Executor's powers prior to death

eenide

Can a Solicitor who is Executor take control of house key and all arrangements regarding death(body is donated to a University which is all in place) Daughter was told by father that she could have key and enter property and take anything that she required.Now solicitor will not allow entry also no information. Daughter now too upset to ring solicitor as they put the phone down on her after heated argument.FATHER IS NOT DEAD YET BUT IN HOSPICE ON (LIVERPOOL PATH)which is being allowed to die peacefully with only neccessery care.Daughter is in will but not as executor

alanq

An executor's role doesn't begin until death has occurred. Is the solicitor acting under a power of attorney or as a court-appointed deputy?

Savvy_Sue

I've moved this to it's own thread as it seems in danger of being swallowed up where it was first posted.

Errata

HTH - a person doesn't become an executor until a death occurs. So, in the case of the OP the solicitor has no more control over anything belonging to the father whilst he lives than I have

Savvy_Sue

Have been thinking about this, and while I agree that the executor's duties don't start before death, I think alanq's question is relevant: if the solicitor has legal powers to act on behalf of this gentleman now before death then they may have the right to act in this way.

Also, we can all see that if the daughter is not the sole beneficiary, the executor might be concerned that the estate could be compromised if she has free access to the property. I'm not suggesting that this is the case, but we have also had threads about items not being found after death, cash going missing etc.

If that is their concern, then a joint visit to the property might be the way forward: the solicitor can see what is taken and establish whether it has any value; personal effects of no value can be cleared; items of sentimental value can be treasured. Although I personally would prefer to wait until after death to do this.

Willman_Rodders

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

Also, we can all see that if the daughter is not the sole beneficiary, the executor might be concerned that the estate could be compromised if she has free access to the property. I'm not suggesting that this is the case, but we have also had threads about items not being found after death, cash going missing etc.

A will gives an appointed executor the power to act after the death of the testator. It does not give any power before death.

The potential executor may be concerned that items or cash could go "walk about" but they are powerless (in their role as potential executor) to do anything about it until the testator has died. Upon the testator's death one of their first tasks, as executor, should then be to make the property secure etc.

A couple of other points... Has the testator made a new will appointing someone else as executor? Has a codicil been made changing the executor on the original will? A potential executor should not assume they have been appointed executor until these questions can be answered with certainty.

As Alanq says ...

alanq wrote: »

Is the solicitor acting under a power of attorney or as a court-appointed deputy?

If not, then the under what authority are they acting?

Biggles

Willman_Rodders wrote: »

A couple of other points... Has the testator made a new will appointing someone else as executor? Has a codicil been made changing the executor on the original will? A potential executor should not assume they have been appointed executor until these questions can be answered with certainty.

Or, indeed, at any time up until his death, it has to be assumed that he may make such a new will.

alanq

If a testator is no longer mentally competent it will not be possible for them to create a new will or update an old one.

Biggles

alanq wrote: »

If a testator is no longer mentally competent it will not be possible for them to create a new will or update an old one.

My point was that, until he is dead, there is no certainty as to who will be executor and the solicitor cannot assume he will be.

monkeyspanner

Unless the solicitor has power of attorney then they are probably acting without authority. Equally although it seems to be common practice that relatives are told to remove items they want, these should be accounted for so that fairness across the beneficiaries is ensured and IHT is properly calculated if the estate is taxable.

It does not sound a good start for a relationship which is likely to cause problems. Solicitors can be expensive, slow and cause many problems as executors.

I would recommend that the daughter write to the solicitor to ask for an explanation of their stance and send it special delivery. If a satisfactory explanation is not recieved then make a complaint. Here is a link:
http://www.legalcomplaints.org.uk/how-we-handle-complaints/about-poor-service.page

WhiteHorse

An Executor does not become active until death.

Even if the solicitor is an Executor, whilst the Father lives they cannot act unless they have Power of Attorney or some other authority of restricted scope but similar strength.