sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

[sailordave]

can someone please help, my sister took charge of my mums estate as per mums wish, there was no will. so we agree to the rules of intestacy, mother died late july 2014, and was cremated mid august, about that time my sister took charge of my mothers bank account , she also had her phone switched off or had number changed in any event her siblings (3 of us) were not notified ,on 19 sept 2014 she had my mums bank account closed and funds transferred to her own account she has since ignored all calls to contact us even disregarding registered letters, given the time that has passed it seems obvious that she has failed to follow the laws of intestacy and most lightly stolen the monies in my mothers account , my question, at what point dose failing to follow intestacy rules, and or stealing inheritance become a criminal act , at what point can we involve the police ? and is there a time limit for her to distribute monies ? please help anyone ?
sailordave

[des8]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

Hi and welcome.
Firstly I am sorry to hear of your concerns, especially as it follows your mother's passing.

Could you confirm:
1) you are in England or Wales
2) the approx size of your mothers estate
3) there was no land, property or stocks and shares involved
The answers do have a bearing on how the estate should be settled.
Did your sister obtain letters of administration? You can check here on line: https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

[adamk]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

im not really best placed to give advice. but im going through almost a similar situation. Des8 will no doubt be, as he is for me, a point of light in a world of darkness filled voids between day and night. when I cant think straight around an issue he usually has a simple and straightforward answer.

try not to let the anger overwhelm you to the point of loosing site of whats important. if you have family, as my Mum says you need to focus on the living.

on a more practical note. check that site ASAP, also phone or email the potential probate office involved, as it has been known for them to slip up and not post the probate on the web site, well Ipswich probate office at least.

if no LOA then start the ball rolling ASAP, as the sister might do that next.

re the Police, well even if you get LOA I wouldn't hold out hope of them doing much. probably have more chance sorting the banks and getting the Land Registry to put the property into your names. unfortunately I would think this will include the sister. at least then she cant sell it without sharing.

I might be totally wrong on some of this so don't take my word for it wait and see what Des8 makes of it.

[sailordave]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

Hi and welcome.
Firstly I am sorry to hear of your concerns, especially as it follows your mother's passing.

Could you confirm:
1) you are in England or Wales
2) the approx size of your mothers estate
3) there was no land, property or stocks and shares involved
The answers do have a bearing on how the estate should be settled.
Did your sister obtain letters of administration? You can check here on line: https://www.gov.uk/search-will-probate

hi and thank you for your reply your questions answered here

1) i,m in england
2) very little less than £3000
3)no land or stocks/shares

not sure about if she had administration rights as she told the housing association who wanted proof of administration/executor that she had no proof
thank you so much for your help
sailordave

[adamk]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

hi and thank you for your reply your questions answered here

1) i,m in england
2) very little less than £3000
3)no land or stocks/shares

not sure about if she had administration rights as she told the housing association who wanted proof of administration/executor that she had no proof
thank you so much for your help
sailordave

check the gov site given. it takes a couple of seconds.

[sailordave]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

hi des8
yes have checked there is one of same name but diff date of death and reg office not in same town ?
sailordave

[adamk]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

1. hi des8

yes have checked there is one of same name but diff date of death and reg office not in same town ?
sailordave

not des8, but anyway. is the date way off or close? does it match the death cert? could always give them a call.

if LOA hasn't been done then in a way your in a much better situation, as she cant just sell the house. I don't think she can get LOA without you all being involved anyway, unless she omits your details when filling out the forms.

[sailordave]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

hi adamk sorry bout name mix up , yes date of death out by many months and registered death at ipswich not worthing can you tell me my position if this is the case ? at what point can i go to police ?

[adamk]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

I think ill leave the advice to des8. my advice as regards Police, not worth the breath, think they are only interested in physical crimes and traffic, and even then you have to be driving past them. stuff like fraud they just leave upto solicitors, insurance, and banks.

[sailordave]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

cheers for your input my friend , thank you , sailordave

[des8]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

From a practical point of view I feel there is probably little to chase.
As the estate totalled less than £5000, and did not involve land or shares there was no need to obtain letters of administration.
From the estate would be paid any debts left by your mother, the funeral expenses and the costs of administering the estate incurred by your sister.
The average cost of a UK funeral is in excess of £3000. How much was your mother's?

Of course any residual balance should be divided according to the law.(which, in the absence of other heirs, is division between the four of you)
The administrator should prepare final accounts and send copies to residuary beneficiaries.
One would not expect a distribution of assets for at least six months after the administration of the estate commences, so if your sister started in September the six months is only just about up.

However it is of concern that she is no longer communicating with you.
If you intend to start a civil action for fraud (and it isn't really worth going to the police) first make sure that the person you are suing has the means to pay any judgement, and it really will be the end of communication between you.
Is it likely that she has already spent the balance (if any) of the estate?
Before you start down the court process do check out the points I raised, and appreciate that your relationship will be possibly irretrievably damaged for a minuscule balance.

[sailordave]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

hi des8
thanks for your reply , fact is all the funeral has been paid for the total some left is just over £3000 and shes had transferd to her account from my mums £1252 plus a cheque she had sent to her for £655 which she managed to cash even though her name was not on the cheque, its not the amounts its the principle thanks all the same , dave

[des8]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

As no letters of administration have yet been issued there is no reason why you (or your siblings) should not do so.
This would then give you the authority to act, but I don't think it would help much in practice if your sister has already emptied the accounts.
As the estate was small, and your sister was a close relative, I doubt the bank acted incorrectly.

Your next step would be to start court proceedings.

[sailordave]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

hi des8
we have indisputable evidence of her closing my mums acc and transferring funds to her account, i,m going to give the cops one more try with the evidence we got, can,t get any legal assistance and can,t afford a solicitor also will look at family court, can i get her bank account blocked by a court order ?? i cannot believe someone can do this and face no justice for me stealing from the family is the same as stealing from a charity or robbing a pensioner, (i,m on pension credit) by the way , would being the administrator give me access to the courts/justice ? also that case you reported on about the woman being given 4 months suspended how did that get to court ? cheers dave

[des8]

Re: sister is no longer contactable and has my deceased mums money!!

IMO, if you wish to continue to pursue the matter, your best course of action is to sue your sister for your share of your mother's estate.
As this would be a county court claim for less than £10000 it would be placed in small claims track.
You could do it yourself and costs would be limited (and as you are in receipt of Pension Credit you might benefit from fee remission)

All I know about that case was in the report; I just thought it was interesting.