My mother passed away last year and her will dictates the family home is sold and divvied up equally between the children. Probate was granted recently. I am the executor.<\/p>\n
A sibling and their adult child were living with our mum at the time of her death. The sibling moved out when she died, but their son continued to live there pending the grant of probate. Now that probate has been granted, this person has left the house.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately they also left behind a house full of hoarded clothes and clutter, a garden piled up with months\u2019 worth of domestic waste of all kinds and months of unpaid ESB bills in my mum\u2019s name (despite having said they\u2019d put the bills into their name).<\/p>\n
I know as executor I have to settle all bills and prepare the property for sale. My question is, can I deduct some of these costs from my brother\u2019s share? <\/p>\n
The will stipulates equal division of the proceeds of the sale, but it seems unjust that the other siblings will get less because one sibling had added substantially to the costs of administrating the estate.<\/p>\n
JC<\/p>\n
Families never fail to amaze me … and not in a positive way. I must assume that your sibling and their child were, among other things, caring for your mum before she died. That jars with your experience of your niece or nephew since then. <\/p>\n
Quite why someone could switch so quickly from caring for a relative and their home to suddenly treating the place like a dump is beyond me. Months of domestic waste in the garden will attract pests of all sorts and show a total disregard for the property and, indeed, their own family\u2019s inheritance<\/a>.<\/p>\n But, given the behaviour, I suspect you might not have much success appealing to your relatives\u2019 better nature to bear the cost of cleaning up their mess.<\/p>\n [\u00a0Why will the bank not allow me to add my wife\u2019s name to my account?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n That leaves you with two options \u2013 pursue them legally or have the estate pay up.<\/p>\n As executor, you have as you note the legal responsibility for managing your mother\u2019s estate. That means you need to ensure that all formalities are observed and no corners are cut.<\/p>\n Which leaves you somewhat exposed here. You appear to have taken the word of your sibling and their child that they would transfer the electricity account into their own names. That was a mistake, as I\u2019m sure you now realise.<\/p>\n And it seems you never checked up on the property to ensure that it was being kept in good order, which was certainly remiss of you.<\/p>\n Strictly speaking, if anyone was staying there after your mother died and while probate was being sorted, it should have been under a formal contract, including the transfer of electricity and all other utilities into their name. In that scenario, the utility would be charging the person actually using the service, most likely by direct debit, not leaving unpaid bills behind.<\/p>\n Of course, that creates a tenancy, which raises its own issues \u2013 not least as no one here appears to have been paying any rent.<\/p>\n