Marie,
Sorry to hear about the trouble you have been facing.
Here are a few of my (non-legal) views on the issue, in case they are of any help. I'm not trying to defend either yourself or your sister, just giving my views as asked in your original post.
- the issue of being a joint executor needs as you say to be clarified. As far as I know there are two concepts of joint - "joint and several" and "joint and equal". Actually I may well have got the words well wrong on that one, but basically they mean that either the two parties a) are equal in the relationship or b) must act in agreement on all issues. Think of a joint bank account - you can either have one signatory required or two. If one signatory is required then the parties are equal and may happily sign cheques without reference to the other party. If two signatories are required then the two must agree on the details when writing a cheque or else no cheque gets authorised. I'm not sure where you could get clarification on this issue, but I think a few hundred € would be well spent on a visit to an Irish solicitor to get this issue clarified once and for all. If it is the equivalent of one signatory then your sister was within her rights. Not that this makes the outcome any more acceptable. There may well be some organisation dealing with bereavement who can suggest specialised solicitors. I know of a situation where two siblings were joint executors and one possibly wrote a few more cheques from the estate account than might have been expected. I don't know the legal outcome, but I know it had a major adverse effect on the family for a long time.
- I presume the solicitor provided a breakdown of the €11,804 ?
- If your sister filed an expense record with the solicitor and you didn't then the solicitor can only included her figures. I suggest you file details of your €10,000 as soon as possible, as these were incurred on a similar basis to your sisters. If you remove yourself from this situation and think of yourself as sole executor for the estate of a friend in the US - you would have to fly there to sign things and sort some of the matters out. I presume these costs (like those of the solicitor) are claimable against the estate before it is divided.
- Getting tenants in may *or may not* have reduced the costs. Since you were both away from the country they may well have thrashed the place and done a runner. There is no way to know whether these costs would have occured or whether they would be greater than the windows and standing charges. I think both options were viable, but I don't think you can say with absolute confidence that your sisters option was categorically the wrong one and one that incurred avoidable expenses.
- your sister didn't clear her expenditure with you, but presumably you didn't clear yours with her either. This doesn't alter the fact that the expenses were incurred 'on behalf of the estate'
- you talk of the solicitor deducting €"7,887.50 from the estate to my sister's benefit?", but in reality I don't think it is to your sisters benefit, unless you suspect that a bit of padding has gone on in the expense details. Things like replacing the windows cost money and if your sister had to pay for that, then she would be entitled to claim the money back from the estate. Just as you are entitled to claim your expenses back. I have no idea whether the solicitor has any role in adjudicating over the validity of the expenses or not, but I guess they might.
- the solicitors response to your challenge in the most recent post seems a bit ambiguous - first she implies that she is acting for both of you (as 'the estate' ) but if you don't like it go get your own solicitor and then she suggests that she can unilaterally drop you as a client forcing you to get your own solicitor. This obviously adds to the confusion. If she is acting for *the estate* then surely she cannot simply stop taking instruction from one of the executors, and if she is acting for both of you as individuals then since when did she sign you up as a client, if you were happy with your mothers solicitor.
- the Law Societys response doesn't help instill any confidence in the ability of professional bodies to help individuals who are experiencing difficulties with their members.
I suggest that the best course of action (in my non-legal view) is to file your expenses (which may be too late, but I doubt it) with the solicitor, and if they are accepted then the net result is pretty much fair. I have no idea whether the solicitors charges are high or low or how much work was involved, but *if* you assume that they are legitimate then what happens is that you now have the value of the estate, less the costs to the solicitor, less the costs to one executor, less the costs to the second executor - to be divided equally between the two benificiaries. I think it is reasonable to assume that costs involved in administering the estate would be deducted before distributing the remainder.
In terms of how to deal with your sister, wlll that's another story entirely. I really can't see how you two can make up in the short term, so I think the best thing would be to temporarily forget all about her and her actions. In a few years (perhaps after an extended family funeral or other significant event) the events of the last 2 years may fade away and seem less worth worrying over. This has happened in a similar situation I know of - huge row over parents estate, nobody talking to anybody else for years, absolute silence, meanwhile the 3rd generation people who had no part in the row were stuck in a position of not being supposed to talk to each other for no *good* reason other than that their respective parents were in a snot with each other, and eventually the people involved got around to the view that there is no point in holding a grudge against the remaining family member until they are both dead.
I presume in almost all estates there are decisions made which could significantly affect the value of the estate - selling shares a week before the stock reaches a record high, holding on to the house for a while believing the market will continue to appreciate when it suddenly takes a nose dive, selling a painting for €1,000 when in reality it is worth €15,000 but the executor isn't an art expert and doesn't realise the value, throwing out the sideboard which was hand made in 1750 but looked a bit scruffy. What I'm trying too say is that I don't think that the art of being an executor for an estate is an exact science - you do your best and follow the will with your best efforts.. That's all you can do.
Hope some of the above helps. Your story (and similar ones on AAM recently) have certainly highlighted the huge problems inherent in being a joint executor and should make people think about appointing (or being appointed) joint executors.
I know that some of this comes out looking like I am siding with your sister, but I am really just giving my views on the situations outlined. In some instances your sister may have done something wrong, and in others you may just have perceived the wrong.
z