Should I be paid as an executor of a will

moonbeam_bear

Hi there everyone.
I was left as the only executor of my late ex mother-in-law’s will back in April this year. I did not have to have a grant of probate as there was no property, shares, etc, only money that once her bills, funeral/grave etc is all paid up will go to charity. Although everything was pretty straightforward it has taken longer than I thought as once I’d done the 13 hour trip to empty her council property I returned home with 5 suitcases full of paperwork, yes 5 FULL cases , 3 of which were proper full size cases. I work full time so it was a slow process going through the paperwork, to make sure we hadn’t missed any bills or communication to anyone she was involved with. Only this week we received a letter saying we owed some money for insurance on a household product despite us having been in contact with them. Several phone calls later they realised their mistake.
So once I’ve sorted out the gravestone payment & the unexpected bills & trips to solicitors I can pay the charity. I’ve got to take my expenses out, ie; travel, phone bills etc but a few people have told me I should actually take a payment for my time. Does anyone know if this is acceptable and if so how much should I take, a set amount or maybe an hourly rate & if so what amount??????
I would appreciate any feedback from other members
Many thanks

unforeseen

No you can not be paid for your time. Expenses only.

AnotherJoe

moonbeam_bear wrote: »

Hi there everyone.
I was left as the only executor of my late ex mother-in-law’s will back in April this year. I did not have to have a grant of probate as there was no property, shares, etc, only money that once her bills, funeral/grave etc is all paid up will go to charity. Although everything was pretty straightforward it has taken longer than I thought as once I’d done the 13 hour trip to empty her council property I returned home with 5 suitcases full of paperwork, yes 5 FULL cases , 3 of which were proper full size cases. I work full time so it was a slow process going through the paperwork, to make sure we hadn’t missed any bills or communication to anyone she was involved with. Only this week we received a letter saying we owed some money for insurance on a household product despite us having been in contact with them. Several phone calls later they realised their mistake.
So once I’ve sorted out the gravestone payment & the unexpected bills & trips to solicitors I can pay the charity. I’ve got to take my expenses out, ie; travel, phone bills etc but a few people have told me I should actually take a payment for my time. Does anyone know if this is acceptable and if so how much should I take, a set amount or maybe an hourly rate & if so what amount??????
I would appreciate any feedback from other members
Many thanks

I agree with Unforeseen, no payment, it seems as a final last laugh MIL has stitched you up.
No use to you now, but for anyone else in this position, you should have declined and handed it over to the charity to do it.
And for anyone else writing a will leaving it all to charity dont be so dammed selfish leave something to your executor or give the job to a solicitor or the charity.

getmore4less

The question has been answered.

I was left as the only executor of my late ex mother-in-law’s will back in April this year. I did not have to have a grant of probate as there was no property, shares, etc, only money that once her bills, funeral/grave etc is all paid up will go to charity.

At that point you think very carefully about taking on administration

I thought as once I’d done the 13 hour trip to empty her council property I returned home with 5 suitcases full of paperwork, yes 5 FULL cases , 3 of which were proper full size cases.

That would have confirmed don't administer

Would have cleared the place of just the valuables and sentimental stuff for safe keeping, maybe the paper work as well.

then take no further part except to had over to anyone(creditor or the charity) that wants the job.

So once I’ve sorted out the gravestone payment

The charity might question that expense

AnotherJoe

Yes that's the other issue with charities, especially where everything is left to them, they are notorious for going after executors to get every last penny. Even the sentimental stuff could be an issue but hopefully they have no way of knowing whats gone.
Did the will specify she wanted a gravestone?

moonbeam_bear

unforeseen wrote: »

No you can not be paid for your time. Expenses only.

Thank, didn’t think so

moonbeam_bear

AnotherJoe wrote: »

I agree with Unforeseen, no payment, it seems as a final last laugh MIL has stitched you up.
No use to you now, but for anyone else in this position, you should have declined and handed it over to the charity to do it.
And for anyone else writing a will leaving it all to charity dont be so dammed selfish leave something to your executor or give the job to a solicitor or the charity.

Yeah, last laugh on me, & she was the ex MIL
Unfortunately it was done many years ago & I thought the solicitor was also an executor so didn’t think it would be a problem.
Thanks anyway

moonbeam_bear

getmore4less wrote: »

The question has been answered.



At that point you think very carefully about taking on administration



That would have confirmed don't administer

Would have cleared the place of just the valuables and sentimental stuff for safe keeping, maybe the paper work as well.

then take no further part except to had over to anyone(creditor or the charity) that wants the job.




The charity might question that expense

Thought it was gonna be straight forward, stupidly enough. In hindsight should have handed it over to a solicitor.
Grave etc is in accordance with her will so presume they can’t
Thank

moonbeam_bear

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Yes that's the other issue with charities, especially where everything is left to them, they are notorious for going after executors to get every last penny. Even the sentimental stuff could be an issue but hopefully they have no way of knowing whats gone.
Did the will specify she wanted a gravestone?

Yeah I heard from many others that charities are notorious for that, as I thought it was straight forward, which compared to many it really was, just didn’t expect it to take so long.
Most of the things in her property were donated to charities, which was organised by social services. Anything else was cleared by the council as we had no way of doing anything else with it

Yeah luckily the grave is in accordance with instructions in her will.

Many thanks

Marcon

moonbeam_bear wrote: »

Thought it was gonna be straight forward, stupidly enough. In hindsight should have handed it over to a solicitor.
Grave etc is in accordance with her will so presume they can’t
Thank

Hindsight is always more efficient than foresight...but at least if the gravestone is specified in the will the charities can't claim the loot which is being spent on that.

getmore4less

Funeral instructions in a will have no legal status.

I also recall, so would need checking, you can't specify spending assets, that would include thing like gravestones.