Posted: Friday, 4 January 2019 @ 13:43
From experience in a situation where faced with an executor who is not playing by the rules and quite possibly fraudulent behaviour there still remains a key application which I take on behalf of clients and that is an application for Inventory and Account.
If you can use it(and sometimes you cannot) it has appeal due to the following:
1. It is a relatively low risk application and the opportunities to defend are limited..
2 It will obtain useful information whatever which in
itself is useful and can provide a springboard for further steps to be taken
against the executor. Whatever happens once you set the ball rolling it is likely to be successful at one level and obtain information.
3 You should get the Court date quickly. As the
application is fairly short you do not have to wait a long time(e.g more than
nine months to get a final court date) to go before the Judge. Resolution is
relatively quick. This compares well to other methods.
4. It is not as expensive as other methods. Unless you and your solicitor
want to burn money the Court step is not that costly and does not
have a large Court fee as well. All you have to do is pay for are the
legal fees and an affidavit to be sworn infront of a solicitor( say £10).
Compare that to other court steps in an era when there is a
deliberate strategy from the government to get money in via court fees.
5. It shifts psychological power away from the
executor and to the beneficiary.