Are Nationwide Buillding Society Liable For My Late Father Estate Being Paid To My Sister A Jiont Executer With Me With No Notification To Myself.

[Richardo333]

Sister paid by Nationwide the entire funds of my father's estate, she used a false address in this country where she had never lived, but actually lives abroad, I know not where. The debts, testamentary and funeral expensed she has not paid and continue to mount up to this very day. Nationwide will not tell why I as a joint executer and with which they were in correspondance with, was never informed of the account closure, not even to my M.P. when he asked the question, even though their site states that "Closure statements will automatically be provided once the accounts are closed". Something is amiss and what has Nationwide to hide, my solicitor wrote to all the various addresses my sister had used, and no reply to any of them. It is obvious that due diligence was not done in this instance, and I am left carrying the can for the Nationwide blunder. It is not easy to find someone with the expertise and a knowledge of building societies to find if I have a case against them.

[pimplyteen]

If your solicitor doesn't know how to proceed, then i would change him/her.

[barry1010]

Why isn't your solicitor asking Nationwide the relevant questions? Nationwide has been successfully sued in the past in UK courts for breach of trust.

[Hymie]

You have to realise that the building society isn’t going to fess-up to screwing up and giving you what would have been rightfully yours, had they dealt with the matter correctly.

You could try getting the media interested in the case, which is slightly unusual (such as Radio 4’s Money Box, or any of the national newspapers that have a financial investigative column).

As others have said, maybe you need to engage other legal assistance – but before engaging them, fully explain the situation and ask how they would propose to progress the matter.

You should at least make a formal complaint to the building society, and if that gets you nowhere, complain to the financial ombudsman (the service they provide is free of charge).

[barry1010]

The law is very clear that where there are joint executors both must work together and cannot be dealt with individually. From what you have said Nationwide has been negligent

[JJ109]

Nationwide has been negligent, but almost certainly you will not be able to recover the entire balance.

Who were the beneficiaries of the will? Was your sister one of them?

The first claim on the estate is the funeral and testamentary expenses. If there are sufficient monies in the estate to pay them from other sources then Nationwide only have to account for the balance of their account, but part of this may have been due to your sister anyway.

It will get complicated depending what other assets there are in the estate and who are the beneficiaries or legatees of the will.

[Hymie]

To resolve this without wasting any more money on solicitors, you need to write a formal letter of complaint to the building society (keeping a copy), setting out the details of your complaint, pointing out their negligence resulting in you not receiving your rightful share of your late father’s estate. You should point out that you have made reasonable attempts to contact your sister in order to resolve the matter, but without success.

The complaint letter should set out the redress you are seeking (sum of money), including how you arrived at that figure. Besides your share of your late father’s estate, you could reasonably include the funeral costs you have paid and any other incidentals in relation to dealing with the estate. Unfortunately you are unlikely to be able to claim monies you have paid to your solicitor (unless the matter is ultimately placed before a court, where costs would be awarded).

Within the letter you should specify a time period within which you expect the matter to be resolved to your satisfaction (a reasonable time period might be 15 working days, possibly longer if the estate value runs into millions of pounds); otherwise you will be making a complaint to the financial ombudsman re their negligence resulting in financial loss to you.

You should send the letter to the manager of the branch you have been dealing with, and to their UK registered headquarters (I would suggest you address it to their CEO, do a bit of on-line research and find their name). For each letter, request proof of posting or some form of delivery proof.

If they respond to your letter, it is likely that they will try to fob you off claiming you should sue your sister for the loss; you could reply pointing out that their negligence resulted in this situation (personally I would not reply to such a letter, or I might reply pointing out that the matter was not resolved to my satisfaction and restate the deadline at which time the matter will be placed before the financial ombudsman).

[Peter Pedant]

I agree that if you are lawyered up - then you ask them first and not us. Perhaps you have

I dont think you have a case because Nationwide dont have to deal with all the executors. One will do. The person you have case against is your sister. - yes but who else? there may not be anyone else.

You are the victim of fraud, and someone has to pay: it might be you

[ZebuSanctuary]

//Nationwide dont have to deal with all the executors//

This I believe only to be true as long as the executors are not beneficiaries of the will.

//The person you have case against is your sister//

Too True!

[JJ109]

I am a bit confused here - was the Nationwide account in the name of your late father, or was the account in the name of the executors. If the latter, then how many signatures were required according to the mandate that presumably you and your sister signed?

[twix123]

You need to raise an official complaint against Nationwide, by writing to their complaints officer, listed in the Financial Conduct Authority Register as:

Karlene White
Nationwide House
Pipers Way
Swindon
Wiltshire
SN38 1NW.

Although they list a different named individual for an email complaint:

[email protected]

Nationwide will have written complaint procedures, which should be available on their web site, detailing how long they should take to acknowledge receipt of your complaint and how they will progress it. Normally they then have eight weeks to address your complaint and arrive at a solution. Only after this time period can you involve the Financial Ombudsman Service if you reject Nationwide's solution and any offer of recompense.

[Hymie]

However you complain – ensure that you include the threat to place the matter before the financial ombudsman, they will then be less likely to try and fob you off with some nonsense excuse, knowing that the ombudsman might investigate the case.

8 weeks seems a ridiculous length of time allowed to investigate a complaint, but you need to have exhausted the building society’s complaints process before elevating it to the ombudsman.

[Peter Pedant]

news today
reluctant executor jailed

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2022/10/12/uncle-jailed-failing-give-niece-nephew-inheritance/

Times - he gave money to the heirs previously and knocked it generously off their inheritance as a loan.....

It wd not surprise me if the sister thought " the bank stuff is MY share and he can have the rest." - I have heard THAT more than once

[jno]

contumacious is an excellent word.