hello to all, i was hoping that there is someone who could give me advise or can point me in the right direction with a mainly legal problem that has arisen which could cost me my family home, in order that ant advisors can get a full picture i will start at the beginning and will be as brief as possible.
about 12 years ago my wife (now ex) developed scizophrenia (very much understood by myself at the time) this condition worsenned and i was regarded by my wife as the anti christ literally, she left, the children worked their way back to me and i have ever since brought up the kids alone.
ten years ago i was given an opportunity to purchse a property, an old property which required full refurbishment, at a very cut price, the only problem was that i was still married, mainly because dealing with my ex wife was immpossible, i went to see a solicitor to see if there was a way around this, he informed me there was but i needed someone to have the property in their name, i contacted my cousin to whom i had always been very close to, she agreed to the proposal, the purchsing process went ahead, i paid half the deposit up front to the solicitor and he drew up an agreement that when ready i could purchase the property from my cousin for a nominal fee, this agreement was signed by myself and my cousin and was registered.
upon nearing completion i gave my cousin the remainder of the deposit £2,800 , to make things easier, however when my solicitor wanted to complete, i called into my cousin to tell her to pay the solicitor and she had spent the money, at the time i was spent up as all my funds had been used making the property habitable, i informed my solicitor that my cousin had spent the money, he then paid over me and i had to pay him back, my cousin promised to pay the money back which she did in dribs and drabs totalling £500 then i recieved no more.
Finally myself and my children moved into our new home, i have made every mortgage payment girect to the mortgage company and have financed all refurbishment work, my cousin remained at her own home and had no financial cost at all.
after about 12 months letters from loan companies addressed to my cousin began to turn up, i had a telephone call from her asking if letters had come, she was attempting to take out loans on the strength of our home, another two years on and my cousin phoned me up, she had devised a plan where we got a loan together for £11,000 to be shared between us, given her earlier financial misgivings (totally unexpected) i politely declined the offer i told her the truth i could not afford a loan nor did i want one, she became verbally abusive to me and then started a period of non contact.
A number of people had informed me that my cousin had told them that i had cost her a lot of money, my cousin out of guilt or spite, probably a mixture of both
was telling people things like this which i learned to ignore but my children didnt appreciate at all, my cousins daughter even told me one evening about the many thousands i had "cost" her mother, i had made a promise not to tell the daughter the truth so i didnt.
My cousin died a few months ago, she had cancer and didnt tell anyone, i went straight to my solicitor and i expressed my fears of mistrust, he informed me that the agreement still stood, that the option to buy comes to me, so i have continued working and saving to pay money yet again to buy my house.
i have now been informed by reliable sorces that my cousins daughter is bragging about our home being left to her by her mother and even making plans for the proceeds of the sale of our home and of course informing people of how i cost her mother a lot of money.
Yesterday i have tried to see my solicitor but to no avail i am awaiting contact from him, today i sent of the fee to the probate registry to do a search on the estate of my cousin to see if a will has been made its contant and if probate has been granted, i do not know what probate is or how it works.
is there anyone else here who has experienced similar circumstances if so how did you resolve it, if there is anyone who can point me in the right direction, myself and my children will be deeply grateful.
many thanks john

Hi, probate is similar to letters of administration, it gives the person authority to deal with the deceased `s estste legally, normally granted to a solicitor. If your cousin has not made a will, then by the law of inheritence, the estate will pass to her next of kin. With this agreement you have, that will fall into interpretation if the daughter contests it, solicitors will pick holes in it for their clients. This could be a nasty one if you can not get communication going with the daughter.