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I am asking this question on behalf of my mother. It may be a little long winded, so please bear with me.
my mother was made executor of my late grandfathers estate, and he passed away in 2006. before my grandfather past away, my mother loaned my grandfather money to buy his council house, in order that after his death, my mother would make improvements to the property, and then sell it and divide all monies to everyone in the will.
It soon materialized after my grandfather died, that she was not included in the will as such, but was left a bond in her name, and that all other factors of the estate were to be divided amongst all other parties. this was not her main concern (as she did have a signed document) stating that she would get her original investment back.
So, moving on a few months after my grandfathers death, my mother started to renovate the house, but was soon told by the estate lawyer, that she did not have the right to do this as executor, as she did not legally own the house, and not all parties had agreed (when i say all parties - i mean one). The property sat empty for about 18 months, and this is where the problems really started.
In 2008, the recession hit the UK, and at least 40K was wiped off the value of the house. My mother had (at this point) tried to just sell the house, recoup her initial money and divide what was left in the estate. but as i said the property was now a shell, and had lost value. So the only way my mother was going to get her money back, was to get a bank loan and buy the house from the estate, in which she was successful and the monies from the sale went to the estate and divided up.
my mother then complete the renovation of the property, and as there was still no value in the property, took the decision to rent it out for a few years to make her money back.
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS WORSE
As i said previously, there was one family member who had not agreed with the will, and upon my mother purchasing the house, that person has apparently still not agreed (my mother never knew this).
Another two years or so later, this family member decided to sue my mother, as it apparently turned out she did not have the legal right to buy the house from the estate.
my mother has spent the last 5yrs or so fighting this case, and she does have some paperwork from the estate lawyers, where they were fully aware of her intentions, and the fact that one of the estate members had not signed.
Obviously knowing nothing about the law, (and as they had already dealt with the estate), my mother then instructed the SAME law firm to act in her defense of this suing case.
At this current date 16-05-2020 - my mother has lost the case, was forced to put the house back into the estate, and sell it with all the proceeds being divided to everyone (except my mother) who as i mentioned earlier was only due a bond in her name. So legally she is entitled to nothing (except to pay her lawyers fees).
The claimants lawyers are currently fighting over the amount of money my mother spend on renovations and property expenditure, in order for the claimant to get a bigger cut from the sale of the house. My mothers lawyer is trying to make the renovations and expenditure bill as high as possible (within the facts of the law) so that the claimant will be given less.
The reason for this is because, the claimant was offered a settlement, which was refused and that figure now sits in an envelope with the court. If the award by the court is less that the amount previously offered, then my mother will not need to pay her legal fees.
Now after all that, we as a family have had time to think about all this, and have come to the thought of "why has the mismanagement of the estate never be brought up?" we now believe this is because my mother has used the same law firm to fight the case for her, and the are wanting to cover their tracks, as they will be in a lot of trouble for doing this.
We also believe that the claimants lawyer has never mentioned this, because it would then change from (suing my mother to suing the estate) and would mean all legal fees would need come from the estate, and the claimant would most likely have no chance of seeing any monies.
So finally... the big question is, should my mother (as executor of the estate) sue the law firm that has done this, and would she have a case?) and also, should she look to put a halt to the current proceedings, and start new proceedings NOW and stop the money from the property being divided as this will be needed to sue the lawyers?
my apologies for the long story, but i feel i needed to get all the fact out in order to get real answers to this complete mess of a situation.
Thanks.
my mother was made executor of my late grandfathers estate, and he passed away in 2006. before my grandfather past away, my mother loaned my grandfather money to buy his council house, in order that after his death, my mother would make improvements to the property, and then sell it and divide all monies to everyone in the will.
It soon materialized after my grandfather died, that she was not included in the will as such, but was left a bond in her name, and that all other factors of the estate were to be divided amongst all other parties. this was not her main concern (as she did have a signed document) stating that she would get her original investment back.
So, moving on a few months after my grandfathers death, my mother started to renovate the house, but was soon told by the estate lawyer, that she did not have the right to do this as executor, as she did not legally own the house, and not all parties had agreed (when i say all parties - i mean one). The property sat empty for about 18 months, and this is where the problems really started.
In 2008, the recession hit the UK, and at least 40K was wiped off the value of the house. My mother had (at this point) tried to just sell the house, recoup her initial money and divide what was left in the estate. but as i said the property was now a shell, and had lost value. So the only way my mother was going to get her money back, was to get a bank loan and buy the house from the estate, in which she was successful and the monies from the sale went to the estate and divided up.
my mother then complete the renovation of the property, and as there was still no value in the property, took the decision to rent it out for a few years to make her money back.
THIS IS WHERE IT GETS WORSE
As i said previously, there was one family member who had not agreed with the will, and upon my mother purchasing the house, that person has apparently still not agreed (my mother never knew this).
Another two years or so later, this family member decided to sue my mother, as it apparently turned out she did not have the legal right to buy the house from the estate.
my mother has spent the last 5yrs or so fighting this case, and she does have some paperwork from the estate lawyers, where they were fully aware of her intentions, and the fact that one of the estate members had not signed.
Obviously knowing nothing about the law, (and as they had already dealt with the estate), my mother then instructed the SAME law firm to act in her defense of this suing case.
At this current date 16-05-2020 - my mother has lost the case, was forced to put the house back into the estate, and sell it with all the proceeds being divided to everyone (except my mother) who as i mentioned earlier was only due a bond in her name. So legally she is entitled to nothing (except to pay her lawyers fees).
The claimants lawyers are currently fighting over the amount of money my mother spend on renovations and property expenditure, in order for the claimant to get a bigger cut from the sale of the house. My mothers lawyer is trying to make the renovations and expenditure bill as high as possible (within the facts of the law) so that the claimant will be given less.
The reason for this is because, the claimant was offered a settlement, which was refused and that figure now sits in an envelope with the court. If the award by the court is less that the amount previously offered, then my mother will not need to pay her legal fees.
Now after all that, we as a family have had time to think about all this, and have come to the thought of "why has the mismanagement of the estate never be brought up?" we now believe this is because my mother has used the same law firm to fight the case for her, and the are wanting to cover their tracks, as they will be in a lot of trouble for doing this.
We also believe that the claimants lawyer has never mentioned this, because it would then change from (suing my mother to suing the estate) and would mean all legal fees would need come from the estate, and the claimant would most likely have no chance of seeing any monies.
So finally... the big question is, should my mother (as executor of the estate) sue the law firm that has done this, and would she have a case?) and also, should she look to put a halt to the current proceedings, and start new proceedings NOW and stop the money from the property being divided as this will be needed to sue the lawyers?
my apologies for the long story, but i feel i needed to get all the fact out in order to get real answers to this complete mess of a situation.
Thanks.
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