Advice needed following death of last surviving parent

[Basement Bob]

Hi, I am wondering if anyone here can give me some guidance following the death of my father who died recently without any will in place. There is also a possibility that the house is still in joint names with my mother who passed away previously. There is no will.

Here is where it gets beyond belief. I have one sibling who apparently has instructed a solicitor whom I’ve not heard anything from ever in months. I also did not get a key to the house until 30 days after his death. On entering the house to look around, I found the house has been plundered / picked bare of everything of sentimental value prior to this day by my brother, his girlfriend and it seems two of aunties have robbed the wardrobes of my dead mums genuine mink, coney & fox fur coats that cost a fortune in the 70’s and leather coats & jackets and many items of prestige fashion that again cost hundreds of pounds per garment.

My mother & father were hoarders and to say the bedrooms were bulging at the seams is an understatement. Also, my parents never bought anything cheap and my mother could spend.

Personal possessions from my childhood that were still in my bedroom have been removed. Personal possessions of my daughter have been taken. My mother had been storing many brand new items (girls toys) still in boxes since the mid 90’s that she hoped would be worth something for my daughter in the future.

My mother had 3 jewellery boxes full to the brim that I knew of and all that remains is one small jewellery box that I’d never seen before (must have been bought in years close to her death) and only one of the other three remains full of costume jewellery / tat and some of the finest / thinnest chains that she owned.

Its all been taken. It’s been claimed “We didn’t see any jewellery”.
We are talking probably close to £100k worth if not more in value. My mum dripped in jewellery and wore in excess of 13k on her wrists in the form of bangles, bracelets and her watch. Then there was the chains, the earrings, the precious stones, the genuine pearls etc etc.

My father kept large sums of money in the house and his wallet and it’s been claimed “we didn’t find any money”.

They set up office in a bedroom and have been shredding years worth of hoarded paperwork which prevents me finding financial information or the ability to pass to a lawyer of my own.

My brother has now decided to treat the house as if he owns it and is instructing workmen to do repairs on the house without my consent / approval.

I should add at this point that I hadn’t spoken to my brother prior to my dads death for over 20 years. I spoke with him prior to and after the funeral and everything appeared fine until I confronted him about how he and his girlfriend had ransacked the place and stole everything including the presents my family bought my parents as gifts over decades while they posted M&S gift cards and the likes my dad would have just bought food with.

I confronted him by telephone again a few days after the face to face confrontation with him and his mouthy girlfriend and he hung up on me. I text him giving him about 5 days to return all the items to the property and he declined to meet the offer and actually rejected my deadline offer to return things. I’ve told him to communicate with me via the lawyer yet I keep finding childish notes from him going on as if everything belongs to him and his girlfriend.

The question is where do I go from here? I’ve had a lawyer contact the lawyer he allegedly appointed and had no response. My brother clearly isn’t capable of dealing with this when he won’t even conduct a phone call without hanging up when I highlight his wrong doings, deception and theft of both my parents moveable estate. It’s like dealing with a child who hangs up and goes off sulking.

There is more that I could say, but I will save for further posts.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Basement Bob.

[sederunt]

With house ownership involved, there is likely a need to apply for a Grant of Confirmation for your father’s estate and to enable this, an executor needs to be appointed. In such a case children are eligible and families often apply jointly to be co-executors. However an application will be granted on the application of one of the children. So your brother may have been appointed executor dative and is dealing with the administration of the estate.

Depending on how the house was owned, a separate Grant of Confirmation might be needed for your mother’s estate and if your brother has been appointed executor to your father’s estate, he can apply for that grant by representation (double confirmation).

If brother is the sole executor he doesn’t need your approval. Family dynamics is obviously an issue.

[Basement Bob]

Thanks for the reply. The question remains, where does this leave me and also regarding the removal of both my parents moveable estate in my absence and before I was given access to the property?

Can I now also I apply as an administrator at this point?

Thanks in advance,

Basement Bob.

[sederunt]

My comments are only speculation as to what may be the position.

If there has been an executor dative appointment, and before Confirmation has been issued, then there is the potential to apply for the appointment to be reduced and then to be conjoined as executor. But this obviously depends on what the current situation is. You would need to establish from the court whether there has been an appointment etc.

There would be a cost involved in such a challenge and you would need to be sure what you hoped to achieve.

Confirmation by an executor dative (in this type of situation) is accompanied by the compulsory issue of a bond of caution which should offer you some safeguarding regarding your financial entitlement - but there is no easy answer to family disputes regarding the actions of family members in respect of house contents.