Financial guardian/executor

TBagpuss

You could remain as executor but authorise the solicitor to carry out the bulk ofthe work. That way, you are not dealing on a day t day basis with the estate but do have access to the information and have tosing off on everything.

In this particualr case it may be simpler for the solicitor to deal with the administration as, if they have been cting as your father's attorneys for finacial adfiars they may well already have much ofthe inforamtion they need, but there isn't any reason why you have to resign as an executor,.

An executor is free to instruct solicitors to assist with dealig with the estate and the costs of doing so are paid from the estate, It gives you more concrete rights to information etc than if you are just a beneficiary.

fundamentalsofyou

TBagpuss wrote: »

You could remain as executor but authorise the solicitor to carry out the bulk ofthe work. That way, you are not dealing on a day t day basis with the estate but do have access to the information and have tosing off on everything.

In this particualr case it may be simpler for the solicitor to deal with the administration as, if they have been cting as your father's attorneys for finacial adfiars they may well already have much ofthe inforamtion they need, but there isn't any reason why you have to resign as an executor,.

An executor is free to instruct solicitors to assist with dealig with the estate and the costs of doing so are paid from the estate, It gives you more concrete rights to information etc than if you are just a beneficiary.

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[FONT=&quot]So if there are a number of executors, who have obtained a grant of probate, can they each individually instruct a solicitor to help? For e.g

Person 'A' , 'B', 'C', 'D' are executors as well as Beneficiaries [/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Person 'D' and 'E' are Beneficiaries (with power reserved - they can become executors to prove the will if they want at any stage but currently do not wish to be executor).

So A can point an executor to help with some of 'A.s' responsibility of an executor and charge this to the estate - so in fact A,B,C,D,E are in theory paying for it? Do B,C,D need to agree in order for the cost to be taken from the estate funds.[/FONT][FONT=&quot][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]

Savvy_Sue

fundamentalsofyou wrote: »

[FONT=&quot]
[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]So if there are a number of executors, who have obtained a grant of probate, can they each individually instruct a solicitor to help? For e.g

Person 'A' , 'B', 'C', 'D' are executors as well as Beneficiaries [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Person 'D' and 'E' are Beneficiaries (with power reserved - they can become executors to prove the will if they want at any stage but currently do not wish to be executor).

So A can point an executor to help with some of 'A.s' responsibility of an executor and charge this to the estate - so in fact A,B,C,D,E are in theory paying for it? Do B,C,D need to agree in order for the cost to be taken from the estate funds.[/FONT]

I think the more normal situation would be that the executors might divvy up the work between them - for example with the two estates I've co-executed I dealt with the utility companies and banks, and my co-exec handled all the shares.

We also felt we needed some specialist advice: the first time the intention was that we would both attend the appointment, but it fell in the middle of some very snowy weather, and as the appointment was near me we agreed that I'd go with my DH to take notes, and pass on the info afterwards.

This only worked because we trusted each other, and our fellow beneficiaries trusted us.

Advice taken in order to challenge the actions of an executor can't always be charged to the estate, AIUI.

securityguy

One of the key distinctions is between a solicitor as executor, who is legally responsible for what is going on just as any other executor is, and solicitor being paid by an executor to do the work, where the executor retains liability and the solicitor is bound by the professional liability. In the latter case, the executors can chop and change the solicitor/s they are using at will, but retain responsibility. In the former, the solicitor is unable to renounce once they have started work, but can if necessary take sole responsibility.

Mojisola

fundamentalsofyou wrote: »

So A can point an executor to help with some of 'A.s' responsibility of an executor and charge this to the estate - so in fact A,B,C,D,E are in theory paying for it?

Do B,C,D need to agree in order for the cost to be taken from the estate funds.

I don't know about all solicitors but our solicitor wouldn't take on estate work without signed agreement from all the executors and the cost would come from the estate.

If one of the executors wanted to employ him, that executor would be personally billed for the work, not the estate.

Yorkshireman99

Mojisola wrote: »

I don't know about all solicitors but our solicitor wouldn't take on estate work without signed agreement from all the executors and the cost would come from the estate.

If one of the executors wanted to employ him, that executor would be personally billed for the work, not the estate.

Not so. An executor is entitled to seek paid for professional advice on behalf of the estate at the estate's xpense.

Mojisola

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

Not so. An executor is entitled to seek paid for professional advice on behalf of the estate at the estate's xpense.

Even if the other executors didn't agree?

securityguy

Mojisola wrote: »

Even if the other executors didn't agree?

In general executors are acting jointly and severally. For example, if one executor sells you something without seeking the agreement of the others, you receive good title. Any one of the executors can do anything they all can together, including engaging professional help and charging it to the estate.

People who appoint multiple executors should do so in order to have backups in the event of death or renunciation for other reasons, and more generally to spread the work. If they think they are somehow getting a situation where executors have to agree, which prevents one executor from doing unspecified bad things, they are simply wrong.

Mojisola

securityguy wrote: »

In general executors are acting jointly and severally. For example, if one executor sells you something without seeking the agreement of the others, you receive good title. Any one of the executors can do anything they all can together, including engaging professional help and charging it to the estate.

Shows how careful you have to be in choosing your executors.

Warring executors, all taking on independent solicitors for advice, could result in a massive legal bill for the estate.

rosslinn

Posts here have been very helpful. Thanks. Having spoken to the solicitor I felt reassured by his responses to my questions. He quoted a likely cost of £2 to £3k with a maximum of £4K. There is enough in the estate to pay this and I have asked for these figures in writing. Given the complicated family situation I think this will be money well spent if it keeps everything straightforward.
He did say that I could stay as an executor but stand down and allow them to do all the work however myself and the other executor would need to sign everything which I thought might add complication.

I would like to believe I could trust the solicitor to get on with the work and charge fairly. Notice though a post on another thread where someone was charged £20k which did make me a bit nervous about my decision.

It does seem to be quite difficult to get information on this topic and the forum has been very useful.