The First Grant of Probate
My
father wanted me to be an executor of his Will. Both myself and John
Loftus were named as executors in the Will. However, John Loftus
obtained a Grant of Probate that did not include myself. He wished to
exclude the residual beneficiary from estate administration, as only
the residual beneficiary would have any interest in the honest and cost
efficient administration of the estate.
John Loftus committed
perjury in order to obtain that grant, he swore in his executor's oath
that he had notified myself, and all partners in Norton Peskett, that
he was obtaining that Grant. I know from personal knowledge that he did
not notify me. I have been told by Mrs. Joanne Bagshaw (nee Madle), the
personal assistant to John Loftus, that he did not notify the other
partners. It
is unclear if Revd. Loftus swore this oath on a Bible, or merely swore
a
secular oath. In any event it is perjury. I raise the issue of the
Bible because this ordained vicar claims to be a Christian. Excluding me from the Grant of Probate enabled John Loftus to control all the assets of the estate, to sell anything he wanted, without my consent, or even my knowledge. I was left with no way of gaining control of any estate asset, totally helpless to protect my family’s most treasured possessions. I was forced to watch as everything that mattered to me in this world was taken from me. When I challenged him on this, John Loftus fought me for over six years, and still continues to fight me to this day. He worked against me, deliberately and willfully defying my instructions He did everything in his power to exclude me from the estate administration. He tried to make me feel unwelcome. He told me that I was not an executor, and had no right to take any part in the estate administration. When I expressed surprise, and said “But I thought I was an executor, I am named in the Will as an executor”, he told me “Not in Law”. I told John Loftus that I would “fight him tooth and nail”. Thus there can be no doubt that he was well aware that I did not approve of his actions. Many years later, after I had become much better educated in probate law, I discovered that John Loftus was absolutely wrong on this point of law. I discovered that when an executor is named in the Will, they derive their authority from the Will itself, and not from the Grant of Probate. Thus an executor's authority begins at the instant of death. The Grant merely confirms a pre-existing authority. There was never an instant in time at which John Loftus was an executor and I was not. John Loftus had told me an absolutely false version of the law in order to further his goals. No specialist probate lawyer should have any excuse for not knowing such a fundamental piece of probate law. Either he deliberately and willfully lied to me on this point of law, or else he is grossly incompetent. If the latter, then he committed fraud by representing himself as a competent probate lawyer, and extorting payment for his expertise. This war between myself and John Loftus has lasted for over 6 years. I dedicated myself full time to fighting him. I spent large sums of money to get advice from other lawyers. I was unable to hold a full time job, do to the amount of my time that was consumed in fighting this war. I estimate spending in excess of 60 hours per week, every week, during this 6 year period. More than a regular full time job. This is considerably more time than would have been required for me to administer the estate by myself. I had to watch helpless as my treasured possessions were destroyed. I suffered extreme mental anguish. I suffered the loss of items that are irreplaceable, and worth more to me than life itself. In other words, he almost caused my suicide. Repeatedly Defied My Instructions I told John Loftus
that he must keep me in the loop, and discuss all actions with me prior
to carrying them out. He defied this general instruction: He acted on
his own initiative, and did not tell me what he had done. Often I found
out about his actions from third parties. When I challenged him as to
why he had not kept me in the loop, he told me that I was not an
executor. When I insisted that I was an executor, he said “not in law”.
After further questioning he told me that it was because I was not
named on the Grant of Probate that I was not an executor, and that he
did not need to consider my wishes. A solicitor is required by
Law Society rules to treat all executors as clients, there is no
distinction between proving executors and non proving executors. Not only was I an
executor, but I was also the residual beneficiary. Law Society rules
also
require that a residual beneficiary be treated as a client. Clearly
John Loftus was wrong on this point
of law. He
deliberately and willfully excluded me from the administration of my
own father's
estate against my wishes. This resulted in great emotional trauma to
myself, denied me an
important rite of passage and bonding with my parents, and resulted in
the loss of our family's treasured heirlooms, and great financial loss.
House Clearance On several occasions John Loftus has told third parties not to co-operate with me. When I was trying to obtain information regarding property stolen from my home and subsequently fenced at Durrants Auction Rooms in Beccles, John Loftus told Miles Lambdin, the general manager of Durrants, that I was not an executor, and that he should not co-operate with me. When I challenged John Loftus on this he told me that he had not given Miles Lambdin any such instructions. Both these conversations were recorded. In due course I will add the audio of these conversations to this web site. In a similar scenario, Joanne Bagshaw, acting on the instructions of John Loftus, told David Cooper of Howards Estate Agents not to co-operate with me. Joanne Bagsahw's own attendance notes confirm this point. (The initials "JM" refer to her maiden name: Joanne Madle) Shortly after my
father’s death I made it very clear to John Loftus that I wanted the
house, and all it’s contents, to pass to me undisturbed. This
instruction was given clearly and repeatedly, both verbally and in
writing. There is no way that John Loftus was not fully aware of my
wishes. Because I live in the United States, and had work commitments
there, I was away from the UK for a few months following my father’s
death. However, my instructions to John Loftus were clear: Leave my
property undisturbed! But when I returned to the UK, just a few months
later, I found that my house had been cleared. My most treasured
possessions were gone, lost forever. I just collapsed to the floor. My
legs would not support me. I cried and cried for hours. I became so
sick that I vomited. My life has irrevocably changed since that fateful
day. Not a waking moment goes by that I am not fixated on this
situation. I dream about it and awake in a cold sweat. I cannot
concentrate on anything else, my thoughts just come back to this
situation. I am unable to work or function normally. As I investigated
what had happened to my treasured possessions I encountered a wall of
lies and deception. I asked John Loftus who had ordered the house
clearance. At first he told me that he had done so. Then he changed his
story, claiming that my aunt had in fact ordered the clearance. My aunt
denied that she had done so. I contacted the various local contractors
and auction rooms that had participated in the house clearance. They
told me that John Loftus had instructed them. I asked John Loftus if an
executor had a Duty
of Candour
to co-executors and to the beneficiaries.
He told me that he did. Thus while he was telling me big fat lies he
well knew that he had a duty in law to be truthful to me. John Loftus
destroyed the contents of my house without any regard to their
importance. Many critical documents essential for estate administration
have been lost: I may never now be able to locate estate assets in
several other countries. I have no idea even where to look. My parent’s
research papers are destroyed, thrown out like garbage. My school
books, and art and craft work from my school days destroyed. Letters
from my parents left for me to find after their deaths destroyed. Audio
tapes of my childhood voice, and an audio journal of our family also
wantonly destroyed. Many cherished family photos likewise thrown into
the garbage. I have spent 9 days up to my knees in garbage at several
local landfills where I was told my treasured possessions were taken,
but nothing was found. In some cases I discovered that John Loftus had
arranged for his friends and close business associates to profit from
my misfortune: For example, my father’s low-mileage BMW car was sold to
one of John Loftus’ buddies in the used car trade for a mere £800, a
tiny fraction of it’s true value. Many of my treasures were sold at
Durrants Auction Rooms in Beccles; another close and cozy business
associate of John Loftus. The prices obtained here were also ludicrous.
In some cases the fees and commissions were greater than the amount
obtained: In other words the price obtained was actually negative. If
John Loftus had set fire to my treasured possessions the estate would
have been financially better off! Facilitated Thefts and Criminal Damage At
my father’s
funeral a con-artist approached me claiming to be a dear and trusted
friend of my late father. He asked if he could rent our family house as
a favour to me. Note that he claimed that he wanted to rent my house
not for his own pleasure, but in order to do me a favour.I clearly told
him no way!. He then asked if he could help to clear my house. I told
him that I did not want my house cleared and that his help was not
wanted. He then coveted several items of my father’s estate, saying
that he wanted them as a cherished reminder of his love for my late
father. It seems that the word "love" was the most common word in his
vocabulary. I told him no way! He then asked if he could have the keys
to
my house in order to guard my house and possessions from burglars and
squatters. I told him to go away and never set foot on my property.
This kind of hearse chasing is of course a well know and classic scam.
When it was clear that he would get nowhere with me, he approached John
Loftus with the same requests. Since John Loftus claims to have in
excess of 30 years experience in estate administration, surely he too
would recognize this scam right away. But no, John Loftus gave this
low-life the keys to my house, wrote him several letters inviting him
to have unrestricted and unsupervised access to my house, and gave him
valuable items from the estate as payment for his services in guarding
the house. So, what happened then you might ask. No surprise: This
con-artist stole many items that had financial value and then fenced
them at a
local auction house: Durrants Auction Rooms of Beccles. There is a
clear paper trail that proves this. After John Loftus had cleared my
house of all my most treasured possessions, this low-life moved into my
house and established a squat.
If a squatter lives in your house long enough they will acquire legal
title to your house. It is called “Adverse Possession”. Sounds crazy,
but unfortunately it is all too true. After stealing or destroying the
contents of my house, now these people were going to steal the house
itself. I
ordered him to leave my house. He replied by setting his large and
ferocious German Shepherd dog on me. I asked the Police to help me.
They said that because this low-life had letters from John Loftus
inviting him to guard my house he was entitled to be there. When I
continued to complain, the Police threatened to arrest me for harassing
this low-life. I have calculated that this burglar entered my house in
excess of 1000 times against my wishes. That is 1000+ counts of
burglary. But the Police assert that this is a civil matter. However,
if I make a phone call telling him to stay away from my house, then
that is a criminal offence of harassment. Since harassment is based on
repetition, surely 1000+ counts of burglary would be considered
harassment of me. But no, not when I am the victim. I tried to
rescue my house by selling it to a friend who would then sell it back
to me. But John Loftus instructed his personal assistant to
block
that sale by telling
the estate agent
that I was not an executor. I believe that John Loftus saw
this
con-artist as an opportunity: A way to conceal John Loftus' own thefts.
He steals everything I hold dear in this world, then
takes my house. But I am the one going to be arrested. Eventually I
succeeded
in evicting this low-life. When I finally
got back possession of my house it was completely trashed: All flitted
appliances had been destroyed. Electrical wiring that was embedded in
the walls had been shorted out and melted. Obscenities had been spray
painted on the walls. There was urine smell and feces throughout the
house. Maybe from this low-life’s dog, or maybe from him and his wife.
Who knows? There were holes drilled in the wooden window frames and
wooden stairway. No logical reason, just drilled holes for the fun of
it! Several brick walls had large holes smashed into them with a sledge
hammer. The only way to fix this was to demolish the walls and rebuild
from scratch. And even then it is impossible to match the brick work,
leaving an obvious and unsightly repair. I have brought
several law suits against this low-life. Unfortunately John Loftus’
work has placed me in an extremely weak legal position. He cannot be
accused of burglary because John Loftus gave him the keys to my house,
and wrote him two letters inviting him to be there. And of course he
can claim that he is blameless because he was acting on the
instructions of an executor of the estate. And as for John Loftus, well
of course the lawyers know how to cover their own ass. The trust for
sale that he wrote into my father’s Will gives him the right to sell,
or otherwise dispose of, my most treasured possessions. He can destroy
them, give them away to his buddies, or whatever else he wants to
do. The Second Grant of Probate I
repeatedly told John Loftus that the situation of me being omitted from
the Grant of Probate was absolutely unacceptable, and that it must be
rectified. John Loftus said that fixing the situation was impossible:
He said “it can't be done”, “it's impossible” and “it's too late”.
Because he was a professional solicitor specializing in inheritance and
probate law he assumed that I would just accept his claims as fact, and
give up. But this battle was too important to me. I told John Loftus
that I would “fight him tooth and nail”, and I did! I had to research
the procedures and teach John Loftus how to obtain the second grant. I
told him exactly what forms he needed to use (CAP A5C). John Loftus
fought me for almost a year over this form. Often he would claim that
he was going on vacation and would deal with it on his return. But upon
his return he did nothing. It took many phone calls to get each tiny
step completed, it was a running battle all the way! He argued that he
did not have such a form, even though the Laserform application used by
Norton Peskett is well known to have this form in its repertoire. I
offered to send him a hard copy of the form, but still he stalled,
giving me ludicrous excuses as to why it could not be done. Only when I
pointed out to him that he had lied on his Executor’s Oath in order to
obtain the first grant, and that a perjury conviction would not look
good on a solicitor’s resume, did he eventually reluctantly agree to
complete the form, and apply for a second grant. Eventually the second
grant, in favour of myself, was obtained. Obviously John Loftus’
claim that obtaining a second grant was impossible was absolutely wrong
because ultimately the second grant was obtained. There are only two
explanations for his stance on this point: Either he deliberately lied
to me in an attempt to prevent me from fixing the situation, or else he
was incompetent. Since he has claimed to have more than 30 years
experience in inheritance and probate law in order to obtain money for
his expertise, his incompetence amounts to fraud. Embezzlement After
obtaining a Grant of Probate in my own name I insisted that Revd.
Loftus send all estate documents to me. He resisted this for 8 months,
claiming that he had to make copies for himself. As soon as I had the
documents in my possession I fired Norton Peskett, or as they like to
call it, “dis-instructed” them. Now began the long and arduous process
of figuring out what Norton Peskett had done. This has turned out to be
an extremely difficult task, primarily because Norton Peskett have
deliberately tried to hide their actions. However, one fact is
abundantly clear: There has been massive embezzlement. I have started a
series of forensic audits. So far every audit has revealed missing
money due to the estate. The financial instruments that have gone
missing include:
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