Question about executors

beavere38

My mum has passed away. I divorced about 5 years ago with a clean break agreement and I am the main benefactor in her will (apart from some gifts to my children). I have now realised that I was named executor along with my (now) ex-wife. Can I just act alone or do I need to speak to my ex-wife and get her to resign / decline her role as executor?
I will call my solicitor for advice on Monday but thought I would seek an opinion here first.
Thank you in advance.

JGB1955

You can ask her to reserve or renounce her powers ..but she doesn't have to agree.   

beavere38

Ok thank you. I don't speak to her as we don't get on but I will have to get in touch. The last thing she would want to do is have to work with me as joint executor so I can't see her wanting to be involved in any way. How would she officially reserve or renounce her powers please?

Mojisola

beavere38 said:

How would she officially reserve or renounce her powers please?

www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-pa15-apply-for-renunciation-will

beavere38

Thank you very much.

xylophone

My mum has passed away. I divorced about 5 years ago with a clean break agreement and I am the main benefactor in her will (apart from some gifts to my children). 

Beneficiary.

Presumably you will be advising the OPG that your mother has passed away.

There should now be no problem with the PoA query?

And you are going to have a very tiring next few months - condolences on the double loss.

beavere38

Thank you xylophone, what a horrible year 2020 has been or me. I hope nothing else goes wrong. Yes, I am notifying the OPG. I had already written a response to their questions so am including that as well. Apparently as an attorney I am obliged to answer their questions.

beavere38

Sorry for all the questions. I'm emailing my ex-wife a link for form PA15. I have not registered the death yet, I will look into that tomorrow as the register office will be closed today. Mum went into a care home a few days ago and that is where she passed away. Should the address of the care home be her official address at the time of death? I always think of her flat as being her address but I guess she would be classed as having moved into the care home and vacated the flat? Thanks again.

Keep_pedalling

beavere38 said:

Sorry for all the questions. I'm emailing my ex-wife a link for form PA15. I have not registered the death yet, I will look into that tomorrow as the register office will be closed today. Mum went into a care home a few days ago and that is where she passed away. Should the address of the care home be her official address at the time of death? I always think of her flat as being her address but I guess she would be classed as having moved into the care home and vacated the flat? Thanks again.

If it was only a few days ago then I would use her flat as her official address.

macman

For the death cert it's the place of death that matters, as this can often be in a different registration district to the one applicable to the home address. The first priority is to register the death, which can be done by phone now. Then you can proceed with the funeral arrangements. Worrying about executing the will now is a bit premature.

AnotherJoe

My condolences. Unless your mum had "officially" moved, eg bank statements, and property sold or Tenancy agreement ended, I would keep it simple and use her flat as her address for everything other than the death certificate.  

My mum moved privately into a care home on a temporary basis then declined and died there 6 weeks later, everything was done regards probate etc with her flat as her main address. You might also run into problems with benefits if you put a care home as her permanent address, and I beleive in any case that 4 weeks is the time at which benefits start to be withdrawn, so by putting a care home as her address that could needlessly cause issues with DWP..