Transfer of property after death

Been on here before with will issues and still having problems.
Father died and left everything to my mother, including family home and associated lands. Died
2006, grant of probate issued 2016. Recently got a letter from the solicitor stating that "the property remains registered in the name of the late XXXX and will not be registered in the name of the said YYYY as YYYY lacks the required capacity to sign the legal documentation required to effect her registration by reason of illness" . My mother has dementia.

Is this correct? I ask as I have no confidence in the executor or the solicitor (who are close friends) and feel as if there are things going on that are not exactly moral, for want of a better description.

I would have thought that my mother should have the property transferred into her name with no issue, regardless of health.

My mother has made a will dividing her assets equally between her 7 siblings so I have no malicious or self benefiting reason to be chasing this up. One sibling is the executor and she is causing havoc. And it appears the rest of the family have little recourse but to make mother a ward of court which none of us want to do. She is old and shouldnt be affected by any of this....

I'd really appreciate any guidance on this

IANAL

And at the risk of sounding insensitive, it doesn't really matter at this point.

Your mother's will comes into effect when she dies and the property can be sold at that time. She's still the beneficial owner even if its not yet registered in her name; so its included in her estate.

Lets hope its not as complicated a probate second time round

Thanks for the reply Thirsty. I am concerned because I see no reason for the solicitor not to register the house in her name, regardless of her health. She still lives in the house and has daily carers so I want to prevent any nasty surprises.

Is this a normal thing. ..that a solicitor can say that a house won't be signed over to a beneficiary who is not compis mentis? The cash amount she inherited was released to the executor with no issue and is currently being drip fed into my mum's account on a monthly basis by the executor from an external account.

If she is going to get it anyway what's the difference?

emmt said:

If she is going to get it anyway what's the difference?

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Because as the solicitor has already stated she does not have the legal capacity to sign the necessary documents so it is not possible to proceed for that reason. It would be wrong for him to do so in this situation. Either accept the situation as another poster suggests or get her made a ward of court so that the documents can be signed on her behalf.

I am in a somewhat similar situation with my father. He lacks the mental capacity to understand, consent, sign etc, so we are going through the process of making him a ward of court. We started this process about a year ago! It is extremely slow to say the least.

Hi Andarma, it's a horrible situation isn't it? As long as what Jim2007 and thirsty say is correct, which I assume it is, I'm happy to leave well enough alone. I feel for anyone going through this at a time when families should pull together. As the old saying goes, where's there's a will there's a relative. .. First consideration is that mum can stay at her own home as long as she needs to. But I also don't want to ignore the chance of anything underhand going on.

It's hard to accept the word of a solicitor who hasn't exactly instilled us with confidence which is why I was looking for independent opinions. The executor has such powers that the rest of the interested relatives have very little recourse to information... in our situation that is ..so appreciate all the replies

Best of luck with your situation Andarma and hope it works out for you

I don’t see what the problem is here. What benefit is it now to have the property registered in your mother’s name.

And the executor looks good to me as the cash is being drip fed into the mother’s account so it can’t be interfered with.

Where is the skullduggery? What information are you lacking?

Also I’m assuming you mean children of the mother. Not siblings of the mother.

Although this doesn't help the OP at this time, for anyone else with elderly parents, please, please have the conversation with them now, while you still can, about an Enduring Power of Attorney.

Oh, there's plenty of skulduggery went on up to this by the executor. . I just didn't think the details were necessary as I only wanted to know if the property could be transferred to mums name regardless of health. I'm reluctant to say anymore in case the executor could identify herself but suffice it to say she has taken full advantage of access she has to mums accounts. Facts have been established.

Bronte said:

And the executor looks good to me as the cash is being drip fed into the mother’s account so it can’t be interfered with.

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Should the money not have been deposited directly into the beneficiarys account in its totality?

It would be pretty stupid for the executor to lodge the entire proceeds into an account of someone who has dementia. In fact it would be negligent to do so.

No word from you about why it's necessary for the property title to be transferred. Nor on what the executor has done incorrectly.

The money was to be lodged into an account in my mother's name and the name of 2 other trusted siblings so we were not looking for the executor to do "something stupid" or "negligent"

And I never said it was necessary to have the property title transferred actually. I just wanted clarification of whether it was valid not to transfer it.

You are free to comment Bronte and I will take your comments on board but I feel the tone of them is rather unnecessary