Solicitor's fees for acting as executors

w10949

The estate I had was based on Scottish law. I have subsequently helped my brother do one on his own as it isn't hugely complex

. Its entirely possible to do it on your own but clearly if there are likely disputes I would go for a neutral advisor. As executor you can also decide to use a solicitor regardless of what is in the will, costs for this are normally met from the estate.

Make sure you wait 6 months BEFORE anything gets paid out and watch out for DWP making claims on the estate once its posted. They have a whole dept looking at assets for folks who got any means tested benefit, specifically Pension credit in my case......

[Deleted User]

w10949 wrote: »

Make sure you wait 6 months BEFORE anything gets paid out and watch out for DWP making claims on the estate once its posted. They have a whole dept looking at assets for folks who got any means tested benefit, specifically Pension credit in my case......

Someone else mentioned to me about waiting 6 months - can you please explain the reason for this.

RAS

Richard_Webster wrote: »

How would you get these if mum is still alive?

With respect to dad's estate.

sleepless_saver

[quote=[Deleted User];50246573]Someone else mentioned to me about waiting 6 months - can you please explain the reason for this.[/QUOTE]

It's to give any creditors time to come forward and be paid before the estate is distributed. People may have outstanding bills, debts or overpayment of benefits which the executor is not necessarily aware of.

It's a lot easier to give creditors their money before the estate is distributed than trying to get the money back from beneficiaries afterwards!

RAS

sleepless_saver wrote: »

It's to give any creditors time to come forward and be paid before the estate is distributed. People may have outstanding bills, debts or overpayment of benefits which the executor is not necessarily aware of.

It's a lot easier to give creditors their money before the estate is distributed than trying to get the money back from beneficiaries afterwards!

In addition to this, you need to advertise in the Gazette and a local paper to ask for creditors to bill you. If they fail to do so, after the cut off date, you can tell them to take a hike.

If you do not advertise and debts come in after the estate is distributed, the executors have to pay the debt.

[Deleted User]

timmyt wrote: »

Have you sold the main house and paid CGT but this could have been reduced by putting it in the beneficiaries names first to acquire more CGT exemptions,

Thanks Timmyt for your reply - I know that an executor's task is a very responsible one and very time consuming, but if I understand your comment above correctly, are you saying that when selling the main home of the deceased, the estate is liable for CGT. I wasn't aware the value of the main home was subject to CGT - I thought only IHT would be payable on death. I would be grateful if you can clarify this issue.

tbs624

linda - as someone has already suggested you can get useful guidance on these sorts of issues from ageuk.

Richard_Webster

CGT is payable on the difference between the value at the date of death and the eventual sale price of the property. If the property is sold quickly and sells for slightly more than the probate figures then HMRC will often accept he adjustment of the probate valuation to reflect the actual sale price - this might mean more IHT - so it depends whether it is worth seeking this on whether IHT would otherwise be payable. If you leave the sale for more than a few months then you can't try that.