Many thanks for your response The money has disappeared. To put it bluntly the executor had away with it and as the main beneficiary in a new will he would not have to explain himself. He has no power of attorney. They have challenged it but to mount a case takes a serious lot of money. I have already spent £10k to help them. The situation is complicated. Imagine a situation where all the horrible stories you have read about dodgy executors are rolled up together that is what my brother has to deal with Many Thanks Now you see why I want to stick to answers for specific questions and answers

Hi there, Many thanks for all those who have offered help so far. Please excuse my clumsiness, but this is the first time I’ve used a forum such as this, so if I do make any more mistakes I apologise in advance. There are four brothers. A B, C and D. Three are beneficiaries in the Codicil. B, C and D. One of these is the executor. D A, me, is no longer a beneficiary, but I am attempting to help the other two beneficiaries. B and C The Codicil. A was removed as a beneficiary. B was removed as joint executor. D was made the sole executor. The will and Codicil can be set aside as the contents are not in contention. My removal as beneficiary is not in contention although I believe it was engineered by D. Regardless of this, it was my mother’s wish, so I would not go against it. D was helping with our mother’s finances so he was also a fiduciary. As already stated he is also executor. That is why no information has been forthcoming. The contentious element is that there is no longer an estate. The money has all disappeared. I appreciate that this is a very confusing situation and the reason why I was attempting to get answers to questions in stages and it may be better to revert to this course So my questions are: The solicitors claim to client confidentiality seems to confirm that they were in error and will not admit it. Our brother (D) instructed the solicitor personally (but not as the executor) when he attempted to overturn the Codicil. I do not believe that he had the authority to instruct. I also do not believe the solicitor had the authority to accept the instruction. The solicitor was asked as to the date and what authority he claimed when giving the instruction. I do not believe that client confidentiality covers the identity of the instructor. Many thanks

Hi there, many thanks for your very prompt response. It’s a rather confusing situation . I’ll try to give you the simple version. I was trying not to ask for too much info as I didn’t want to confuse. I was trying to ask the questions in order of import. Firstly, I was a beneficiary in the will, but not in the Codicil. The brother who instructed the solicitor is a beneficiary and also the named executor. The main problem is that there is a large sum of money missing . I became involved when the executor refused to answer questions from beneficiaries. I’m helping my ‘baby brothers’. Grant of Probate was refused as ‘probate were not happy with the Codicil’ and they required signatures of acceptance from all the beneficiaries. Some time after mum died, the brother in question instructed a solicitor on a personal basis and attempted to overturn the will and replace it with a new will. He failed. We believe that this instruction is without merit. That was the reason for my brother writing to the solicitor and asking what authority our brother claimed when giving this instruction. The solicitors are being rather shy and ignoring his letters. I refused to sign and issued a caveat to force the named executor to give details about the money . A court action was started then the named executor requested a ‘hands down’ and it was assumed he was going to deal properly with the beneficiaries. He didn’t and now that he has Grant of Probate we are back to square one. So I got involved again. One of the biggest problems we have is that probate are very good and have always been very helpful but when there’s a problem they can’t help. It does not seem to be part of their remit. I issued the caveat on principle and I have spent quite a lot of money on my brother’s behalf, but I’m now in a position that I do not want to spend more thousands of pounds. I found this site whilst researching our behalf and my brother. Hope this info helps. Many thanks again.

This is an ongoing situation but now I’m I am confused. To start with I must say that I appreciate the meaning and intent of client confidentiality. A solicitor took a personal instruction from a brother (not the executor) I asked questions about our mother’s estate. They will not answer claiming client confidentiality. I asked the date and what authority he claimed when giving the instruction. They ignored my letter. I am now wondering if this is because he had no authority to deal with the estate. Any suggestions?