Executors taking long time to distribute money

Durandal

getmore4less wrote: »

Fixed fee will probably be the issue,

This estate will be bottom of the pile over other revenue generating busines.
probably worth a call from each of you to chase them up

Were any of you consulted over the house sale?

Look up executors year there may be something you can say to nudge them


£20k pobably was not enough to consider a distribution given an empty house that could have needed repairs.

Hi - thanks for your helpful advice

I agree with you on work load. I'm certain they will manage workload according to the size of the estate and hence their slice of pie. I'm going to encourage all the other beneficiaries to ring them up as you say. The executor's year has given me some useful links/resources - thank you.

None of us were consulted regarding the house sale - aside from the occasional email/letter to all the beneficiaries requesting/recommending the asking price of the property be reduced - which we collectively agreed upon. The asking price was reduced twice over the 12 month period.

I've been given plenty of food for thought - need to do some more research - it pays to be in possession of as many facts as possible.

Thanks again

Durandal

NAR wrote: »

Sounds like the issue will be a heavy workload, with limited resources to deal with all their cases. Though it would appear that there should not be much to do to complete in your case.

Yes, I agree. My dad's estate is relatively modest and on the face of it, you wouldn't think it would be too complicated.

I'm certain they could have made more effort to include everyone - it seems as though they have been mainly corresponding with me via email. The only exception being when requesting/recommending that the asking price of the house be reduced. There at least they did rightly contact everyone.

In these things, I think it's useful if everyone is consulted and feeds back. Sometimes if feels as though I'm the main one doing the running. Also, sending angry emails is probably counter productive - I fancy some of my siblings may have been less than professional there.

I'm not one to just sit back and let things happen, and I'd like to get more involved (but forewarned/forearmed) - hence my post.

Thanks for your comment

Durandal.

getmore4less

WE took a different approach, I would have done it myself but there are a couple of things that I did not want to deal with and I wanted the final accounts to be independant.

I did all the notifications of death got the valuations, prepared a preliminary report for the solicitors to do the PA1 and IHT400 and handed it over to them.
We sorted out the estate agents and dealt direct with them, we have been dealing with the sale/pricing.

We left is and did not bother too much but house sale did not happen over the summer so we want the rest wound up and distributed so now the chasing begins, I am having to ask specific question like have you collected X yet. I have the feeling we are not a top priority so by asking they have to at least start that bit because they know I know how long things take, I did it the year before for a similar set of assets.

I think it just needs a regular polite prompt, if convenient it might be worth seeing if you can make a visit and try the personal touch.

IF the main asset has been sold and the rest is only £20k the tax will be very easy to resolve I can't think of anything that could delay.

Savvy_Sue

getmore4less wrote: »

The house can't be sold without probate.

sorry, that's the bit I haven't had to do yet ...

Durandal wrote: »

I don't think the delay is concerning tax, the executors wrote to us earlier in the year and sorted that out - that was income tax, are you referring to other tax?

I think there are three potential tax areas - income tax for the year in which your father died; inheritance tax on the whole estate; and potentially Capital Gains Tax about which I know next to nothing, except that it can be due when you profit from the sale of house you haven't lived in.

However I don't think any of them should be holding things up at this stage, given the size of the estate.

Durandal wrote: »

Emails are ignored - this is my major bug bear.

I'm thinking a telephone might give me a clearer picture.

drives me mad too: I much prefer to deal by email, but half the time no-one answers! Telephone can't so easily be ignored.

Durandal wrote: »

10% to his church.

Of course, there is always the possibility of setting the church on to the executors: I know some charities can be quite demanding if they are aware of a bequest which hasn't been paid promptly, eg suggesting that a loan is taken out so they can have 'their' cut if a house isn't selling. I don't know if professional executors would bow to such pressure.

Durandal wrote: »

I did wonder about cash asset distribution when the sale of the house was not happening - but being a modest amount figured the executors would be unlikely to agree.

I can't see why not, personally. As long as there is no danger of creditors popping up and demanding more than the house is worth, surely it would be quite reasonable to disburse at least some of Dad's savings?