NSW Executor of Will behaving like a criminal

[Terry Owen]

Hi.

My father passed away in 2011.
His brother was made executor of the will, my sister and I are beneficiaries on the will.

The issues we have are as follows:
*My fathers property was sold in 2014 and we didn’t know about it.
* we have contacted his solicitor for a copy of the will in which the solicitor declined and said sue me.
*we have tried our best to contact and communicate with the executor of the will but he refuses and he won’t even show us the deceased estate account.
*the property was paying itself and I would never have sold it as there were tenants paying rent and making also 1000 dollars in profit a month which we never seen or touched.

I feel hopeless because we have waited a long time due to not being financially able to do anything.

What can we do? Property was sold for below market price also.

Note: on the will it states that me and my sister must attain the age of 30 before receiving anything.

She’s 30 I’m 29.

But it also states he must provide for us during the period of being executor to the age of 30.

We think he has spent all the money in the estate

 

[Rob Legat - SBPL]

You’re entitled to a copy of the will under section 54 of the Succession Act. I think your first port of call is to get that. If your request to the solicitor was in writing and so was their reply, go straight to the Law Society and make a complaint. Then go back to the solicitor, in writing , and re-request a copy of the will under section 54. If the original request wasn’t in writing, skip to the written request first and give them an opportunity to respond.

Once you’ve got a copy of the will, you can either engage a solicitor to deal with the executor, see if the Public Trustee is willing to get involved (I’m not sure of their criteria or appetite in NSW), or try to negotiate with him yourself. Being in possession of the will first is the key, so that you know exactly what should be happening.