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?

Hello and welcome to CAG. I'm sorry to hear about your problems.

It would help us to advise if you could give us some background about what's happened please. Are you an executor or a beneficiary?

Best, HB

Sorry to hear that your mother has died. Please give more background as HB requests.

Who are the Executors? Not your brother, but are you? If neither of you who are they?

Did your mother leave a Will? If so has Probate been granted?

Have you seen the Will? Who are the beneficiaries?

What questions were you trying to get the answer to?

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.

Who has got the final and valid will?

What's the codicil about?

Usually when someone leaves a valid will, unless hidden close relatives appear, everything can be sorted quite easily.

The missing money is something to address after the inheritance has been distributed, so leave that to one side for the moment.

Just trying to start piecing this together. Please say if I've misunderstood.

There are three brothers.

Brother A is an executor or the executor [your thread title says executors plural]

Brother B is you

Brother C is the one you're helping.

Please could you also answer the questions put to you by Ethel Street and king12345? If you want complete advice from the forum, we need enough information to understand the situation.

HB

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

It's unclear why brother D, the executor and the one who has emptied the accounts, is attempting to over turn the codicil.

He's got the entire estate by the look of it, why would he do anything?

No estate means no inheritance, so the other brothers should be challenging brother D.

If brother D had power of attorney or joint accounts prior to your mother departure, it would be difficult to challenge him.

Can you please explain why he's challenging the codicil despite having taken the entire estate?

Is there a property that your mother left?

If brother D had power of attorneyicon or joint accounts prior to your mother departure, it would be difficult to challenge him.

That may not be the case, king. I've thought for a while that is seems to be easier to challenge an attorney than an executor. This link seems to apply to all of the UK.

https://www.gov.uk/report-concern-about-attorney-deputy

OP, you talk about your brother being a fiduciary, is this in Scotland?

HB

If brother D had power of attorneyicon or joint accounts prior to your mother departure, it would be difficult to challenge him.

 

 

 

That may not be the case, king. I've thought for a while that is seems to be easier to challenge an attorney than an executor. This link seems to apply to all of the UK.

 

 

 

https://www.gov.uk/report-concern-about-attorney-deputy

 

 

 

OP, you talk about your brother being a fiduciary, is this in Scotland?

 

 

 

HB

Hi HB,

That only applies while the person is alive if their money has been misused or stolen.

Once the person dies, they won't care because it becames a matter for the beneficiaries to challenge the person with power of attorney.

Brother D could simply claim that he used all the money to care for the mother and he's not obliged to keep any receipts.

Of course if the amount is excessive then it would be easier to challenge, for example if £10k/month came out of the account for a period of time.

A decent solicitor would advice against taking to court a person with power of attorney after death if the amount missing is not clearly excessive.

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

If you want help you need to give us the details, otherwise we can't give you any advice based on "the matter is complicated"

How much money has disappeared?

Was your brother D the registered carer for your mum?

Did he share a bank account with her?

Is there a property in the estate?

Where's the second will come from and was it made by a solicitor or just one of the whsmith worthless diy will?

Was the will you have have been excluded made by a solicitor?

You said that you already spent 10k to help your little brother, if the potential inheritance is not 5 times that, i suggest you stop throwing money away and accept that sometimes justice cannot be done because there are no evidence.

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

The short answer to your question is yes all of the information you have asked for is covered by client confidentiality. Especially as you are not a party to any proposed action or a beneficiary.