Hi Welcome to JustAnswer. My first response will follow shortly. Please feel free to follow up if anything is not clear

An estate should generally be wound up within 6 months

If the trustees are not getting on with the jog, the ultimate sanction is to apply to the High Court to replace them

It can be

Perhaps the first step is to set up a family meeting to discuss this. You will need to get probate to sell however and he should get on with this

Probate should be sought within a few weeks of the death. The six month period is accepted as the usual period, and is also the period for creditors to make claims if there are any

The executors must apply-no one else can

There must be an application to the High Court by the executors. Nearly always a lawyer is instructed as the probate application is quite techical. Do you have a lawyer on the job?

The normal course is for the executors to instruct a lawyer

I believe he is wrong if he says you do not need probate. For the house to be sold, it will be necessary to transfer the house to the executors, so that they can sell the property. I think you are correct that there is something going on. In my view you should instruct your own lawyer, who can investigate the title to the property and see if there is a mortgage. If necessary the lawyer could then take steps to replace the executors, and the court costs would be paid probably from the estate, although you could ask the original executors to pay the costs on the basis that they were incompetent and delayed winding up the estate, causing the need to replace them. In those circumstances the court would probably order them to pay, and this would come out of their share.

Unfortunately the sort of litigation can get expensive, and you could be looking at 10 to 15,000. That is why I suggested setting up a formal family meeting, and you could even use something like Skype video to avoid the cost of travel. So if you had the New Zealand family around a computer with Skype, you could all discuss this. But what you have told me triggers some alarm bells, and where there is something dodgy going on, they are likely to avoid any confrontation where they might be found out

titles in New Zealand are all electronic, and unless you have access to the software, which you will not have in Australia it is easier to get a lawyer to do the search. It should not be very expensive however. You would want a copy of the title and the mortgage if there is one.

Unfortunately I am unable to accept work from the site. It is in the terms and conditions. I can suggest lawyers, probably in the city where the estate is situated.

In Lower Hutt there is a specialised firm who do mainly court work called Thomas Dewar Sziranyi Letts at http://www.tdsl.co.nz/

I know that a number of them personally and they are professional and effective. Do you want other names? I have just seen your latest note, about a family trust. That could change matters, because the property would already be in the name of the trustees. In that case, if there are no other substantial assets such as bank accounts, shares or insurance policies valued more than $10,000, then probate will not be needed.

the value of the property is a matter of public record if you rely on the public valuation, usually obtained from Quotable Value but also usually held by the City Council. If your mother was quite old and in a rest home, it is possible that her money was used for the rest home fees, and there may also be a charge of the house for the rest home fees, although it it was on a family trust for long enough, that would not be the case. Normally a family trust would have a distribution date after the death of the settlor, and the children should all be referred to as beneficiaries

You would need to look at the trust deed to confirm this.

No, so getting a copy may be difficult. If your brothers had nothing to hide, they should share copies of all of the documents, including the trust deed, bank records, and details of the estate.