Executor behaviour.

Sophrosyne said:
Nicole,
My condolences on the death of your father.

I note that he died just two months ago per your post #72.

I also note in your original post that the house you and your brother inherited was rented.

Did your late father own more than one property?
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Thank you. No, he owned one. It was our childhood family home, and after my parents divorced he rented it out, and lived in a smaller rented home.
 
nicole84 said:
Thank you. No, he owned one. It was our childhood family home, and after my parents divorced he rented it out, and lived in a smaller rented home.
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I'm sure your mother has more rights to share in this house that your fathers girlfriend ,its a tough situation for all of ye alright
 
nicole84 said:
Do you think its right to speak so harshly to someone who lost her father two months ago?I
He was with his girlfriend a long a time, I presume they talked about what would happen when one of them passed away. He had a long time to change his will to include her. He didn't. He specifies it is all to be given to me and my brother.
The last time I saw him, he brought me to our childhood house and told me he was leaving it to me and my brother.
My brother has a disability and a carer. This would make a massive difference to his life.
That's why I was so upset when I heard she was thinking of challenging it, as I know what my father wanted.
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You never said he died so recently. So I'm absolutely amazed that you are now in a hurry to have the will sorted out. What do you expect people to achieve in 2 months. Even in Ireland it can take months just to get the grant. These are no easy matters.

As regards his partner, she is a person in her own right. She may have entitlements. It is not uncommon for people to inadvertantly leave someone out of their will, never getting around to changing it. It's also been known for people to purposely leave their spouse out of their will, it was why in Ireland the Family Home Protection Act was brought in. It's also why many countries have laws on protection of spouses and children. In Ireland, children have no automatic right. And times have moved on, and live in partners, which is so common nowadays, are recognised and given rights too. In any case, the mere fact they lived together means you should give her respect surely.
 
major said:
I'm sure your mother has more rights to share in this house that your fathers girlfriend ,its a tough situation for all of ye alright
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They are divorced. That means the legal right share is forfeit.
 
nicole84 said:
  • CV

    I see you're coming at this from your 'bitter executor ' side. You've stated before that you've been an executor and hated it, so maybe you should take that hat off before you comment biasedly on other peoples situations.
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I'm not a bit bitter. I have no reason to be. I actually got good news this week. The contract is finally signed by the other side. That took four months alone and siblings at me about what was going on (problem with planning causing problem with finance and a title issue). That's apart from how long it was up for sale and much more. But at least I don't feel any pressure on me, just to do the right thing as executor. But I don't like the job.
 
Bronte said:
You never said he died so recently. So I'm absolutely amazed that you are now in a hurry to have the will sorted out. What do you expect people to achieve in 2 months. Even in Ireland it can take months just to get the grant. These are no easy matters.

As regards his partner, she is a person in her own right. She may have entitlements. It is not uncommon for people to inadvertantly leave someone out of their will, never getting around to changing it. It's also been known for people to purposely leave their spouse out of their will, it was why in Ireland the Family Home Protection Act was brought in. It's also why many countries have laws on protection of spouses and children. In Ireland, children have no automatic right. And times have moved on, and live in partners, which is so common nowadays, are recognised and given rights too. In any case, the mere fact they lived together means you should give her respect surely.
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Im not sure why you seem to think it needs to take ages to sort it either! Since I have begun organising things two weeks ago I have achieved alot. I would like it finished by the end of this year. Talking to my uncle he said it would take over a year. We are all having a meeting next month to get our wishes across and to push it forward.
 
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Bronte said:
They are divorced. That means the legal right share is forfeit.
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My mother is not contesting the will, which she technically could, because she has our best interests at heart. I also don't think the long-term girlfriend has much legal rights either. I've been researching common law marriages in the UK
 
Nicole what is the hurry. It's only two months. I'm missing something. It seems unduly hasty to me. I can honestly say that neither I nor my siblings were over my mother's death for at least a year and one of us is still not over it a couple of years later. You can't make serious decisions in that state of mind. You have to let time for grief to work it's way through your body. It's a slow process. And I am sorry for your loss, it's a terrible thing to lose a parent. I assumed from your initial post that the death had occured a long time ago and that the executor was dragging his heels.
 
nicole84 said:
My mother is not contesting the will, which she technically could, because she has our best interests at heart. I also don't think the long-term girlfriend has much legal rights either. I've been researching common law marriages in the UK
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How could your mother contest the will? On what grounds?
 
Bronte said:
Nicole what is the hurry. It's only two months. I'm missing something. It seems unduly hasty to me. I can honestly say that neither I nor my siblings were over my mother's death for at least a year and one of us is still not over it a couple of years later. You can't make serious decisions in that state of mind. You have to let time for grief to work it's way through your body. It's a slow process. And I am sorry for your loss, it's a terrible thing to lose a parent. I assumed from your initial post that the death had occured a long time ago and that the executor was dragging his heels.
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Thank you. I feel I would have let it taken its natural course, until my uncle rang and pushily asked for 10k to be paid to him three times, that he has to spend alot of money, and now all of us are under the opinion that we want this to be sorted as soon as possible, before he spends it all.
Six months is the average time for an estate to be administered in the UK.
 
I know I am stressed, but I am trying to do the best for everyone, and act for my brother.
 
Usually houses are the first thing to go in a divorce settlement I would have thought
 
nicole84 said:
Thank you. No, he owned one. It was our childhood family home, and after my parents divorced he rented it out, and lived in a smaller rented home.
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Well I think, as other posters have advised, that you should ask to view the property yourself. You would then be in a better position to assess what needs to be done.

It would be sensible to come to an agreement with the executor regarding the amount you are prepared to spend in order to get the property ready for sale.

Any expenses incurred by the executor in the course of administration would be deducted from the estate.

The executor must keep proper accounts of all expenditure and produce them to you when required.
 
Who is to attend the meeting next month? Is your brother in a position to go? Unless your mother is speaking on his behalf I don't imagine she needs to be involved. She is not a beneficiary so surely has no right to get involved and may make matters worse if tensions are high.
Bronte I would not imagine it to be too soon to sort this out. The sooner things are sorted the better. We have had a horrible 18 months trying to sort a will and thankfully it's now sorted. One beneficiary caused needless hassle. The stress of it dragging out was awful. So I would advise getting things in order asap and if the partner contests then that will have to be dealt with, but you don't want to be still stressing over this in a couple of years.
 
nicole84 said:
He did not pay any maintenance towards us as children.
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Where are you getting your legal advice? Lionel Hutz?
Your mother and father are divorced. That was the time to sort any maintenance issues. Your fathers estate is none of her business now. The only people who should be involved here are the beneficiaries and executors. The mother and partner are not mentioned and any gold digging claims by them should be resisted
 
major said:
Usually houses are the first thing to go in a divorce settlement I would have thought
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Major, he bought out my mothers share at the time of divorce .
Sophrysyne, Marsha and Vanessa, thank you very much. Very useful advice.
 
Nicole, the best advice you can take is from a solicitor in the UK who deals with inheritance and wills. You'll get plenty of opinions here, some maybe correct but others will be based on emotions and what people see on TV, so take proper legal advice. Wills can be messy affairs. The fact that your father had a relationship with his partner indicates she must have meant something to him and she may feel he would have wanted her to have something. She may have been dependent on him, we don't know the full story and it's possible you may not know the full story either. A solicitor should be able to advise if the claim has any merit and how likely it would be to succeed.

If your uncle really doesn't want to be the executor, suggest to him that he hand the task over to a solicitor. As Executor, I believe he would be liable personally if he were to mess up. He may feel obliged to do it and it may come as a relief to him if you suggest he could hand it over.
 
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