Dying relative - what next?

elsien

Elderly relative not expected to live more than another day or so.
Has children but has appointed his two older siblings (late 70s) as executors.
They do not wish to relinquish the role as they want to do right by their relative, but they are struggling with the potential stress it may cause, so I am trying to find information to make it easier for them.

The will leaves the house/estate equally to the 4 children, two of whom still live at home and states it can't be sold for two years unless the two at home agree, to give time for them to sort out alternatives - one has MH problems.

The executors would prefer a solicitor to do probate, but have no idea at the moment if there is any money to pay for this if the house can't be sold - the person has only a current account, no other assets and they don't know what it is in it as yet. There is also the possibility that the benefits agency, council tax people etc have not been informed of relative entering a care home some months ago, so potentially there could be money to be repaid. (One executor is also power of attorney along with one of the children, but the child has been organising the day to day finances and has stopped returning calls to the other PoA when questions were asked - it is likely they are still operating the bank account under a third party mandate instead of using the PoA and have not told the bank the person has lost capacity.)

So the current questions are - if the children organise the funeral and there isn't enough ready cash in the estate to pay for it, would the executors be expected to deal with this and if so how?

If there isn't the money to pay for a solicitor, would the executors need to keep executing (or whatever it's called) until the house is able to be sold and the money shared out in two years time?

If there are debts and the cash in the estate is not sufficient for this and the funeral without the house being sold, what do the executors do then?

If the will doesn't specify (and the executors don't think it does) who is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the house up until it is sold? Would they just transfer it into the 4 children's names and let them get on with it amongst themselves?

If one child wants to give their share of the house to a sibling - and they will be made aware of deprivation of assets when on benefits - what would the executors need to do to deal with this?

I think that's it for now - one of the executors is a parent so I'm trying to support them by getting an inkling in advance, as far as possible.

-taff

If it turns out s/he should have been funding their own care, the council will make moves to sell any asset belonging to them to get their money back regardless of what their will says.

elsien

They won't owe money for residential care as they were previously sectioned so 117 aftercare will cover it. It's more if they've carried on being paid pension credit, carers allowance for child etc without telling anyone about the change in circumstances.

Torry_Quine

Whoever arranges the funeral with the undertaker is responsible for paying. They can claim from the estate but if there is not enough money then they have to pay it.

Yorkshireman99

elsien wrote: »

Elderly relative not expected to live more than another day or so.
Has children but has appointed his two older siblings (late 70s) as executors.
They do not wish to relinquish the role as they want to do right by their relative, but they are struggling with the potential stress it may cause, so I am trying to find information to make it easier for them.

The will leaves the house/estate equally to the 4 children, two of whom still live at home and states it can't be sold for two years unless the two at home agree, to give time for them to sort out alternatives - one has MH problems.

The executors would prefer a solicitor to do probate, but have no idea at the moment if there is any money to pay for this if the house can't be sold - the person has only a current account, no other assets and they don't know what it is in it as yet. There is also the possibility that the benefits agency, council tax people etc have not been informed of relative entering a care home some months ago, so potentially there could be money to be repaid. (One executor is also power of attorney along with one of the children, but the child has been organising the day to day finances and has stopped returning calls to the other PoA when questions were asked - it is likely they are still operating the bank account under a third party mandate instead of using the PoA and have not told the bank the person has lost capacity.)

So the current questions are - if the children organise the funeral and there isn't enough ready cash in the estate to pay for it, would the executors be expected to deal with this and if so how?

If there isn't the money to pay for a solicitor, would the executors need to keep executing (or whatever it's called) until the house is able to be sold and the money shared out in two years time?

If there are debts and the cash in the estate is not sufficient for this and the funeral without the house being sold, what do the executors do then?

If the will doesn't specify (and the executors don't think it does) who is responsible for the maintenance and upkeep of the house up until it is sold? Would they just transfer it into the 4 children's names and let them get on with it amongst themselves?

If one child wants to give their share of the house to a sibling - and they will be made aware of deprivation of assets when on benefits - what would the executors need to do to deal with this?

I think that's it for now - one of the executors is a parent so I'm trying to support them by getting an inkling in advance, as far as possible.

If there are insufficient funds to meet the debts then the house can be sold without waiting thew two years. If there is any question of asset deprivation that is no concern of the executors.

elsien

So if there's enough to cover debts without the house being sold, would their responsibility end when the house was transferred into the children's names, or would they need to try to sort a sale in two years to distribute the money? Or would that depend on the exact wording of the will?

Yorkshireman99

It depends on the exact wording of the will. If the executors transfer the house to the four beneficiaries then their reponsibility ends there. More facts needed before a definitive answer can be given. The executors need to seek urgent professional advice before they do anything.

securityguy

elsien wrote: »

If one child wants to give their share of the house to a sibling - and they will be made aware of deprivation of assets when on benefits - what would the executors need to do to deal with this?

Any issue of deprivation of assets arising from a will, a deed of variation or (even more obviously) a post-distribution arrangement between beneficiaries is nothing to with the executors. So long as the transactions are legal, any effect on the finances or benefits of the beneficiaries is the beneficiaries' problem.

elsien

No, I realise that but they have a tendency not to engage their brains so it's more about telling them it's sometimes they need to consider, then letting them get on with it whatever they decide.

elsien

Relative has now passed away and it has transpired that the children have been using his money to subsidise themselves while he was in the care home. This not left enough cash to cover the funeral, or for any executor expenses that may arise land registry fees, or whatever), although there is still the house.
If the children decline to pay the extra funeral costs themselves, what can the executors do in the meantime - sell the house regardless of the two years in the will? Are we now into solicitor territory, and again how would this be funded if there's no money left?

Keep_pedalling

elsien wrote: »

Relative has now passed away and it has transpired that the children have been using his money to subsidise themselves while he was in the care home. This not left enough cash to cover the funeral, or for any executor expenses that may arise land registry fees, or whatever), although there is still the house.
If the children decline to pay the extra funeral costs themselves, what can the executors do in the meantime - sell the house regardless of the two years in the will? Are we now into solicitor territory, and again how would this be funded if there's no money left?

Well know what I would do, hand the whole thing over to the parasitical children.