Probate inheritance litigation dispute cost

[ricciarellod]

Isn't there a time limit after probate has been granted that an inheritance should be distributed? Can an executor on a will stall everything indefinitely unless the other executor named on the will acts to move forward in one way or another?

My sister stalled everything with the help of her solicitor and neither are communicating or mediating, probate has been granted in April 2022, solicitors dealing with the inheritance (not my sister's solicitor) will want to get paid I imagine...this inheritance has been going on for three years now. Could I go to court or try to go to court and expose all of this?

What happens to someone who is in this position and doesn't have the money to pay for a solicitor to unblock a situation like this? Thanks.

[Dip]

Have you approached the Solicitor handling The Estate as to what can be done when an Executor is hindering proceedings? They are duty-bound to administer The Estate. I would ask them the question what action could they could potentially take regarding the awkward Executor if things are not moving due to her.

[ricciarellod]

Have you approached the Solicitor handling The Estate as to what can be done when an Executor is hindering proceedings? They are duty-bound to administer The Estate. I would ask them the question what action could they could potentially take regarding the awkward Executor if things are not moving due to her.

Hi DIP,

yes I have of course asked the solicitor what can I do in this case, they said that because they must remain impartial they can't tell me anything, I tried via telephone and also via email and both times they said I have to get my own solicitor.

Think that I even asked them if I could have part of the cash they are holding which belongs to my sister and myself to pay towards my own solicitor and they said they would have to ask my sister for permission and of course my sister refuses.

This case seems pretty easy to understand as far as I can see: there is our mothers will where we are both executors and beneficiaries at 50% each, my sister said she wants to buy the house for £ 30.000 less than current market value, I tell her it has to be at current market value, this is really making the wishes of what is written on our mother's will, my sister's answer to this is block everything, refuse to communicate mediate and cooperate, whilst at the same time I always communicated and cooperated, I want to move forward and conclude this inheritance as written on our mother's will.

I have plenty of emails sent to my sister to her solicitor and to the solicitors dealing with the inheritance about this, I sent also three letters to my sister and she sent back to me unopened I have them here, sent two to her solicitor and two to the solicitor dealing with the inheritance with the same mediation terms.

[Dip]

Then I think you have no choice but to engage your own solicitor, my husband had to do this with his sister who refused to deal with anything. He was awarded his costs.

[LegalCowgirl]

Hi, anyone know much about inheritance and probate litigation?

My sister and myself are both executors and beneficiaries at 50% each on our late mother's will, probate has been granted one year ago, there is a flat where my wife and myself live and a house where my sister lives both part of the inheritance assets.

My sister apparently wishes to buy the house at an old valuation from two years ago, she stopped communicating with me about five months ago so I am not sure what she wants now, she has a solicitor I have asked this solicitor what my sister wants and never got any reply, they are stalling and delaying everything even more maybe in the hope that house prices will fall as they are supposed to and my sister buys at a lower price than now?

The house was valued by three estate agents this year and gained £ 30.000 in value since two years ago when it was valued £ 250.000, my sister has stalled the inheritance and refuses to communicate/cooperate with me, she refuses me entry to the house of which I am now joint co-owner at 50% and also responsible for. Can I ask her to pay me rent for living in this house since date probate was granted and we are joint co-owners? A solicitor told me I can recover lost rent but wasn't very specific. I have been sending letters to my sister that she returns to me unopened and the same letters to her solicitor asking that I now ask my sister to pay me 50% rent for living in my house, I plan on sending her another couple of letters with the same requests in the next couple of months and to her solicitor as well, if she refuses to reply is there a place where I can report her?

Where do I get a documents which grants me access to the house where my sister lives and of which I am co-owner at 50% and my sister refuses me entry?

If I would like to eventually put in place an order to force the sale of both properties I know I can, but solicitors have told me it will cost about £ 20.000 plus VAT up to £ 35.000 plus VAT if my sister decides to fight me all the way, though as far as I understand if this ends up in court and the judge will find my sister to have been unreasonable by stalling the inheritance without a valid reason refusing to communicate/cooperate with me and proposing to buy the property for £ 30.000 less than current market value without a valid reason she may very well liable to pay all costs meaning she will have reimburse me of the money I had to spend to do this. Is this correct?
Many thanks

Hi Ricciarellod,
Read your post with interest, I have just come through a legal process with my own sibling in roles reversed- I was the sister who refused to move out! What you need to do is seek legal advice immediately. You CAN force the sale but first you must get your solicitor to write to her to tell her she is in Breach of the terms of the Will. If she does not co-operate after several official attempts you may then proceed and apply to the County Court and get an order to Force the Sale and have her evicted. She is then likely to also have to pay all your costs. It is nothing like £20-30k, that is only if it proceeds to trial. It is more like around £350 mark.

Regarding charging for rent - I would be careful here, because she could just as easily counter-sue against the estate for upkeep and maintenance of the property, if you haven't already contributed. Just her living there is part of keeping the place habitable. On the other hand, If you don't believe she is maintaining it, but is letting the place run down , you could put that into your claim as a means to persuade the judge, but what will happen is the Judge will request mediation first and if a joint decision cannot be made between you the Judge will then go on to make an order for sale but only after a trial after which the judge will make the final decision as to whether it is better that your sister stays where she is or force her out. This is under Section 14 of the Trustees of Land Act (ToLATA) which also allows the joint owner to buy out the other beneficiaries first and at Probate Value, before the property is sold on the open market.. Who pays the fees then will be down to the decision of the judge.
In my case, it didn't get as far as trial, but I counter claimed under S14. of Tolata to buy out the other beneficiaries. Much that I would have loved for it to go to trial and my Lawyers were confident that I would win, because of all the bullying and harassment I'd received , threats to evict and threats of violence by my brothers wife if I didn't just leave. Like I said, each case is different and in mine I had a situation where i had a bullying , narcissistic, greedy brother and his wife who embarked on a campaign of intimidation throughout the lockdown.
It is all settled for me now, I bent to their every request and ended up paying their costs as well as mine , because of what I was dealing with I just wanted to get my peace and my privacy back. So you have a lot to think about. Hope this helps.

[ricciarellod]

Then I think you have no choice but to engage your own solicitor, my husband had to do this with his sister who refused to deal with anything. He was awarded his costs.

We'll see because there is something quite ambiguous going on... my sister's solicitor says she has to go through all documents regarding the administration regarding our mother's estate which the solicitors dealing with the inheritance have worked on, when I ask her why she won't give me a reason, in my opinion there is no reason or better the reason is to delay so price of properties will fall and my sister will buy it at a lower price than now.

Solicitors dealing with the inheritance have been ready to conclude this inheritance since January 2023, meaning they have all documentation ready to do so and are simply awaiting for my sister and my instructions on how to do it and I have already told them numerous times how I wish to move on which reflects what is written on our late mother's will=everything split at 50% between my sister and myself.

I am waiting for a call from a big solicitor firm this week I will tell them about this for sure.

[ricciarellod]

Hi Ricciarellod,
Read your post with interest, I have just come through a legal process with my own sibling in roles reversed- I was the sister who refused to move out! What you need to do is seek legal advice immediately. You CAN force the sale but first you must get your solicitor to write to her to tell her she is in Breach of the terms of the Will. If she does not co-operate after several official attempts you may then proceed and apply to the County Court and get an order to Force the Sale and have her evicted. She is then likely to also have to pay all your costs. It is nothing like £20-30k, that is only if it proceeds to trial. It is more like around £350 mark.

Regarding charging for rent - I would be careful here, because she could just as easily counter-sue against the estate for upkeep and maintenance of the property, if you haven't already contributed. Just her living there is part of keeping the place habitable. On the other hand, If you don't believe she is maintaining it, but is letting the place run down , you could put that into your claim as a means to persuade the judge, but what will happen is the Judge will request mediation first and if a joint decision cannot be made between you the Judge will then go on to make an order for sale but only after a trial after which the judge will make the final decision as to whether it is better that your sister stays where she is or force her out. This is under Section 14 of the Trustees of Land Act (ToLATA) which also allows the joint owner to buy out the other beneficiaries first and at Probate Value, before the property is sold on the open market.. Who pays the fees then will be down to the decision of the judge.
In my case, it didn't get as far as trial, but I counter claimed under S14. of Tolata to buy out the other beneficiaries. Much that I would have loved for it to go to trial and my Lawyers were confident that I would win, because of all the bullying and harassment I'd received , threats to evict and threats of violence by my brothers wife if I didn't just leave. Like I said, each case is different and in mine I had a situation where i had a bullying , narcissistic, greedy brother and his wife who embarked on a campaign of intimidation throughout the lockdown.
It is all settled for me now, I bent to their every request and ended up paying their costs as well as mine , because of what I was dealing with I just wanted to get my peace and my privacy back. So you have a lot to think about. Hope this helps.

Hi LEGALCOWGIRL thank you very much I really appreciate your input, it is great from someone who has went through this personally, I am on a learning curve, I have learnt things I have to admit, though some I still don't know or understand, I know that a solicitor will deal with things, they are expensive £ 300 to £ 500 if it is a London based one, as I was writing in the post above there is something quite ambiguous going on here...

my sister refuses everything, at this point I don't even know what she wants exactly I can only guess since she stopped communicating with me at the end of last year when she suggested she wanted to buy the house where she lives part of the inheritance assets for £ 30.000 less than market value, now property prices are falling fast apparently, though you can never be sure how much and in what times, the ambiguous things going on is that my sister's solicitor (not the solicitors dealing with the inheritance) has asked for all documentation regarding our mother's estate as she says she has to go through them all again, when I asked why she didn't give me an answers citing privacy towards her client/my sister, I did have a video conference with one solicitor and she was bemused as I am about this, I think they are using this method to delay so my sister will buy the house where she lives at lower price.

The house where my sister lives we are legal co-owners at 50% as well as the flat where my wife and myself lives, my sister refuses me entry to the house where she lives, I know I need a court order to enter, I'm not really interested in going there if not to check that my sister is keeping the house in good order and knowing my sister I know she is, at least one positive thing about all of this.

I am awaiting a call from a big solicitor firm this week, they also work on "no win no fee" basis, I know this costs 25% more than paying them upfront or pay as the case proceeds, I started looking at courts and to make a complaint in court myself about this at the point it is now=my sister refuses everything and has stalled the inheritance process with the help of her solicitor.

A couple of solicitors told me an initial letter to my sister/her solicitors costs about £ 1.000 - 2.000, if it goes to court £ 12.500 for the application, if it goes through a second hearing it is another £ 5.000 and as you say my sister is very likely to have to pay all these costs as she is obstructing the inheritance process whilst I want to move forward and always have, solicitors tell me usually a first written letter in this case to my sister will resolve the matter...

Many thanks about charing rent, the only thing I can do is recover lost rent as far as I understand, not really start charging her rent to live there now and in the future as this will create a rental contract which my sister will never sign.

My sister lives alone in the house with two cats, if there is someone else living there it is not family, not related in anyway to us, my sister has a mental disorder sociopath with borderline personality disorder she can't live with anyone. The flat where we live rents for half the monthly rent for where my sister lives, I was on another forum where one person forced the sale of properties and the opponent didn't want to sign papers to say move the money from one place to another, didn't want to give the money from the sale to the person who sold the properties, this is very much my sister's case, this is why I thought removing her as executor would probably be best, though as you explained clearly it depends on many things and if this goes to court and this very ambiguous reason how and why my sister's solicitor has stalled the inheritance, I don't think they can find anything against me ever as I always cooperated in everything, what I'm asking is to make the wishes of what our mother wrote on her will=everything split at. 50% between my sister and myself.

I will make a good note of what you wrote about your experience, I will copy it in my computer.

[ricciarellod]

Hi Ricciarellod,
Read your post with interest, I have just come through a legal process with my own sibling in roles reversed- I was the sister who refused to move out! What you need to do is seek legal advice immediately. You CAN force the sale but first you must get your solicitor to write to her to tell her she is in Breach of the terms of the Will. If she does not co-operate after several official attempts you may then proceed and apply to the County Court and get an order to Force the Sale and have her evicted. She is then likely to also have to pay all your costs. It is nothing like £20-30k, that is only if it proceeds to trial. It is more like around £350 mark.

Regarding charging for rent - I would be careful here, because she could just as easily counter-sue against the estate for upkeep and maintenance of the property, if you haven't already contributed. Just her living there is part of keeping the place habitable. On the other hand, If you don't believe she is maintaining it, but is letting the place run down , you could put that into your claim as a means to persuade the judge, but what will happen is the Judge will request mediation first and if a joint decision cannot be made between you the Judge will then go on to make an order for sale but only after a trial after which the judge will make the final decision as to whether it is better that your sister stays where she is or force her out. This is under Section 14 of the Trustees of Land Act (ToLATA) which also allows the joint owner to buy out the other beneficiaries first and at Probate Value, before the property is sold on the open market.. Who pays the fees then will be down to the decision of the judge.
In my case, it didn't get as far as trial, but I counter claimed under S14. of Tolata to buy out the other beneficiaries. Much that I would have loved for it to go to trial and my Lawyers were confident that I would win, because of all the bullying and harassment I'd received , threats to evict and threats of violence by my brothers wife if I didn't just leave. Like I said, each case is different and in mine I had a situation where i had a bullying , narcissistic, greedy brother and his wife who embarked on a campaign of intimidation throughout the lockdown.
It is all settled for me now, I bent to their every request and ended up paying their costs as well as mine , because of what I was dealing with I just wanted to get my peace and my privacy back. So you have a lot to think about. Hope this helps.

Yes my situation is a bit different, I have never threatened my sister, I sent her three letters via Royal Mail signed for with mediation terms of which two I sent to her solicitor and to the solicitors dealign with the inheritance and I never got a reply, my sister sent back letters I sent to her unopened I have them here, the reason why I am sending these letter is also that if this ends up in court these letters will be opened in front of the judge and they will see I always tried to mediate and never got any reply to anything.

I asked my sister's solicitor to ask my sister what does she want and never got a reply, I told them both that if they keep at what they are doing by stalling and delaying everything without giving me a reason and refusing to communicate they leave me with no choice but to get my own solicitor and possibly end in court though at this point with what you told me I doubt it...