Can you sack an executer of a will?

[flower power]

My Grandmother died over a year ago. My Father and My Uncle are the beneficaries and executers of the will. Unfortunately the will was not written very well and left lots of gapping holes. The estate involes the transfer/sale of land which has to be valued at the time of death. My Father has the option to buy my Uncles share at an agricultural rate with a sitting tennancy. The land may be of value in the future due to planning permission but has no planning permission at present and did not have any at the time of death. My Father has been happy to agree to an average of 3 fair valuations. Unfortunately my Uncle has only agreed to the flawed valuation that increased the value by 50%. My Uncle keeps changing the goal posts, refuses to meet, refuses to reply with necessary information and is obstructive in settling the will. He seems to be acting solely in the interest of himself as a beneficary and not in the interests of all beneficaries. If he is acting inappropriately as an executer can you sack him and on what grounds? in addition he has now sold his share of the estate but will not disclose to whom? We suspect to a local developer. Does anyone have the answer as we need closure.

[themas]

1. There are procedures for dealing with executor disputes, which can include a Court removing someone as executor. You must have legal advice if you want to do this.

2. If the land was to be valued simply as agricultural land it should not have been a difficult job - or resulted in widely varying figures. However, it can be legitimate to include in a valuation what is called "hope value" - an uplift for the expectation of a possible grant of planning permission for development. It may be that that is what the third valuer did, but it should be set out in his valuation document.

3. I don't understand the basis of all this. If the land is owned by the Uncle how come the Grandmother's will has anything to do with it? If the land was owned by the Grandmother, how could the Uncle sell it when probate has not been settled?