Bank account has been emptied!

mattro

I am a co- executor of my mothers will. The other executors are my step-father and a solicitor appoointed by my mother. My mother left her residual assets in trust to be split equally between me and my step-father after costs such as funeral expenses and solicitors fees and any remaining debts have been paid. The solicitor was to deal with settling the estate. I have just been informed by my step-father that he has had a significant amount of money held in a high interest ISA account soley owned by my mother, paid into his bank current account!

The solicitor is not yet aware of this as is the weekend.
Costs, funeral expenses etc have not yet been paid and I don't know what to do.

Can I get him removed as a trustee and executor as a result of this?

madbadrob

You need the solicitor to tell him immediately that he cannot do this and has in fact technically committed theft. You would need a court to remove him as an executor. If you are both over 18 then unless there were trusts set up for under 18yr olds there is unlikely to be trustees

Rob

PennyForThem_2

On death ISAs cease

NAR

OP if he has put it into his account for safekeeping then why are you concerned. If he hadn't told you I would have been concerned. You should be working with him as co-executor, not thinking the worst without proof. Has he spent any of the money? Maybe his intentions are to pay for the funeral from his account and then distribute the balance as per the will.

daska

But as CO-executor, regardless of his motives, the OP's stepfather should be working WITH the OP and the Solicitor! It's the stepfather who's been moving money into his personal a/c without discussing it. The OP and the Solicitor have a legal duty to ensure everything is done legally and above board and to clarify/challenge the stepfather's action as necessary.

OP - Personally I wouldn't assume the worst, your stepfather has a. told you about the money and b. told you what he's done with it, so at first glance it would seem he is not attempting to hide anything untoward. But I would be getting in contact with the solicitor asap to confirm what has happened who will no doubt insist on your stepfather providing the paperwork to prove the value of the transaction etc.

NAR

I agree daska but OP looking to get him removed as an executor sounds a bit extreme!

prettyfires

Having been dealing with a problem with my stepfather clearing my mum's estate and putting it into his own name - breaching an Court Interim Interdict, I sympathise.
My experience, however, has taught me that although he is technically breaking the law, the Police will not become involved unless it goes before a judge - which of course costs money.
It seems like executors can do as they please regardless of the law....unless you have thousands to have them held accountable.
Like a registering a will, it seems to be first to do it is the 'winner'. So the first to clear the accounts wins ..and there are not sufficient, effective laws to stop this.
I have highlighted a lot of issues to do with will writers, solicitors, last wills and specail destinations with Parliament, but I am getting no where - all I can do now is help educate others so they don't fall into the same trap - and become aware that justice is not there.
You have no legal right to your last wishes............unless you have someone with a LOT of money willing to fight on your behalf ...but by the time you've gone through the court system, there is nothing to stop the executor from spending it all, declaring themselves bankrupt and all the money spent on the legal battle wasted............
Good luck - would like to know how you get on

getmore4less

madbadrob wrote: »

You need the solicitor to tell him immediately that he cannot do this and has in fact technically committed theft. You would need a court to remove him as an executor. If you are both over 18 then unless there were trusts set up for under 18yr olds there is unlikely to be trustees

Rob

Personal reps are trustees during administration of an estate.

getmore4less

I think you need to deal with this without jumping to conclusions(yet).

The institution that held the funds will have a process.

Most require an indemnity to release funds without a grant or all executors to sign the release form with one.


It does seem as others have sugested tht you all need to work together more closely to deal with the estate

How far have you got? have all assets been established and the IHT forms completed, go you have the grant yet etc.

getmore4less

PennyForThem wrote: »

On death ISAs cease

Even thought the ISA wrapper status finishes on death the underlying assets still exist and it is common practice to refer to it's original state to claify which asset is being talked about, especialy if there are multiple assets with the same institution.

bylromarha

Sorry for your loss.

If you haven't yet paid funeral expenses, I can only assume your mothers death is recent.

If it is recent, has an executor bank account been set up yet? Is it posible your step father didn't want the ISA frozen and unable to be accessed and didn't have a more logical place to transfer the money to than his personal account?

The executor account Nationwide set up for me didn't have internet access, so consider this too? Maybe he's processing it through his account so he can write a cheque to pay into a passbook account?

As he's told you what he's done, I wouldn't think the worst at all. Make sure he can evidence what has come in from the ISA and that precise amount going into the executors account and see how he reacts when you make a joke to his face about him not processing the ISA through the right channels.

All the best OP.