Is 18 months a long time for disbursement of proceeds from estate?

[samsmoot]

Hi,

My aunt is a beneficiary of the will of an elderly relative, and the executor of the will is also a beneficiary. My aunt is having difficulties getting the executor to provide an update (the parties don't really speak to each other) and it's now been about 18 months since it has been in their hands.

Can/should my aunt take some sort of formal action/legal advice, being it has been quite a long time now? There is no evidence of any wrongdoing, but my aunt feels somewhat uneasy that it is taking so long. There was property involved, but nothing complicated, as far as I am aware.

I really have no idea about how these things normally go, but I'd like to provide my aunt with some reassurance - can anyone provide suggestions as to how best to proceed?

Thanks.

[dslippy]

There is nothing 'normal' here. You can have an unexpectedly complicated element in a simple estate. Just ask the executor.

[samsmoot]

There is nothing 'normal' here. You can have an unexpectedly complicated element in a simple estate. Just ask the executor.

The executor is not responding to enquiries, apparently.

[atticus]

It can be helpful to have on record that the enquiry has been made, but not answered. I recommend a further letter.

[jetbrains]

I'm not a solicitor, I have just had personal experience in probate matters.

It's been 4 years and 5 months since my late father passed and I'm yet to receive my entitlement. So I guess that question is subjective.

As a rule of thumb 12 months ( an executors year ) is given. Some estates can have snags, maybe a simple home sale becomes less simple. So I'd say it's not uncommon.

One thing I would say is a cause for concern is the lack of communication between the executor and your aunt. We had the same and any communication that we did receive was hostile.

Unfortunately when it comes to probate, when a non professional becomes an executor / PR, there is absolute no oversight - not to scare your or your aunt, the executor can empty the estate and do what they want with it, unless you take them to court to stop this theft, which in turn will cost you 10s of thousands of pounds.

Depending on the size of the entitlement I would definitely speak to a solicitor to write a formal request for estate accounts, if they don't respond in a timely fashion then it'll be the case of asking the court to demand one ( if you're lucky costs will be on case ). Once you've hit this point and the value of the entitlement is less that 20K then I would just leave it, unfortunately the value of the entitlement would be less than court proceedings.

If the entitlement is sizeable then you have options, you can ask the court to demand sales and distribution of the estate ( if these orders are ignored then the executor will be in contempt of court ) or if your solicitor believes you have a chance you can demand that the executor steps down and a neutral one is put in places ( ofc this costs a lot of money and time ).

In my opinion if there is the smallest possibility that communication can be restored and an amicable relationship regained between the 2 parties without solicitors and courts then that would be the best possible outcome.

Now all that being said, this is personal advice from my own experiences, my experiences have all been negative and everything that could have gone wrong did go wrong so maybe take it with a pinch of salt.



I'm sorry that your aunt is having issues with her entitlement and I wish the best for her.

[PallasAthena]

At the moment it can take months to get Probate and that is needed before the property can be sold. Then it can take more months for the property sale to complete before the cash is available to pass to the beneficiaries. I'm going through this at the moment so 18 months doesn't surprise me. Of course that isn't a reason for the Executor not to keep the beneficiries advised of progress.

If they refuse to speak to each other it will be a problem communicating what's happening! Is there a neutral go-between who can mediate between them? I agree with post above that best approach is to try and get an amicable relationship going between them.