will have to apply to have them both removed as executors as they have failed to act. You would have standing to apply to administer the estate as a beneficiary. You have been very patient so far. It’s not acceptable to do nothing for 5 years!. Even brother 2 has failed in his duties so far. Could you attend a solicitor (online meeting?) with brother 2 to get plan to proceed. If he appoints solicitors, brother 2 would have to do very little personally if he doesn’t want to. If he authorises the solicitors they can give you information as requested directly. But do consider choice of solicitor and the accreditations mentions above.