Asking solicitor to stand down as executor

solentsusie

Hello

My mother died suddenly last week, bit of a shock as although she had been very ill with numerous ailments, big operations for cancer etc. there was no indication that she would be leaving us any time soon. Although I am pleased for her that it was sudden and not a long drawn out process as the cancer was still lurking around in her body it is still a shock.

I am the sole beneficiary of her will. Reading through it I can see that the solicitors appointed themselves as executors. I was wondering if anyone had experience of asking a solicitor to stand down as an executor?

My mothers affairs are pretty simple and straightforward. There was a small amount of money in her bank/savings accounts and an insurance policy to cover her funeral expenses. She also owned the house she lived in. Everything in total will come under the inheritance tax threshold.

Because it was a sudden death I am currently waiting for the Coroner's office to come back to me to confirm I am able to register her death as I am waiting on them to release her to the funeral home, they should be doing this today, and I have made her funeral arrangements. I just need the death certificate now.

I have done a lot of the basic work. I have cancelled all her bills and put anything I currently need for the property over into my name, such as house insurance, boiler insurance etc. It is just really the funeral to pay for out of her estate. I have set up a spreadsheet of what monies she has and what needs to be paid for.

I am now looking into probate as the house will need to be transferred to my ownership. Looking at the forms they seem pretty straightforward in her circumstances and I know I can do this myself. I have read and heard so many stories of solicitors charging huge fees and percentages to deal with estates that I want to do this myself rather than waste what is left of Mum's money on their fees and maybe even end up with a very large bill I have to pay!

I had a search through the internet and came across a Guardian article stating I can ask for the solicitor to stand down and it should be pretty easy to get them to do this if they are a reputable company, I just want to know if anyone had done this, or if it is something that is commonly known?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/21/probate-avoid-rip-off-comparing

All help much appreciated, but no arguments on this thread please, I don't need to see that sort of thing at the moment.

Thank you in advance.

Yorkshireman99

solentsusie wrote: »

Hello

My mother died suddenly last week, bit of a shock as although she had been very ill with numerous ailments, big operations for cancer etc. there was no indication that she would be leaving us any time soon. Although I am pleased for her that it was sudden and not a long drawn out process as the cancer was still lurking around in her body it is still a shock.

I am the sole beneficiary of her will. Reading through it I can see that the solicitors appointed themselves as executors. I was wondering if anyone had experience of asking a solicitor to stand down as an executor?

My mothers affairs are pretty simple and straightforward. There was a small amount of money in her bank/savings accounts and an insurance policy to cover her funeral expenses. She also owned the house she lived in. Everything in total will come under the inheritance tax threshold.

Because it was a sudden death I am currently waiting for the Coroner's office to come back to me to confirm I am able to register her death as I am waiting on them to release her to the funeral home, they should be doing this today, and I have made her funeral arrangements. I just need the death certificate now.

I have done a lot of the basic work. I have cancelled all her bills and put anything I currently need for the property over into my name, such as house insurance, boiler insurance etc. It is just really the funeral to pay for out of her estate. I have set up a spreadsheet of what monies she has and what needs to be paid for.

I am now looking into probate as the house will need to be transferred to my ownership. Looking at the forms they seem pretty straightforward in her circumstances and I know I can do this myself. I have read and heard so many stories of solicitors charging huge fees and percentages to deal with estates that I want to do this myself rather than waste what is left of Mum's money on their fees and maybe even end up with a very large bill I have to pay!

I had a search through the internet and came across a Guardian article stating I can ask for the solicitor to stand down and it should be pretty easy to get them to do this if they are a reputable company, I just want to know if anyone had done this, or if it is something that is commonly known?

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2013/sep/21/probate-avoid-rip-off-comparing

All help much appreciated, but no arguments on this thread please, I don't need to see that sort of thing at the moment.

Thank you in advance.

You can ask the solicitor to stand down and their rules say that they should do so. They should give you the will then you can apply for letters of administration with the will annexed. You can then act as executor.

solentsusie

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

You can ask the solicitor to stand down and their rules say that they should do so. They should give you the will then you can apply for letters of administration with the will annexed. You can then act as executor.

I already have the original copy of the will which is how I know the solicitors put themselves as the executors of the will. Probably standard practise if my mother didn't name anyone?

As my mother's affairs are very straightforward I see no benefit of racking up an unnecessary solicitor bill. I just want to make sure everything is done correctly.

Yorkshireman99

solentsusie wrote: »

I already have the original copy of the will which is how I know the solicitors put themselves as the executors of the will. Probably standard practise if my mother didn't name anyone?

As my mother's affairs are very straightforward I see no benefit of racking up an unnecessary solicitor bill. I just want to make sure everything is done correctly.

Your late mother should have been given the chance to choose but all you can do now is ask the solicitor to stand down.

securityguy

I'm not suggesting this is done, but if someone is the sole beneficiary of a will, doesn't like/want the appointed executors, is the person who would be the sole beneficiary under intestacy, and is the person who would be first in line to get letters of administration, what's to stop them from tearing up the will and applying for letters of administration? If an executor got wind of this, and the will is a simple "everything to the residual beneficiary", do they have standing to object and impose themselves as an executor? Does it make a difference if the executor is a solicitor or a random bystander?

solentsusie

securityguy wrote: »

I'm not suggesting this is done, but if someone is the sole beneficiary of a will, doesn't like/want the appointed executors, is the person who would be the sole beneficiary under intestacy, and is the person who would be first in line to get letters of administration, what's to stop them from tearing up the will and applying for letters of administration? If an executor got wind of this, and the will is a simple "everything to the residual beneficiary", do they have standing to object and impose themselves as an executor? Does it make a difference if the executor is a solicitor or a random bystander?

Just because someone is the sole beneficiary it doesn't mean they would be the only person who could possibly make claim on someone's estate if the person died intestate. I certainly don't want to be tearing up my mother's will and putting myself in a vulnerable/unlawful position by tearing up a legal document and pretending it didn't exist, particularly as the will was only made a couple of years ago. Also, as it is all pretty straightforward and clear, apart from the executor bit.

I just want to know if anyone has any experience of asking a solicitor to stand down as an executor and how that went.

Yorkshireman99

The fact that this can be done without much chance of detection does not alter the criminality. What it does do is illustrate the weakness of the UK system of dealing with wills.

securityguy

It is certainly hard to see why it isn't possible to lodge wills reliably such that they are automatically cross-checked against an application for letters of administration.

Of course, one complicating factor is that under current law, it's entirely legal for the testator to simply destroy a will; if the sole copy is in their custody, that's an open door for malpractice (if, for example, they write a will leaving everything to charity, and there are relatives with a lot to gain from intestacy) but on the other hand is a perfectly legitimate thing if they do, indeed, wish to change their mind.

Yorkshireman99

securityguy wrote: »

It is certainly hard to see why it isn't possible to lodge wills reliably such that they are automatically cross-checked against an application for letters of administration.

Of course, one complicating factor is that under current law, it's entirely legal for the testator to simply destroy a will; if the sole copy is in their custody, that's an open door for malpractice (if, for example, they write a will leaving everything to charity, and there are relatives with a lot to gain from intestacy) but on the other hand is a perfectly legitimate thing if they do, indeed, wish to change their mind.

The likely reason is that governments have limited Parliamentary time and it is not seen as a widespread problem. Plus of course the extra bureaucracy involved is not a vote winner either!

securityguy

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

The likely reason is that governments have limited Parliamentary time and it is not seen as a widespread problem. Plus of course the extra bureaucracy involved is not a vote winner either!

And the level of actual crime is unknown. It's presumably non-zero, but probably equally not vast. The real issue is that a generation or two ago, most people died without substantial assets and will-hacking was a topic for the affluent. We are now seeing the death of a generation who not only owed houses (much rarer in the past) but had other substantial assets, so there's stuff to fight over, held by people who may not (witness some of the stuff on this forum) have been terribly well advised or indeed advised at all while writing wills. So the level of crime and malpractice is likely to rise, but from a low base.

Anthear

I asked the firm who were appointed as Executors of my mother's Will to stand down - they refused, saying they had a 'duty' to act... :-(