Renouncing executor duties

SeniorSam

Scotland laws differ from those in England and I don't know the implications of this. However, it does not implicate you at all to open the Will and see it's contents as your friend obviously left instructions for his Will to be sent to you with the letter.

I suggest you open the Will and whatever the terms are, even if you are a beneficiary, you can speak with a solicitor that will deal within the Laws of Scotland to explain your position.

That initial conversation will be without charge or obligation, which you can establish when calling, as the solicitor would not expect to charge for initial advice of what to do, but would possibly hope to receive instructions from you to act.

Should you choose to appoint the solicitor to act under yourself as Executor, then do discuss charges before proceeding and try to establish what overall costs will be incurred were they to act.

You will then be in a position to notify the family that you are dealing with matters, or you are relinqueshing your Executorship, but also, what they coukd do to instruct the solicitor.

There may be inforamtion within the Will that would shed more light on your friends wishes, as he may well say that you are permitted to appoint others should you wish to do so.

If you do not read the Will, which was your friends intention, you would never know if there are some things in it that are meant for you to hear, and you would let him down by at least not reading his final wishes.

I hope this helps you, but returning the Will unopend is not what was intended, so do the right thing for his sake.

Sam

g6jns_2

spamhater wrote: »

Hi

This is a bit long winded so apologies in advance. I'm very anxious about the situation and am desperate to make sure I do not become involved in any of the following.

I have been a long term friend of an elderly couple. Wife died in 2012 and husband died last month. I was not involved in the wife's estate in any way. Husband owned property abroad and a sizeable property here in UK. Given the value of UK property alone I would imagine in the realms of IHT as far as the estate goes.

They had no children together, he had a son and daughter from a previous marriage but had been estranged for some years. After the death of his wife the daughter re-established contact although this was very limited.
Both son and daughter live in UK, some 500 or so miles from fathers UK home.

For a number of years when my friend (and his late wife) were at their home abroad I looked after the home here. I kept a key and popped in a regular basis to check all was ok as they were sometimes gone a few months, especially in winter.

The death was quite sudden, he was taken to hospital where he died the following day. His daughter was contacted (possibly by hospital as I didn't do it) and arrived next day to organise funeral etc. she stayed in a local hotel until the funeral took place and then returned home. After the funeral I approached her to return the house key I had. She asked if I would hold on to it and continue to keep an eye on the place until she got things sorted out given that she lived so far away. I agreed and have been doing so (without going into the house as it just felt uncomfortable).

Yesterday I received a package in the post from the daughter. Inside were two envelopes, one addressed to me, one which states" last will and testament of xxx". They were both sealed using old fashioned sealing wax (something my elderly friend used regularly )
The envelope addressed to me contained a letter written some 18 months ago thanking me for my friendship over the years and stating that he had named me as his sole executor as he wished to ensure the estate was dealt with in a "diligent and honourable manner" and this was not something he could trust his family to do.

To be completely honest I am horrified. I cannot imagine how much time his estate will take to sort out, there are at least 2 properties, one abroad, a fairly dormant company directorship although I believe the company receives some kind of royalties in addition to a collection of antique paintings and a lifetimes accumulation of belongings. In addition the tone of the accompanying letter from the daughter makes it clear the family are very unhappy about my position as executor and states they will be "monitoring my every action to make sure it is above board".

I know it may seem like I'm letting my friend down but I'm pretty angry that he should name me as executor without at least discussing it first and I have no desire to have any dealings with his family.

How do I formally renounce the position of executor and who do I do this to? I want to make absolutely sure I cannot be drawn into this at all.I Have not opened the second envelope, it remains sealed.

My husband suggested I send a recorded delivery letter to the daughter, returning the contents of the package and also the house key, stating I will not undertake what I have been asked to do and I wish to have no further contact with them.

Will this be sufficient? I want to be certain I cannot be implicated at all.

I'm sorry if I sound like a drama queen, I just have a horrible feeling (based on previous conversations with the friend when he was alive) that his family will be very difficult/almost obstructive in any dealings and that this will not end well. E en if I had been happy to do so I work long hours and am often away from home on business so may not be able to deal with things as quickly as I should.

Apologies for the length of the post and if anything is irrelevant I'm panicking slightly and wanted to give the full picture.

Opening the will does not obligate you in any way. You might be a major beneficiary and could lose out if the family decided do destroy the will. As others have said you could employ a solicitor to deal with the whole thing and let them deal with the relatives. Even though your friend should have asked as a friend i think you at least owe him that.

Keep_pedalling

Another possibility is that because your freind was estranged from what little family he had, is that the major beneficiary could be a charity. If that is the case then they would likely to be happy to to take over the responsibility, but unless you look at the will you will never know.

Never make major desisions like this with out all the facts, and nearly all those are in the will.

getmore4less

RAS wrote: »

Given the family attitude, I would suggest that you employ a solicitor to do the work. Let the family know that you are doing this as a result of their concerns about everything being above board

In fact given that you think the estate needsd to pay IHT and that it is a complex estate, it is gooing to need to be sorted out by a solicitor because they organise the payment of the IHT prior to probate, which neither yourself or a family member can sort out in time.

You could of course renounce the executorship if you prefer (there is a form to fill in and return to the family).

A solicitor is not required to pay IHT.you canot say that the named executor or family could not do this in time.

getmore4less

I would engage a local solicitor familiar with confirmation for a chat and for them to wittiness the opening of the envelope marked will. and have a chat about the contents.

You can then decide on the next action being more informed.

troubleinparadise

I executed my mother's complex estate which was over the IHT threshold, and which included overseas assets.

I did this because I had the associated paperwork, and knew all the accounts etc, and was also one of the beneficiaries, and it was for my mum.

Given the amount of time it has taken (and isn't finished yet), I would be very reluctant to take this on ever again without my personal involvement and motivation - and the time doesn't take into account the worry factors and thinking time involved.

I would counsel as others have said: open the will to fully inform yourself, and then either accept the executorship but with a solicitor handling it on your behalf (especially given the warning about the family keeping an eye on your actions), or return the paperwork to the family, officially renouncing executorship.

Whilst executing a will isn't beyond the layperson's capabilities, in your particular circumstances and your understandable reluctance (it sounds as though you have thought this through very well already and have your eyes open to the reality of what is being asked of you) I think stepping away would be the sensible thing to do, however good your friendship had been. Your friend obviously thought highly of you and trusted you, but I suspect this might be a request too far!

paddy's_mum

If you are, in fact, named as a beneficiary, make sure you take steps to keep a copy of the original - perhaps a copy sworn by your own solicitor (or better still, the testator's solicitor!) so that if the original is accidentally destroyed or lost, evidence of your entitlement still exists.

With a family issuing threats and ultimatums from the very start, some skulduggery is not outside the realms of possibility. It seems your friend knew his family very well.

Good luck.

amersall

If someone trusted me enough to "do the right thing" I would do it, no question, he obviously does not trust his family and he obviously held you in high regard.

The advice on here has been good regards this situation.

Good luck.

Marktheshark

Thought you had the will ?
If you area beneficiary it will be in the will.
All things been equal, if you are in the will you will get your share either way.

As executor, you have the wrath of the money hungry family who will be at your throat.
You only become an executor if you apply for probate, you can just refuse and do nothing.
If you are not in line for a cut this is what I would do.
Let those benefiting squabble over the estate and risk bankruptcy if a debtor comes out of the wood work.
Worse still if a legal battle breaks out over the will you get dragged in to the centre of it.

Read the will, if your not in it, kindly decline the nomination and pass it all back to the family, you should not sign anything as you have not applied to probate the estate and you can just refuse to be executor verbally.

spamhater

Thank you all for your advice. I have quite a bit to update on so here goes.

Those of you who pointed out that I should open the will were of course taking the sensible approach. I Was so panicked, particularly by the family threats, that I wasn't thinking logically.

So, reassured that I wasn't committing myself to any further action, I opened the envelope said to contain the will. It did indeed, and a further letter addressed to me (dated prior to the accompanying separate letter). It stated that I had been named executor however should I not be able to carry out my duties or not wish to take them on there was provision for this in the will.
Thankfully within the will an "alternative" executor was named. This person, whom I met once at a social event held by the deceased an number of years ago, is not a family member.

I have since contacted this individual (which wasn't the quickest thing to achieve) and they are willing to take on the role. They were fully aware of the will, my nomination as executor and their role if required. They also had a copy of the will. This is a retired person whom I have no doubt will carry things out exactly as they should be. I believe they are also well aware of the attitude of the family members without much input from me.

I will be passing the house key to them to handle things from this point on.
I have yet to download the formal template to renounce my role as executor. I should be able to do so tomorrow and fill them out. I've been run off my feet with work or it would have been done yesterday.

I haven't advised the family of this so, as I've missed their deadline, I imagine a solicitors letter will be winging its way to me anytime. I will formally respond to them however it will be once I have attended to everything else, they are not my priority.

And to those that suggested I may be a beneficiary, I am - by way of a few very specific items, as is the replacement executor. This was unexpected and is a much appreciated gesture. The family are also beneficiaries although perhaps to a significantly lesser extent than they are anticipating. Several charities will receive the lions share of the estate which I'm sure will be most appreciated.

Once again thanks to those who took the time to respond. On re-reading my posts Im embarrassed by how much of a drama llama I was. Nothing like something unexpected to cause a stir:)