Concerns over brother as an executor of dad's will

Dymphna60

Poor parents. Not how I would want to spend my last days being badgered by my children about who should/shouldn’t be executor . 

Who is / is not the “best child . 

surely OP the best thing for your parents is what has been suggested way back that in view of the conflict a solicitor should be appointed. It’s done . 

Your parents can enjoy their last days together, your mother can have the rest of her life without all the harassment. 

The_Old_Bag

Keep_pedalling said:

Protection against dishonest executors is not the reason we almost always advise getting a professionally drawn up will on this board. It protects your beneficiaries being disinherited by a bungled invalid will, or failing to include important what if clauses in the will.

Despite your unfortunate experience, most of us do have people we can trust to execute our wills honestly, but if you don’t then you have the option of appointing a professional to do it if the estate is of reasonable size.

As with powers of attorney the system does run on trust and it can be difficult to prove an executor or attorney has acted dishonestly, however I don’t see any real alternative that does not make things more difficult and expensive for the vast majority of estates that are wound up without problems and without unnecessary legal expense. 

Dishonesty / theft is only one of the problems with the current Legal System around Wills & Inheritance. imo it is utterly flawed on all levels.
For example, on the issue of removing an Executor....  the gist of it seems to be
1) It is a serious undertaking only to be considered as a last resort.
Having read back 3 months of threads here on MSE last night - I have lost count of the number of times Beneficiaries /Joint Executors are advised to 'write off' part of their inheritance, to grit their teeth and take outrageous / unfathomable behaviour of a rogue Executor - basically to accept any delay, any insult, any 'abuse of position' that a rogue Executor dishes out - ALL, rather than dare to upset/challenge what they are doing.
Even when the rogue Executor is refusing to answer questions or provide evidence, the advice on here is - "Well, do you really need this information?" - Rather than, the law says the Executor has to answer these questions and has to provide this evidence.
Executors are the ones with all the power - yet no one by law seems entitled to hold them to account. How can that be right??

2) It will take years (due to the wait for a court day and hoops you have to go through first) to go to Court to try and remove a rogue Executor -  and cost you at least £100,000. .... meanwhile the rogue Executor has even more time to wreak havoc, steal and then try to cover their tracks or 'get rid of the evidence' etc....
Plus, the Rogue Executor can charge all their legal costs - against the estate. So in effect, Beneficiaries (innocent victims) are paying double and therefore losing even more of their inheritance.

3) The Court itself is prejudiced against removing an Executor whatever they have been proved to have done wrong.... in contrast to a Criminal Court where 'an accused' is only presume innocence until proven guilty.The Court seems to argue that the Testator must have had a really good reason for picking that person as an Executor - and the Court does not want to go against the wishes of the Testator.
But (imo) the sole purpose of a Will is to ensure that X, Y and Z get all my money/house after I die. That is the Testator's PRIMARY wish. So if the actions of a rogue Executor means X, Y and Z are not getting ALL the money/house..... why does the legal system chose to IGNORE the Primary Wishes of a Testator, and instead give greater protection to their Secondary Wish - who they name as Executor?

As to their being no practical alternative..... I would argue that is the way the flawed Legal System has been designed.
An Executor has to fill in all the right forms as part of their duties - for example re Income Tax, Inheritance Tax and claiming allowances. And HMRC presumably has the right to ask questions of the Executor and ask for further evidence. I also know they monitor the sale of houses - and if the Sale price exceeds what was estimated on the Inheritance Forms - they will contact the Executor.... And ultimately if HMRC calculates they are owed money - the Executor is liable.
i.e. 'The State' has rights with regard to the Executor - to ensure The State get's everything it calculates it is entitled to.
That presumably is written into law.
So why does the legal system not put rules in place to make sure the Beneficiaries get everything they are entitled to?
If laws can be written to protect the Tax Man, why can they not be written to protect the Beneficiaries?
As to you saying most people have someone they can trust to execute their will...... Do they ? And how would they know?
By the time the Executor is called upon to take up their duties - the Testator is dead, and will never know if they made a good choice.

The more people I speak to about Wills and Inheritance - the more horror stories I hear. Literally I would say 70% of the people I talk to...... tell me about what went wrong when their Uncle died, or their best friends Gran, or their own parents..... 
I would be really interested to know if any research has been done about the satisfaction levels of Beneficiaries and Executors with the current system. 
And yes I do know Executors who have been 100% honest and above board - and complain that they never knew what was involved in being an Executor when they were first asked..... and would never do it again !!
I am not complaining purely from a Beneficiaries stance - Knowing what I do now, I would certainly refuse to be an Executor for anyone but my closest family members...... and even then with great reluctance.
But maybe if everything with regard to the role and duties of Executors / Beneficiaries was laid out as crystal clear and cast in concrete as what the Executors have to do re HMRC / Probate Office - then a lot of time and angst would be saved. Beneficiaries would know EXACTLY what information the Executors should be providing, and what evidence they can ask for. And so would the Executors. Executors know what information they have to submit to HMRC and Probate office - why does the law not specify what information they have to submit to their Joint Executors and Beneficiaries?
It is not rocket science.

I believe the situation is a thousand times worse than anyone dare admit to..... and that is probably why 'The State' has deliberately not set up any way of recording dissatisfaction.
As long as The State get's everything it is entitled to, and the Legal Profession get their pound of flesh.....neither of them are bothered about what happens to the Lay Executors and the Beneficiaries. We are just collateral damage.
Most people will be too embarrassed to air their family disputes in public - and I am sure the Legal Professionals will dismiss complaints as being 'petty' or insignificant, or down to bad choices... .i.e. it is their own fault things went wrong, rather than admit it is the whole legal system around Wills & Inheritance which is flawed.

Another example of things I believe are wrong with the current system - Why is the Will not published until Probate is applied for?
This could be literally YEARS after the person has died. If someone who expects to be a Beneficiary, only finds out 3 years later that they are not - they can only then challenge the Will. They could be dead by then, and their own Beneficiaries will have lost out on their share of the original estate.
There may even be another Will, which the holder assumes is an 'Old' one and has been superseded. But only when Probate is reached will the Will be published and they realise the one they hold is the most recent.
Just consider how much work, and angst and expense has already happened by the time Probate is obtained. All of which could be a complete waste if a Court then throws out that Will and that Executor as well.
Why not publish the Will say 3 months after DofD....so if anyone wants to challenge / produce another Will, they can do that before any significant work has started and expenses incurred.
I am not saying publish the value of estate, what Tax has been paid and who inherited what - just publish what the physical Will says.

I am sure there are dozens of ways the current system could be streamlined and made more efficient, transparent and less expensive. But while Legal professionals are earning an absolute fortune with dissatisfied Beneficiaries, Joint Executors arguing and Court cases..... and The State is getting what it wants - why should anybody care about the Testator, Lay Executors or Beneficiaries?