Advice required re executing a Will

idrankthecoolaid

Thanks for all the very helpful replies earlier in the year ^^^


I now have an additional problem that I had not considered !


Having (as far as I know) dotted all the i's and crossed all the t's - advertised in the gazette and in the local paper for any claimants to come forward (none have), waited 6 months from date probate was granted, and then a further four months (for the life of me I cannot find the online advice that made me wait a further 4 months, but it was something to do with The Inheritance Act 1975).....


Anyway, no claims have been forthcoming. So I am now ready to send out cheques to the beneficiaries. As I said in my initial post on this thread, the estate is tiny and the beneficiaries have tiny amounts to inherit - so in the scheme of things, its not that big or a deal BUT, as I said before, I have the most awkward toxic family, so I need to be super sure I am doing everything correctly. I have zero Z E R O desire to contact any of them more than I have to, so I was going to send each cheque with a brief covering letter on behalf of the executors, and leave it at that. The problem is that I have recently discovered that they have now scattered (following an embarrassing court case which was in the papers - thankfully nothing to do with me or the estate which I am co administering) and I am unable to locate all of them. They don't show up on the electoral roll. I know where one of them lives (but not the postal address), but don't want to hand deliver anything since that would bring me face to face with them, and besides which I want a signed proof of delivery. I am therefore in need of several addresses and no idea where to find these people in the UK. I don't even know which counties two of them might be in. Although ALL of them were extremely toxic toward me (the police were involved at he time), I believe that they have now fallen out with each other, so its not even as if I could contact the one who I know where they live, and ask for the addresses of the others......


What do I do next?

Flugelhorn

Oh that sounds like a real pain - from your earlier posts it sounds like the amounts of money are not great and getting them to the individuals could take quite a lot of work.

Comes down to how hard an executor has to try to distribute the estate?

idrankthecoolaid

Flugelhorn wrote: »

Oh that sounds like a real pain - from your earlier posts it sounds like the amounts of money are not great and getting them to the individuals could take quite a lot of work.

Comes down to how hard an executor has to try to distribute the estate?

The amounts are really tiny (< £100). The only places I can go for the addresses are to make a personal call at the door of one of the beneficiaries (and I don't want to do that, since that particular one has incited others to stir themselves in to a frenzy which culminated in them posting on social media that they wanted to burn me and have me arrested !) or to go to my sibling (the beneficiaries being my siblings adult offspring). However, my sibling is the most toxic of all of them, and there is no way I would ever want to be in their company ever again.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Could you write to your sibling and ask for the addresses?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If you do not want your sibling to know any of your contact details set up a temp email address for them to reply to.[/FONT]

Savvy_Sue

It could be worth a phone call to one of the tracing agencies: I'm not suggesting engaging them, but finding out what their charges are, and seeing if they have any advice about what steps you need to take to protect yourself.

Is it likely that after a while the missing beneficiaries will be in touch to ASK about their missing inheritance? If so, I'd hang onto the money ready to disburse it in the fullness of time.

idrankthecoolaid

Tom99 wrote: »

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Could you write to your sibling and ask for the addresses?[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If you do not want your sibling to know any of your contact details set up a temp email address for them to reply to.[/FONT]

Thanks for the valued suggestion. However I really want to avoid this.



In the past, I have had to send mail via special delivery to my sibling, and its typically signed by (? the dog !! ... don't ask, they haven't even used their own signature!!). So for that reason, I do not think I would get a reply.


Secondly, I have been advised by the police to not initiate or reply to any correspondence with said sibling or their spouse, since when trying to prove a course of conduct (with regard to harassment), I will end up having to start over if I initiate or maintain contact.

idrankthecoolaid

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

It could be worth a phone call to one of the tracing agencies: I'm not suggesting engaging them, but finding out what their charges are, and seeing if they have any advice about what steps you need to take to protect yourself.

Is it likely that after a while the missing beneficiaries will be in touch to ASK about their missing inheritance? If so, I'd hang onto the money ready to disburse it in the fullness of time.

Thanks for the suggestion, I will contact an agency and get a quote - if nothing else it will prove I have attempted to locate.

With regards to hanging on to it in case they claim, this is not a problem (especially since the amounts are so small), but can I ask - is this your personal suggestion or is it allowed in law to do this?

nom_de_plume

idrankthecoolaid wrote: »

With regards to hanging on to it in case they claim, this is not a problem (especially since the amounts are so small), but can I ask - is this your personal suggestion or is it allowed in law to do this?

A quick search of terms like missing beneficiaries suggests that's fine. I would deposit the money into an interest generating account and sit tight. According to one result, the beneficiaries have 12 years in which to surface or they lose out. I suspect there needs to be some effort on your part to locate them - perhaps an ad in local papers or via Facebook friends? I appreciate not knowing where they currently live may make adverts difficult but placing one local to their last know address should suffice if worded correctly.


Given the small sums involved, I wouldn't try too hard. I wonder if the costs incured in location attempts should come out of their pot or the estate?

izoomzoom

Another option is to send to the last known address ... it might be redirected .... although if you want to send it signed for or with proof of delivery, I don't know how that all works ...

nom_de_plume

https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-jan-apr-2017/what-happens-if-a-beneficiary-cant-be-found/


Here you go...