Beneficiary refuses to sign off estate account

[enquirer]

Re: Beneficiary refuses to sign off estate account

This is way too much for the CAB. Go straight to a solicitor specialising in this area.

[JackJill]

I have same difficulty with a joint beneficiary. As joint executor I carried out the probate on my father's estate as my brother has dementia and did not want to do it. His son has put obstacles every way he could to delay probate with caveats. When I obtained probate I put the house on the market which was the sole asset of the estate. Previously my brother ignored marketing details and did not sign anything which would have meant I could not sell the house. I have done everything with regards to the property from gardening to house clearance myself, paid all the bills myself. The house was finally sold 7 months ago with the agreement of the joint beneficiary. Everything was going well with the conveyancing until a caution turned up from the joint beneficiary's solicitor. Without receiving a copy to authorise, the conveyancer sent an undertaking to the joint beneficiary's solicitor saying she would distribute the proceeds of sale with the agreement of both parties - the conveyancer advised I could not go through with the house sale unless I agreed the conveyancer distribute the house proceeds - even though I am the Executor with responsibility for this. No mention of how binding this agreement is - now 6 months later they are still refusing to release this undertaking and are finding every way to delay the distribution of the house proceeds, taking weeks to reply to my solicitor and then demanding more information etc. etc. All the estate expenses have receipts and have been paid by myself including my solicitor's bill and this amount to over £3,000 to date. Every week we seem to get closer, then it is something else. It appears the other beneficiary or his family do not want to receive the inheritance for their own reasons

My question is to anyone who can help resolve this ridiculous situation, with mounting solicitors' bills on both sides and getting nowhere.
can I now go to court for guidance on the distribution of the estate? Is there anything I can do to resolve this situation?

I would mention that my litigation solicitor has been unhelpful, no real advice and definitely not proactive as someone else mentioned. I think the time has come to get tough and make ultimatums.