Difficult residual beneficiary

[hammy23.]

Hi All,

Seeking advice on how to proceed. I am the estate admin for my sister, who died with no will, so the estate has been administered according to the rules of intestacy. All beneficiaries have been cooperative, apart from one, who thought they deserved to inherit everything and was not given the estate by the administrators. So throughout the process, we have had nothing but unreasonable demands and threats from this beneficiary, for which I have always replied. They then accessed the deceased’s house and took bank cards, mobile phones, computers, statements, deeds, etc. For which, when requested, never returned any to us. They used the deceased’s bank cards without even providing me with receipts.


I have now finalised the estate accounts and sent a very detailed account listing every transaction, with 10 pages of receipts covering 90% of the estate expenses and asset sales. I also provided opening and closing estate bank statements and copies of the deceased’s bank statement for the month of death. The estate accounts are 100% accurate. I asked all 12 beneficiaries to sign a release on the accounts and sent their share. I offered all beneficiaries time for them to inspect the accounts supervised by me anytime they wish. None of them did. However, the final difficult beneficiary has now requested copies of every single receipt and bank statement relating to the estate. They have sent this letter via solicitor, They have never once replied to me, or my invites to inspect the receipts, etc. I am not prepared to copy every single receipt for their solicitor.


My question is, am I allowed to request a release on the accounts, given that they have been very problematic over the last year, and I worry that if I just send a cheque, they will continue to cause trouble for me.

[atticus]

Have you asked these solicitors for a full account of their client's dealings with the property of the deceased?

How much is this beneficiary's share? How much does this beneficiary think he/she should be getting? I ask as the approach will be one thing if we are talking about relatively small sums and another if it is 5 figures or more.

[PallasAthena]

They then accessed the deceased's house and took bank cards, mobile phones, computers, statements, deeds, etc. For which, when requested, never returned any to us. They used the deceased's bank cards without even providing me with receipts.

You might point out to the beneficiary/their solicitor that this is theft and you could report it to the police.

Perhaps decline to provide the requested information until all these items are returned to you?

I asked all 12 beneficiaries to sign a release on the accounts and sent their share.

It was perhaps unwise to distribute the Residual Estate until all 12 residual beneficiaries had signed the release.

[hammy23.]

I declined to give the required info unless instructed by the court, I did tell the solicitor that they took the phone, bank cards and statements, etc and would not return to us. The share is only 20K, I have since found out that a signed release is not a legal requirement.