Probate Office asking for 200 signatures

bouicca21 · 18 July 2017 at 1:14PM

Yes, but the charity concerned will have a constitution which should set out how it is managed and its paid and honorary officers. If there really are 200 trustees then there is probably some kind of smaller executive committee charged with day to day affairs. I'd say that either a designated officer or possibly the exec committee itself are empowered to act. Maybe the way forward is to take the constitution to the probate office and discuss further.

gingercordial · 18 July 2017 at 2:18PM

John_Chip wrote: »

Thanks again.

So - it would be strange to have a charity with 200 trustees not to have a chief officer to sign this off?

Absolutely - that is an enormous board and I can only think we are talking about one of the larger charities. There is no way that there is not some kind of constitution/governing document which gives powers and signing rights to a sub-set. It would be unworkable otherwise.

The charity of which I'm a trustee - not massive but not tiny either - has ten trustees and any two of us can sign for such things. Just as well as it is like herding cats even with just ten.

G_M · 18 July 2017 at 2:25PM

bouicca21 wrote: »

.....Maybe the way forward is to take the constitution to the probate office and discuss further.

OP is not in a position to do anythng. He's the buyer.

It is the Executer who must discuss with the Probate Office, and presumably that is the same person/charity as is selling.

Of course, we don't know for sure that this 200 signatures thing is really the issue - that is just what OP has been told.

But if it is, you'd think the charity's Exec Officer would be keen to sell and would therefore be keen to convince the Probate Office that the 200 Trustees don't all need to sign.

gingercordial · 18 July 2017 at 2:42PM

I'm now genuinely curious as to which charity has such an enormous board. I've just been looking through the Charity Commission's register sorted by annual income, working down from the top including most of the main household names, and the biggest list of trustees I've found is 28 with most at fewer than 20.

I think something has been lost in translation here.

Edit: OP, it might be worth you checking whether there really are 200 as a starting point. The Charity Commission website will tell you this. Go here: http://apps.charitycommission.gov.uk/Showcharity/RegisterOfCharities/registerhomepage.aspx and enter the charity name in the purple box bottom left. It will work even if you only know one or two words rather than the exact name. Click on the correct charity from the list, then "Contact & Trustees" in the left hand menu. You can see how many there are.

John_Chip · 18 July 2017 at 7:47PM

Thanks to all of the above for their knowledge.

I have asked my solicitor to contact the charity and their solicitor and ask directly about these 200 signatures - and also to see the correspondence asking for the 200 signatures.

I am sure there is some sort of error with this - just looking around the charity website link above reveals the largest charities have just a handful of trustees / board members.

But who knows - there maybe some crazy charity with 200 trustees out there.

Thanks again for the above advice.

John

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Probate Office asking for 200 signatures

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