help needed dealing with will

slimfastshady

My best friend has recently died and left me as ececuter of his will,which i agreed to do.It turns out his financal affairs are quite complicted and so are his circumstances.the house he lived in is a intrest only mortgage with his ex wife still on the mortgage although not living there but his partner still lives there.There are two charging orders on the property one for £29000 and one i am yet to find the paper work for the other.there is not a endowment policy in place to repay the mortgage or mortgage repayment insureance.There is not any money in the bank accounts but there is a pension that might pay out what is in the pot (£30000) but not any thing else.there is a discressioary trust which i belive can not form part off the estate.do i need to apply for probate or should i get probate solicitor.he also stated in the will he wants me to be guardian of his son which is fine but he wants to stay with his uncle.Where do i start its causing me sleepless nights!!!

Yorkshireman99

slimfastshady wrote: »

My best friend has recently died and left me as ececuter of his will,which i agreed to do.It turns out his financal affairs are quite complicted and so are his circumstances.the house he lived in is a intrest only mortgage with his ex wife still on the mortgage although not living there but his partner still lives there.There are two charging orders on the property one for £29000 and one i am yet to find the paper work for the other.there is not a endowment policy in place to repay the mortgage or mortgage repayment insureance.There is not any money in the bank accounts but there is a pension that might pay out what is in the pot (£30000) but not any thing else.there is a discressioary trust which i belive can not form part off the estate.do i need to apply for probate or should i get probate solicitor.he also stated in the will he wants me to be guardian of his son which is fine but he wants to stay with his uncle.Where do i start its causing me sleepless nights!!!

It sounds as if the estate is insolvent. If so you should leave well alone. The pension pot may not be payable to the estate. Find out more and don't take any action.

Keep_pedalling

Sounds like an absolute nightmare. How old is his son, and is his uncle willing to take on full time responsibility for him?

slimfastshady

it is a nightmare for me. his son is 16 and his uncle is willing to look after him full time

Yorkshireman99

slimfastshady wrote: »

it is a nightmare for me. his son is 16 and his uncle is willing to look after him full time

The arrangements for the son are the responsibility of the social servcies and the courts. Nothing in the will changes that.

jackyann

Definitely involve Social Services (and if you aren't familiar with them, don't be worried about it). They will be able to do 2 important things:
1. Establish who has the care of the child. At this age it will usually be who the child wants to be with (unless they are seriously unsuitable!). They will make a quick initial assessment, then a more thorough one. If everyone is happy with the arrangement, the accommodation is OK, and no-one has a serious criminal conviction, then it is very straightforward.
If, by any chance, you / your friend / child's mum feels that the uncle is unsuitable, then Social Services will be the people to help sort that out.

2. They can help with the financial situation with regards to the child - they won't go messing about with anything else, but they can ensure that whoever has responsibility for the child has money for day-to-day expenses. This gives you some breathing space.

Sorry that I can offer no advice on dealing with the financial situation. I wonder if CAB or a local law centre could offer some guidance.

TBagpuss

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

The arrangements for the son are the responsibility of the social servcies and the courts. Nothing in the will changes that.

No they aren't.

As gurduian you have lgal rights to make decisons for the child, including deciding where and with whom he should live. You can simply confirm to the uncle that as Son's guardian you are happy for him to live with his uncle and for uncle to claim any relevent child benefit etc.

You may wish to do a 'to whom it may concern' letter stating specifcally that you delagte your parental responsibility as [name of son]'s legal guardian to [name of uncle]for all purposes and until further notice - this would enable Uncle to sign school permission slips etc as necessary, if his role is questioned.

There is not the slightest need for social services to have anything to do with it.

It would be possible for Uncle to apply to the court for a formal order, but it is not necessary as there is no dispute overwhere he should live, and given Son's age is unlikely to be appropriate (orders are not normally made for children over 16)

So far as acting as executor is concerned it's not clear yet whether the estate is insolvent.

Do you have a rough idea of what the hosue is worth, and what the total amount owing on the mortgage + secured loan is?

It may well be that the house will have to be sold, to pay those debts. Who is the beneficiary?

If you have not yet done anything to deal with the estate then you can renounce as executor - it would then be possible for any substitute to take it on or if noone else is named, for your friend's fmaily to apply for letters of administration. If Son is beneficiary it might make sense for you to renounce and let Uncle deal.

If the estate is bankrupt then in order to avoid being personally liable for any shsortfall you have to make absolutely certian that you follow the rules exactly. If you think that that is the situation, you can renounce your role as executor. As I understand it, that would not affect your appointment as Guardian to the child, as that is completely separate.

TBagpuss

Just to add - is Son's mum still alive? If so, then the appointment of you as guardian doesn't take effect, as it is only effectivre of there is no one left who has paretnal responsibility for him. His mother will automtically have had PR and will only have lost it if he was later adopted (in which case the adoptive parents both have it) or if she has died.

If that is that case, ten the Guardianship issues falls away and the arrangemtns with regard to where he lives come down to what his mum and uncle decide between themselves, you have no say.

Social Services would only get involved if there were concerns over neglect or abuse.

slimfastshady

i belive the house is worth somewhere in the region off £110000 with an intrest only mortgage and nothing in place to pay it off. his ex wife is still named on the mortgage deeds and her name is on the charging orders.Does that make her responsible for the house and debt and it can be taking out of the equasion? all i have done so far is sent death certificates and notified the revelent organisations.Nothing to do with the estate itself

slimfastshady

the mother has had no involvment with the child for the last 5 years and cant see that changing.The chid is happy with his uncle for now so will leave that as it is and let them sort it out between them.Would i be best taking on a fixed fee probate solicter as it need to be done right and my friend would not want me lumbered with his debt?

unforeseen

If the house is joint tenants then it's now all the ex wife's problem to deal with and doesn't form part of the estate surely