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Excessive executor fee from bank appointed by deceased

Hi,
A major bank was appointed (by the deseased) to be the joint executor with my wife, of her mother's estate.

The estate was not paticularly complex but the charges are based on the total amount of the estate, in this case 4% of the first £500k and 3% thereafter.

It seems that the bank are getting a fee that is not in proportion to the work they have done or the risks they have taken, is there any way the charges can be contested please?

Thanks.
«1

Comments

  • You can ask the bank to stand aside if they have not started any work on the estate.
    If they have started the process it will be more difficult - but I suggest you speak to the bank ASAP.

  • Hi, thanks for your response,
    they have virtually finished so it is too late to ask them to stand down.
    The indication at the time was that they would not step aside.

    Do they have to justify their charges? Or is the extortion completely unavoidable.
  • Mrs_B_12
    Mrs_B_12 Posts: 364 Forumite
    If the bank was named by the deceased surely the charges were agreed with her so you might not be able to contest any fees. You probably need an expert for this one.
  • ManAtHome
    ManAtHome Posts: 8,512 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Most banks offer a "free" will-writing service if they are appointed executors - didn't your wife have to sign up to this as joint executor?
  • Hi, thanks for your input,
    I can see that the charges must have been agreed in the past, but I would hold that the agreement was unreasonable. What sort of professional might be an expert in taking on a bank do you think please?
  • ManAtHome wrote: »
    Most banks offer a "free" will-writing service if they are appointed executors - didn't your wife have to sign up to this as joint executor?
    My wife was asked to be a joint executor, which she agreed to be. Are you thinking she should have advised her mum against using the bank?
    She certianly would now!
    Thanks..
  • ManAtHome
    ManAtHome Posts: 8,512 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture Combo Breaker
    Possibly - depends on whether there were any discretionary trusts, joint business assets or contentious clauses involved (possibly other stuff outside my experience). Most of the "work" is in tracking down and distributing assets in accordance with the will (and leaving yourself open to legal action if you don't...).
  • There were no discretionary trusts, joint business assets or contentious clauses. Most of the assets were known about in detail by the bank as they had been providing "private banking services" for the previous 8 years and so were instructed and paid to manage the estate in a straight forward way.
    The benificiaries were all well known to the family & unambiguous.

    Thanks again for the replies, this is all very interesting.
  • Banks and other "corporate" executors quite often charge a flat fee based on the value of the estate. Some people see this as an advantage, compared with a fee based on hours worked where you can't estimate how long they will spend on sorting the estate out. At least with a flat fee, if you know roughly what you're going to leave, then you can work out roughly what the fee will be.

    The downside with a flat fee is that they might have charged less if you had gone with the "hours worked" route - but then you might have paid more!

    If the deceased appointed the bank as joint executor on these terms, it's difficult to see how you can challenge them. It doesn't really matter what work they've done - provided they've done what they were supposed to - as the agreement was "to do a job for a flat fee".

    If you had gone the hours worked route, they would have recorded each piece of work, who did the work and how long it took. With a flat fee, they won't have needed to keep these detailed records, so they will probably struggle to give you that kind of information.

    Depending on the nature and complexity of the will, you may have got a good deal - or you may have paid a premium. But I can't see grounds for you to challenge what was agreed.

    You are paying for their experience and professional guidance in handling any tricky matters. Did they do a good job? If so, it makes it even more difficult to challenge.

    The time to challenge the fees was at the time they were appointed. The bank have now done the job they were asked to do, so it doesn't seem unreasonable for them to be paid what they were promised. Sorry.
    Warning ..... I'm a peri-menopausal axe-wielding maniac ;)
  • Lorian
    Lorian Posts: 6,357 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    IANAL.

    The residual legatee is the one actually paying this fee. Did the bank get them to agree their charges in advance, as I've seen this done before. Not sure if they are bound to do this though.
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