co-executor refusing to transfer agreed money to his beneficiary daughter

getmore4less

If those accounts were in the names of the grandchildren they may have been previous gifts held as bare trusts by the grandfather.

Yorkshireman99

getmore4less wrote: »

If those accounts were in the names of the grandchildren they may have been previous gifts held as bare trusts by the grandfather.

Which is totally meaningless to those who don't understand what you mean by the terminology.. Why not explain for the benefit of the OP.?

NKR

I am confident that they were not bare trusts. My father never mentioned that, and there was no paperwork that we found while doing probate & searching the house.

Yorkshireman99

The whole thing is a complete shambles. The executor has to distribute estate as per the will. If they do not then they are liable to any beneficiary that was not paid. What a beneficiary does with the money afterwards has nothing to do with he executor or the estate. So you are, as far as I can see, still owed what was left to you in the will.

Keep_pedalling

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

The whole thing is a complete shambles. The executor has to distribute estate as per the will. If they do not then they are liable to any beneficiary that was not paid. What a beneficiary does with the money afterwards has nothing to do with he executor or the estate. So you are, as far as I can see, still owed what was left to you in the will.

But as an executor who agreed to this omnishambles, isn’t the OP liable for their own losses?

NKR

In retrospect, it seems we should have done a deed of variation, to ensure that the money that our father intended to go to the 2 grandchildren did that. Apart from that, it was a simple will, and we as co-executors had agreed to do exactly what our father had intended. (This was very clear from conversations with him). This would have protected "T" from the sudden and extreme breakdown in relationship with her father, my brother. Is there anything else missing?

Yorkshireman99

Keep_pedalling wrote: »

But as an executor who agreed to this omnishambles, isn’t the OP liable for their own losses?

To be honest the whole story is so convoluted I am not sure! Untimately if the executor has not paid out all the funds to the correct person then they have some liability. If the OP does go to court the judge will be tearing his hair out!

Margot123

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

To be honest the whole story is so convoluted I am not sure! Untimately if the executor has not paid out all the funds to the correct person then they have some liability. If the OP does go to court the judge will be tearing his hair out!

The judge will most likely view the co-executor as being obstructive and wasting Court time. It won't go in their favour, and may prove very costly.
Perhaps they need to be made aware of this via a solicitor's letter?

The OP could ask for Court directions (a solicitor will assist with this). That would at least register the fact that the OP has acted fairly and has made all reasonable attempts to resolve the situation.

getmore4less

NKR wrote: »

In retrospect, it seems we should have done a deed of variation, to ensure that the money that our father intended to go to the 2 grandchildren did that. Apart from that, it was a simple will, and we as co-executors had agreed to do exactly what our father had intended. (This was very clear from conversations with him). This would have protected "T" from the sudden and extreme breakdown in relationship with her father, my brother. Is there anything else missing?

NKR wrote: »

I am confident that they were not bare trusts. My father never mentioned that, and there was no paperwork that we found while doing probate & searching the house.

What makes you confident that the money was intended for the grandchildren.

There would be no need for any paperwork bare trusts can happen by actions, such as saying the money in these accounts is the grandkids.

NKR

Thanks for your helpful question.
Here are thew reasons for me being confident that my Father intended the money to be given to the grandchildren.
1) He set up 3 accounts with Alliance Trust in the full names of all 3 grandchildren.
2) When he did this (15-20 years ago) he told me that this was his intention that the money would go to the grandchildren.
3) More recently, about a year before he died, one of the grandchildren ("L"), was in the process of buying a flat. At that point, my Grandfather was delighted to help her by liquidating the unit trusts in the AT account in her name, and gifting the money to her. He told her at the time that it had always been his intention that she should receive the money.

I do not know any details about how he set up the accounts with Alliance Trust, but there was never any "explicit" mention of as blind trust.
Thanks