Potential family feud over division of will

wheredoistand

What is the law in regard to trustees of wills? What power do they have? When are they required to take action to designate land and property to the children who are named on the will?

I'm going to visit the family solicitor in the afternoon but I want to know what rights I have first so perhaps someone here can help me out.

My father died 4 years ago as a young man.

I was 20 at the time, my brother was 17.

My now 46-year-old mother was made trustee of the will; the will stated that my father's property and land were to be divided equally amongst his two children, naming myself and my brother. I do not have a copy of this, it is with the solicitor, so I do not know the exact wording.

I farm my father's 10 acres with my father's brother, my uncle. The land is rented by my uncle from my mother.

I am now at the point in my life where I am ready to build a house. My brother is now 21 but in a bad position in life, living with our mother at our family home. He is mentally unstable.

I wish to have a half acre site on my father's land to build a home for myself. I wish to apply for planning permission to build there as soon as possible, if possible.

It was a spoken agreement between my father, brother and I that my brother would inherit the family home + 1 acre of land, while I would inherit the remaining 9 acres. They were valued to be of the same worth and all were happy with this deal. Unfortunately my father died before this was put in writing so that doesn't mean anything now.


I spoke with my mother regarding me getting a site on the land I farm yesterday and she was not sure where she stood in regard to signing over a site or such. She is not good at dealing with paperwork/solicitors/etc and doesn't seem to know any of what she was involved in as trustee of the will. She does not know who divides the land/house between my brother and I, and doesn't know how to divide it, or if she has the right to do this. (As trustee, I assumed that was her duty??)

She seems to think that the matter will be resolved when she dies, but as she is in her 40s, if that is the case, I will never be building a home on the family land, or it will be very late in life when I start.

My brother overheard the conversation and told me he would fight me every step of the way if I ever thought I would build on his land, that he was getting the land and the house, etc, as he lives with our mother at home.

Now, my brother is not mentally well anymore, and enjoys starting fights without realising how serious what he says is. While it passes some time for him and is entertaining, this is a very serious matter to me and extremely upsetting.

He has only left the house a handful of times since my father's death. He does not know where our land is located, nor had he ever any interest in it until he heard I am considering building. Up until now, he was happy for the land to be assigned to me as I farm it. I was happy to divide it in whatever way we see necessary as long as we both get 50% of the family assets.

I offered to buy my brother out of his share of the land if he feels so strongly about it but he was unwilling to do this, telling me he will inherit everything as he has a close relationship with our mother. I believe my mother cannot amend the will as a trustee, but I am not sure.

The will stated that everything is to be divided equally between my brother and I. The assets in question are our family home (which my brother and mother still live in and will do for the rest of their lives) and the 10 acres of land.

I now need to investigate how property and land is divided equally when a house is still occupied by two members of the family.

Am I allowed to approach the solicitor my mother has been dealing with to discuss this matter as she is trustee of the will, or do I now have to get another solicitor to get in touch with hers in order to let me take my share of the will? My mother's solicitor holds the will and all land and house documents.

Or in this situation, are we supposed to wait until my mother dies in order to divide up my father's land? Perhaps I have no right to my inheritance until my mother has died?

She refuses to discuss any of the above with me after what happened yesterday so I have no idea what my rights are in regard to my father's will.

Any help would be much appreciated. I plan to contact my mother's solicitor in a few hours but I have a long journey to visit his office and I do not wish to waste my time.

Thanks for reading.

234

Just wait untill you meet with the solicitor and they will be able to explain everything. They will give you a copy of the will as you are a beneficiary. Unless the will created a trust your mother is called the exeuctrix, not the trustee. She will have to administer the will during her lifetime unless she resiles from her role, then you would have to apply for a grant of administration. A solicitor will be able to make all this clearl to you.

wheredoistand

Thank you for taking the time to reply.

I just wasn't sure if the solicitor would be able to tell me anything or not, good to know before travelling there.

My uncle who was present with my mother while sorting out documents with the solicitor tells me my mother is a trustee, but he may have picked this up incorrectly. I do not know as I have not seen the documents, but I will certainly request a copy now.

The will was made by my father while we were still children (under 18) so perhaps that makes a difference?

I will ask the solicitor later, but perhaps you can explain if she can release a site to me on the land or is she responsible now to divide up the land between my brother and I however she pleases?

I have no previous experience of this and have no idea how it works, but I see a lot of trouble ahead now with my brother and am concerned he will end up with 100% of my father's property and land as he lives with our mother (he claims he will try his best to do this), leaving me with nothing.

There is no reason for this, there has never been any falling out before, no issues in the family, but he is in an unusual mental state and wants to cause trouble.

coylemj

You are meeting a solicitor which is the right approach, you are asking for legal advice from a bunch of anonymous people on this forum when you are about to meet a solicitor who is (1) professionally qualified and more importantly (2) has access to all the relevant documentation, especially your father's will.

The questions you are asking here (can my mother release a plot of land to me etc.) you need to ask the solicitor, that's what you're paying for - professional advice.

beeftotheheels

Two other points to note.

One - ask the solicitor who he is acting for and if he has any conflict of interest.

He may well not have, but it is possible that if your mother is a trustee, and he has previously advised her that both options a and options b are legal, and she has chosen option a, he may well not tell you about option b.

He should tell you though if there is any potential conflict, and if so refer you to another solicitor, even one in the same office, or perhaps your uncle has a different solicitor you could use if there is any conflict of interest?

A friend of mine had a whole lot of trouble over the family solicitor not telling him there was a conflict between advising him as beneficiary and advising his mother as trustee. Ten years later he studied law and realized it for himself - the matter ended up in litigation which leads on to point two

Two - make sure you properly evaluate the value of family relationships before you do anything other than asking questions. My friend in the above example ended up not talking to his mother and sister. He ended the process a whole lot richer than he started it but at the expense of his relationship with his family and he said at the end of the process that he wished that he had let matters be.

wheredoistand

beeftotheheels wrote: »

Two other points to note.

One - ask the solicitor who he is acting for and if he has any conflict of interest.

He may well not have, but it is possible that if your mother is a trustee, and he has previously advised her that both options a and options b are legal, and she has chosen option a, he may well not tell you about option b.

He should tell you though if there is any potential conflict, and if so refer you to another solicitor, even one in the same office, or perhaps your uncle has a different solicitor you could use if there is any conflict of interest?

A friend of mine had a whole lot of trouble over the family solicitor not telling him there was a conflict between advising him as beneficiary and advising his mother as trustee. Ten years later he studied law and realized it for himself - the matter ended up in litigation which leads on to point two

Two - make sure you properly evaluate the value of family relationships before you do anything other than asking questions. My friend in the above example ended up not talking to his mother and sister. He ended the process a whole lot richer than he started it but at the expense of his relationship with his family and he said at the end of the process that he wished that he had let matters be.

Thanks for your helpful reply.

I'm not asking for legal advice on the forum. I am simply looking to be best prepared for trying to meet with my mother's solicitor and discuss matters further.
I do not know where his loyalty lies. I do not know anything about this process as I haven't previously had any dealings with solicitors or feuds.

I simply want some advice before entering a world of which I know nothing of.

I could not have guessed that I would be in this situation yesterday, but I feel the damage is at this point done by my brother so I have little to lose relationship-wise with him. When phrases such as "I'll fight you every step of the way if you think you're getting my land" are thrown about, it's very hard to forgive and forget, and allow him to have his way.

We'll just have to see how it plays out but I imagine it's a long road ahead.

Thanks again beeftotheheels.