intestate issue

Frank11

Looking for some advice here.

My mother passed away last year intestate (father passed away long ago). She had no property but would have had cash. Im not sure if she had any bank accounts. My brother dealt with the funeral costs etc. I suspect that there is money left that my brother is claiming for himself. Communication is not great between us. I will talk to my brother about this but I am expecting a load of lies back, there is history behind my reasoning for this. Brother has been spending money on his house since my mother passed including an extension and paying off mortgage. This has raised my suspicion.

Is there any legal action I can take in such a scenario?

ohnonotgmail

contact a solicitor. as she died intestate there are rules on the distribution of her assets that must be followed.

Lenar3556

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058312238/intestate-issue

When you say cash, are we talking in a bank account - or bank notes?

Frank11

As in cash under the mattress.

I am unsure if my mother had any bank accounts.

Peregrinus

There is not a lot of action you can take.

Your suspicion is that your brother has stolen your late mother's property, but you have no evidence that he did so, or even that the property existed in the first place. You can report your suspicions to the guards, but it is unlikely to lead to a prosecution — how would the guards prove that your mother had cash under the mattress, never mind that your brother stole it? — and will likely lead to an irreparable breakdown in relations with your brother.

Frank11

There is no property. Is a civil case an option where a solicitor can look into the brothers financial history for unusual activity? Like paying off mortgage and house extension, maybe the brother didn't use income for a period of time

Edit: I hope it will not come to this

Peregrinus

No. There is no basis on which you can demand an audit of your brother's affairs to determine how much he spent extending his house and paying of his mortgage, and where he got the money to do this. That is his business, not yours. As matters stand, you've got no evidence at all that he has stolen anything from you, and it's not up to him to prove that he didn't.

Not to speak ill of the dead, but if your mother did keep large amounts of cash in the house and told no-one about it, that was very foolish - pretty much setting herself up to be the victim of a theft that would be hard to detect and all but impossible to prove. If that is what has happened, you'll probably never know for sure.

TooTired123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121071002#Comment_121071002

There is zero evidence that there was ever any cash in your mothers house. Your mother was entitled to do whatever she wanted with her own property.

If she gave it to her son or told him to take whatever he wanted then that was her right and their business, not yours.