A FAMILY feud over the estate of a late maiden aunt has resulted in a financial nightmare and two solicitor cousins being struck off.

Peter David Nixon, 62, and Michael Marwood Smith, 57, both operated as senior partners of Nixon and Co, of Exchange Buildings, Cleveland Street, Redcar, Cleveland - a business they inherited from their respective fathers.

But the Solicitors' Disciplinary Tribunal heard yesterday that it was not only the business they inherited - it was also the "haphazard" practice of placing all funds into the office account.

The money was then used to help run the firm, for loans to other clients and for investments.

This practice is not illegal, explained Gerald Lynch, solicitor to the Law Society, but in this context it was "extremely haphazard" and could result in the sort of fiscal nightmare that ensued in this case.

The two solicitors had acted as executors of the estate of their late aunt, Phyllis Nixon, who died on October 14, 1991.

The beneficiaries are still waiting for their various payouts, the hearing was told.

The difficulties stemmed from the inherited practice of using funds for the benefit of the firm or other clients.

The two lawyers and a former partner, Richard Fletcher, were doing very well financially until the disastrous property slump of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Mr Nixon was left with a debt of £217,136, Mr Smith owed £123,446 and Mr Fletcher had a debt of £89,215 - which he is still repaying at £500 a month.

Representing the two lawyers, counsel Angela Davies said that she wished to make it clear that the estate money had not been placed in a trust fund, and that her clients had simply dipped into it at their leisure.

The tribunal further ordered that both men share costs of £3,689.