Payment of deceased funds

junglejim2

My Father in Law died a few months ago and left his savings of 33k to his 3 children.
His 3 children, brother in law, sister in law and my wife were also the executors of his will.


A couple of things seem wrong to me and hopefully someone can clarify.

• My brother in law, 1 of the 3 executors sorted the probate, but at no time did the other 2 executors receive any form of communication asking if they agree this should happen.
• Probate has been granted and the whole 33K has been paid into Brother in laws bank a/c, leaving him to divi it out as and when he sees fit.

Seems to me this is all wrong, especially the payment of the money. What happens if he were to put all the money on a horse that doesn't win, a hypothetical scenario but do you see my point?

Should the bank not have sent the proceeds of the will direct to the 3 benificiaries?

Any input gratefully received.

silverjay

I would have thought all of the executors needed to sign the probate application and usually an executors bank account is opened for all monies to be paid into. When probate is granted normal practice is for all outstanding debts to be settled and then legacies be paid out as detailed in the will.

getmore4less

What was put on the PA1 and was the will submitted?

if bothered check the application, have you seen the will.

Are you sure the other executors were not substitutes
What hapened to the other assets?

Any moneys/assets go to the executor(s) on the grant, there is no requirement for this to be a seperate accounts.

Mrs_Supersaver_1

jj2 hi, I am sorry for your loss. I have recently sucessfully completed 'probate' on my late husbands business.


I received a letter headed Quote: IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE
Family Division
The District Probate Registry at Anytown.
In the estate of

---

deceased.
I (brother in laws) name and address
make oath and say as follows:
1. Name of deceased
of address----
born on 1/1/19-- died on 12/12/2012 domiciled in England and Wales aged ---

2.I believe that the paper writing now produced to and marked by me to contain the true and original last will and testement of the deceased.

3. To the best of my knowledge, information and belief, there was no land vested in the deceased which was settled previously to the death (and not by the will) of the deceased and which remained settled and notwithstanding such death.

4.I am one of the executors named in the said will

5. I will
(i)collect, get in and administer according to the law the real and personal estate of the said deceased;
(ii)when required to do so by the Court, exhibit in the court a full inventory of the said estate and render an account therof to the Court; and
(iii)when required to do so by the High Court, deliver up to that Court the grant of Probate

6. To the best of my knowledge information and belief the gross estate passing under the grant does not exceed £325,000 and the net estate does not exceed £

---

(and that this is not a case in which an Inland Revenue account is required to be delivered)

That notice of this application has been given to
Mr. John ABCDE and Miss. Anne FGHIJ the executors whom power is reserved.
Sworn by the above named desponent at
the said District Probate Registry
this 10 day May 2013.

N.B If any of the executors named in the will opted to have their 'power reserved' they are no longer required to sign a form but it is your responsibility to inform them (in writing) of this application.

JJ - it is your brother in laws responsibilty to show all executors the 'wil' and all application for Grant of Probate, then once issued to pay any bill/debts and lastly distribute to any beneficiaries. All executors if all in Uk should be keep informed.

Hope this information helps. Good luck in sorting everthing out.

getmore4less

Mrs_Supersaver_1 wrote: »

JJ - it is your brother in laws responsibilty to show all executors the 'wil' and all application for Grant of Probate, then once issued to pay any bill/debts and lastly distribute to any beneficiaries. All executors if all in Uk should be keep informed.

Hope this information helps. Good luck in sorting everthing out.

I don't think once a grant is issued that the excutors have any resonsibility to the other executors that did not take out the grant for ny reason.
No need to see the will or be informed of the progress.

The issue here is the other executors don't seem to have been sent the relevent forms to sign. Something does not seem right the other executors need to follow up why they have not had anything to sign.

http://hmctsformfinder.justice.gov.uk/courtfinder/forms/pa01a-eng.pdf


A6 [FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]Please state the names of any executors named in the will who are not applying for the Grant of Probate and show one of the following reasons for this:-[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]A The executor died before the deceased.[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]B The executor died after the deceased.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]C The executor does not wish to apply for probate now but wishes to reserve the right to act as executor in the future if necessary – this option is referred to as having "power reserved".[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]D The executor does not wish to apply for probate at all. This is referred to as "renouncing". It means that they gives up all their rights to act as executor.[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial]E The executor wants to appoint another person to act as their attorney to take the Grant of Representation out on their behalf. Please note, however, that the attorney of one executor cannot take a grant jointly with an executor acting in his own right. [/FONT]


[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][/FONT]
[FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]If you give reason D or E, please send a letter signed by the executor stating their intention when you send the application to the Probate Registry. If option C, D, or E is stated the Probate Registry will, [/FONT]



[/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]on receipt of your application, send you a form for the executor(s) to sign to confirm their intention. [/FONT][/FONT][FONT=Arial,Arial][FONT=Arial,Arial]You should arrange for this to be completed and then return it to the Probate Registry as instructed[/FONT][/FONT]

junglejim2

Thank you all for your helpful replies.

What is your opinion on the bank sending all monies to brother in law?
Is this normal? What happens if a beneficiary is incommunicado or estranged from family?
Do I take it that the person who is given probate is solely responsible for passing on the proceeds?

Thanks again.

Goldenyears

It is the executor who is responsible for division of the estate minus expenses, so no the banks could not divide monies in this simple way. They send funds to the executor named in the grant of probate who made the application. If there is more than one executor named in the grant (not the will) they should still send it all to the one who made the application. So this is all normal practice. What is not normal and the issue for you is two executors named in the will have not received their power reserved forms to sign (and they don't have to agree). When I was my mother's executor I was surprised that the Probate Office did not send power reserved forms directly to my father as co-executor, but to me. I could have signed them in his name and no-one would be the wiser. I wonder if something similar has happened here. You have to get sight of the grant of probate. Executors with power reserved are not named in the grant, it just states that they exist.

suzie246

could I find help here? my mother has died leaving an acct in Spain open with no instructions for me her next of kin and executive. I have dealt with her English bank that was straight forward and no probate has been necessary but, I have no idea where to start to close her Spanish acct and retrieve the monies to divide between her grandchildren . Many thanks in advance for any advice.

bouncydog1

Suggest you start yur own thread fr help, but other than that I would write to the bank in Spain asking what is needed and go from there. Prepare yourself for the time this will take as there s likely to be a lot of documentation required!

joerugby

Goldenyears wrote: »

It is the executor who is responsible for division of the estate minus expenses, so no the banks could not divide monies in this simple way. They send funds to the executor named in the grant of probate who made the application. If there is more than one executor named in the grant (not the will) they should still send it all to the one who made the application. So this is all normal practice. What is not normal and the issue for you is two executors named in the will have not received their power reserved forms to sign (and they don't have to agree). When I was my mother's executor I was surprised that the Probate Office did not send power reserved forms directly to my father as co-executor, but to me. I could have signed them in his name and no-one would be the wiser. I wonder if something similar has happened here. You have to get sight of the grant of probate. Executors with power reserved are not named in the grant, it just states that they exist.

I have spoken to the local probate registry about this last week. They tell me that the procedure has recently changed and that the written and web-based guides have not yet been amended to reflect the change.

The executor applying for probate now needs only to declare in writing that other executors have been infomed of his application, are happy with it and wish to reserve their powers. The application can then go ahead wothout the others signing any forms.

It then becomes the responsibility of the executor applying for probate to administer the estate in accordance with the law.

John_Pierpoint

When my sister and I turned up at Lincoln court to apply for our mother's probate about 8 years ago, we were put under a certain amount of "pressure" for one of us to drop out.
Admittedly with both people having to sign for everything, it makes the job more drawn out but the last thing I wanted was for one sibling to accuse the other of having made stupid financial decisions.

In my opinion the executors should always open an executors account and so be seen as beyond any possibility of intermixing funds. Who knows the financial organisation holding the account might go bust.