Probate and executor problem

[Trevor51]

My mother died 18 months ago. It took nearly a year to get a copy of the will out of the solicitor who drew up the will and who was appointed as executor in the will. When I contacted my brother who lives in the family house to find out what was happening about probate told me that he didn't know what the solicitor was doing and that he was forwarding all correspondence onto the solicitor in his role as executor.
A further 6 months on and the family has written to the executor for a progress update. What followed can only be describes as bizarre and unprofessional.
He now states that it was never his intention to act as the executor and that he has been waiting for instructions. (from who???) He has complained about being bombarded by family members. In 18 months we have requested a copy of the will and a progress update.
He now says he will not act as the executor so what has happened to all the correspondence that my brother said was sent to him.
All of this came out of what sounds like a very heated telephone conversation between my sister and the solicitor. Before he terminated the call he said that he would be writing to us. Given that he has completely ignored us in the last 18 months nobody is actually expecting him to make formal contact.
What do we do now. We are at a loss to fathom out what we should be doing, if anything.

[ostell]

So decide who wants to be executor, collect all the paperwork and will from the solicitor and apply for probate and change of executor yourself, or employ another solicitor to do only that. I don't know the procedure but the solicitor should provide documentation that he is declining the office.

[Trevor51]

I wasn't suggesting that he would decline only that he is claiming not to have any intention of starting to do anything on probate. And that following 18 months of apparently doing nothing it would be an admission that he had received documentation from one sibling knowing full well that he had no intention of doing anything. Or did he in fact accept the documentation then subsequently decide that he didn't want anything to do with it leaving us to pick up the mess.
He has also named himself in the will as the trustee of the property that one brother will get to live in. Would he automatically give up being trustee of the property if he gives up being the executor?
Personally I think that we should steer well clear of having anything to do with this. One brother gets to live in the house until he dies so that could be another 30 years. Only our dependents are likely to derive any benefit but it will be our time spent trying to sort it out.

[Peridot]

Hi Trevor51,
who is actually named as the executor? If the solicitor is named as exec the residuary beneficiaries would have to instruct him to act and sign the necessary client care letters instructing the firm.