Sending money to beneficiaries abroad

Blossom50

In her will, my mother left money to family members who live in Europe. Now that her home is sold, bank accounts closed etc. we have reached the point of actually paying money to the beneficiaries.

The solicitors are acting as though nobody previously has ever died in the UK and left money that needs to be paid in euros to people living in Europe who do not speak English.

The solicitors have been provided with the IBAN numbers of bank accounts and the home addresses of people so there is a choice of paying directly into a bank account or sending cheques but they don't seem to think either method is safe enough.

As one of the executors can I simply insist that the solicitors do as I say regarding paying out the inheritance or does anybody know of a better, simpler, safe method of transferring money abroad.

I have to admit to some self-interest here as the solicitors are unwilling to release my part of the inheritance until we can all be paid.

MovingForwards

Last one I dealt with where the beneficiary spoke no English the estate paid for letters from the firm to be translated into the language and then posted them, waited for a response and got the letters translated back into English for the file. This also included obtaining certified ID from the beneficiary.

Are you sure the solicitors are saying sending money is unsafe or have they said the beneficiaries have not confirmed their details themselves so it's not safe to send the money as the solicitors can't confirm the correct people are going to receive the money.

If I were you I would seek clarification, in writing, as to what is the actual position of the file and what the solicitors want to be able to release the money to the beneficiaries.

Blossom50

"Are you sure the solicitors are saying sending money is unsafe or have they said the beneficiaries have not confirmed their details themselves so it's not safe to send the money as the solicitors can't confirm the correct people are going to receive the money]"

I'm sure the solicitors are saying their concerns are about the sending of the money. The beneficiaries, who are my brother and sister, have provided addresses that match those written in the will and have provided bank account details for transfer of money.

The sticking point seems to be that the solicitors don't know how to transfer funds from a UK bank to a European bank.

MovingForwards

All firms have an in-house finance team who deal with the transfer of monies.

All that is needed is the bank name, account name, account number and sort code together with the IBAN number.

Lodge a formal complaint to the complaints partner of the firm as from what you have said there is no reason the money cannot be paid.

Who are the other executors of the will?

Flugelhorn

it is not rocket science - even I have managed to transfer money to son's german bank account when he was studying abroad. IBAN did the trick and there was even a special International payments section on the bank's website

Yorkshireman99

Blossom50 wrote: »

In her will, my mother left money to family members who live in Europe. Now that her home is sold, bank accounts closed etc. we have reached the point of actually paying money to the beneficiaries.

The solicitors are acting as though nobody previously has ever died in the UK and left money that needs to be paid in euros to people living in Europe who do not speak English.

The solicitors have been provided with the IBAN numbers of bank accounts and the home addresses of people so there is a choice of paying directly into a bank account or sending cheques but they don't seem to think either method is safe enough.

As one of the executors can I simply insist that the solicitors do as I say regarding paying out the inheritance or does anybody know of a better, simpler, safe method of transferring money abroad.

I have to admit to some self-interest here as the solicitors are unwilling to release my part of the inheritance until we can all be paid.

Using the Iran number is perfectly normal. As long as you are sure of the identity and that the IBAN is correct there is no problem.

Marcon

Blossom50 wrote: »

As one of the executors can I simply insist that the solicitors do as I say regarding paying out the inheritance or does anybody know of a better, simpler, safe method of transferring money abroad.

I have to admit to some self-interest here as the solicitors are unwilling to release my part of the inheritance until we can all be paid.

Unless the solicitors are also executors, they act under instruction from the executors - and if all the executors are happy with a bank transfer (the normal route), tell them to get on and do it.

They may be 'unwilling' to release your inheritance, but again, that is an executor decision.

Time to make sure they have clear instructions, confirmed by all the executors!

[Deleted User]

I had to send money to family overseas.
(1) First of all, they agreed they would pay all exchange rates, bank charges etc (ie. nothing would be paid out of the estate for these extra charges).
(2)Then - with their agreement - I paid out a token amount to their overseas bank account using the details they had give me. I confirmed to them how much I'd sent, what the exchange rate was at the time so they had a good idea how to identify my transfer.
(3) Once they confirmed safe receipt, I transferred the remainder of the money. Obviously they took 2 hits on the charges, but at least I felt it was a safe way of transferring the money.
(4) What was interesting is that for the recipient, there was nothing on the details they received from my bank/their bank to show that the money was from me - absolutely nothing. It was purely because they were expecting money from me (and approximately how much), that they could confirm they'd received the money from me (which was a condition of the will).

Dox

Blossom50 wrote: »

The solicitors have been provided with the IBAN numbers of bank accounts and the home addresses of people so there is a choice of paying directly into a bank account or sending cheques but they don't seem to think either method is safe enough.

Then ask them what they do think is safe enough - carrier pigeon laden down with folding money...?! I jest, but the suggestion (about asking them what they recommend) is a serious one.

TBagpuss

You say that they have provided bank details, havethey provided their ID? Solicitors do have to be very careful about verifying ID.

I think the best thing to do is to ask, specifcially
(i) What, if anything, are they still waiting for to be able to trnasfer the funds
(ii) What, specifcally, they are concerned about in terms of trnasferring the funds.

One possibility is that your siblings have e-mailed their bank detials. Many solicitors will not send funds in those circumstnaces becuase solicitors firms are known targets of fraudsters who create fake e-mails prporting to come from the person due funds. For this reasons, many solicitors will want to see hardcopy proof of the bank details.

Similarlym, they will usually ned to see original or certified copies of ID for any beneficiary.

There can sometimes also be issues about who pays any fees although I would have expected them to have told you if that were the issue.