UK - Can an executor evict a mentally ill family member engaging in elder abuse?

Question

What are possible options does an executor havve to evict an abusive daughter currently abusing her elderly (possibly senile) mother?

Suppose that these key facts are true:

• The daughter has a history of causing harm to self and others, including suicidal ideation and is on social services radar from previous events, probably suffering from Borderline Personality Disorder but has no official diagnosis.

• Ownership of the house is 50-50 between mother and daughter.

• The will could be contested leaving the daughter with 25%, however 19 years have passed.

• The mother is possibly showing signs of dementia.

• The police and social services have been notified and are frustratingly slow and nonchalant.

There should be a way to break the current living situation. Ideally the daughter needs to be sectioned, and the mother in a smaller retirement flat with proceeds from selling the house. Are there any legal options to force eviction and/or a sale of the house?

Answer 1

An executor executes a will according to the wishes of the will. This involves disposition of the estate. Almost certainly the mental state of humans is not material to the disposition of the estate.

I'm unclear what you even mean by executor. The named executor of a will only has power after a person dies. Was the will executed 19 years ago? If so, the executor's power is long long passed. The chance of challenging a will 19 years later is practically zero.

Elder abuse will be managed by the state. An interested party may involve the state to create an investigation as to what is going on.

Answer 2

Occupancy of a co-owned property in England is governed by Sections 11-15 of TOLATA (1996). The default rule is that an equitable owner of real property is entitled to occupancy, but that can be limited by the legal owners of the property (who in a 50-50 case are by default the same as the equitable owners of the property) for good cause, either of their own accord, or via a court order directing the trustees to establish a particular occupancy rule in a test that boils down to the broad equitable discretion of the court. A court could also order the property sold and the proceeds divided through an order directed at the legal owners, or could appoint new legal owners-trustees of the property to handle the matter autonomously under TOLATA.

Some sort of injunction or protective order in civil practice without a government enforcement action is also probably possible.

As note by @TigerGuy there is almost surely no longer an executor serving to wind up the estate.

It may also be necessary to impose a guardianship or something upon one or both of the occupants. This is a fiduciary charged with handling their affairs and looking out for their well-being.