Advice regarding a uncooperative executor

[Alice 2]

In 2012 I left my full time employment to care for my mother. My mother sadly passed away in 2016. The grant of probate was made in July 2017. After obtaining a copy of Probate and her Will I discovered she had left me a 35% share of the house. Her house was sold in Dec 2018 for 70k. Because of a family grievance the executor failed to contact me whatsoever and after I contacted him he offered a payment of 10k in April 2019. I was expecting correspondence from a Solicitor but received a note requesting my signature stating it was a one and final payment directly into my Bank account. After contacting a Solicitor with my concerns it was revealed the full amount was just over 21k.
The executor has since made many false allegations against me, amongst them he stated I moved into my mother’s house, depleted her account, had no income or assets because I was an alcoholic, all of which is totally untrue. The distance between our homes is 160 yards. Myself and my partner both have always had our own incomes, no debts and the mortgage was paid in full. When I requested a statement of the accounts the executor provided his own statement of accounts typed on plain paper with no receipts or information being provided and stated he is under no obligation to provide any further information.

I have spent 2k on solicitors fees to date and the matter is still ongoing.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.

[des8]

Very distressing for you.

I suppose your solicitor has been attempting to obtain a resolution for you without initiating court claim due to the possible cost implications.
Do you know what steps he ha taken?
Does this solicitor specialise in contentious probate, or is he your normal High Street practitioner?

From your account the executor would seem to be in breach of his duty to you to distribute the estate assets according to the will.
If he refuses to pay you the legacy your ultimate sanction is to apply to the probate court to have him removed, but that is a lot easier said than done.