Who can apply for probate?

[WylnTholia]

My stepdad died in 2009.
His brother was executor of the will, but never applied for probate, after my mum refused to give the 2 sons money to buy them out of the share of the house their dad left.
My mum has lifetime interest in the house, and can stay there or sell and use the money to buy another property.
When I lose her, the property will be sold, with half going to myself and my brother, and the other half going to the 2 sons, minus the debts my stepdad left, and the cost of my stepdads funeral, which my mum had to borrow to pay for.
My mum has heard nothing from the brother, or the 2 sons since the funeral.

I have just done a search (following a link on another thread on here) and found that probabte was applied for in June 2016, so I paid the fee and have just received the documents.

But it says probate was granted to the 2 sons.

Is that possible/allowed?

[WylnTholia]

Does anyone know if this is allowed?

My stepdads brother is the executor. My stepdads 2 sons have applied for probate - and it seems have been granted probate.

Not one of them has contacted my mother since my stepdad died, except to demand £100k from the house, and that she take on his £30k of debt she knew nothing about.

[Peridot]

Hi Wylntholia,
What a sad situation. You mention your stepdad's brother was the executor of his estate. Do you have a copy of the Will? This will be really important to establish what a) should have happened following his death and b) what protection there was for your mother in the home.
Is your step dad's brother still alive and mentally capable?
If you could post a copy of the Will with all identifying details removed that would really help us.

[WylnTholia]

Hi Peridot - thank you so much for reading!

The brother was certainly alive at least a year after probate was granted to the sons, as I have just done some FB searching!

The house is half mums anyway, they jointly owned it and had a separate mortgage each - mum paid off the rest of step dads mortgage a few weeks after he died. She is referred to as 'Partner' as they never married, but were together over 20 years.

I have attached the Will and the Grant of Probate that was sent to me after I requested them from the .gov website. The original Will doesnt have any of the signatures now present at the top of each page.

[Peridot]

Hi again,
I can't glean why the sons have been appointed executors. It appears quite clear that if the brother was unable then solicitors were to deal. However if the estate isn't complicated it would be right for solicitors to step down and allow the family to deal. It may be that the brother no longer has capacity to deal with the estate and the sons have power of attorney for example?

Anyway it looks like your mother received the majority of the estate, bank accounts etc. It is of course part of the administration that any debts have to be paid so again it would be appropriate these were paid from the accounts prior to your mother receiving the final sums. The figures should be reflected in the estate accounts and to be fair your mother should only have received the amounts due to her once the estate had been administered so wouldn't necessarily be aware. I am slightly confused how they are returning to her for payments with what appears to be no explanation what it is for?

As far as the house is concerned it is perfectly clear in the Will that your mother is allowed to remain in his 'share' of the property for as long as she wishes. They can't force a sale or demand she pay them their share.

It sounds like they are not administering the estate just expecting your mother to deal with it! Has your mother received the moneys from accounts etc yet? You need to know a bit more about what sums are where and what debts there are (which would need to be paid if there are sufficient funds available in his estate.

If you can get some more information then by all means pop back. Demanding money with menaces is not appropriate and there is no way your mother has to buy out the step sons if she doesn't want to. She is responsible for the household expenses and insuring the property but other than that she should be allowed to enjoy her home as long as she wishes.

[2222]

I would just add that it would be possible, and perfectly reasonable, for your mum to agree with the two step-sons that she will buy their interest in the property from them. The amount she pays would depend on the value of the house and her future life expectancy (as she can live in the house rent-free). Obviously, that's only worth doing if she has the money or could raise finance at reasonable cost.