Estate Funeral Costs - What can be included

xylophone

The items in question were not bequeathed but items from the estate the beneficiary would like to have (with no or low financial value). I feel they should pay for shipping abroad as they want them......

Seems reasonable!  In the case of the artwork ( an etching on copper), the other beneficiary of residue was content, particularly as the Testator was known to have been very keen for the Australian resident to have it as a memento.

naedanger

Mickey666 said:

Seems a reasonable approach to deal with an awful-sounding petty beneficiary!

However, I wouldn't be surprised if the beneficiary is legally correct.  Seems to me that an executor's role is solely to execute the will as it is written.  The 'estate' cannot make any decisions about discretionary expenditure for itself (obviously!) so the only direction that the executor can draw upon is the law and the will.  If the will gives no direction or provision regarding the funeral then the executor is bound only by law.  

I imagine we'd all agree that it would be inappropriate for an executor to arrange a lavish funeral costing many tens of thousands of pounds unless the will specified such a thing, so if the will specifies nothing then how much discretion do we think the executor has?  It's a rhetorical question of course and the answer doesn't really matter because there will always be a dissenting beneficiary whatever the answer - which brings us back to the law.   I don't know the legal minimum for a funeral but presumably that is what an executor is bound by and what a beneficiary can insist upon, because anything more extravagant and costly will reduce their own inheritance and I believe an executor has a duty to maximise the distribution of the estate.

I'm not suggesting this is morally right, in fact I think the beneficiary in this case is behaving reprehensibly to cause such anxiety at a difficult time - particularly for a paltry few hundred quid! - but the OPs question was about the legal position, not the moral one.

I doubt there is any legal minimum funeral that executors are obliged to follow (in the absence of anything to the contrary in the will). If there was then professional executors would insist on this standard, otherwise they would be liable for anything beyond this.

I also think executors be will be permitted a reasonable amount of discretion to act according to what they think is right and appropriate in the circumstances, subject of course to them behaving honestly, reasonably and in the interests of beneficiaires. If the law required them to maximise distributions then that would seem to be requiring a near perfect standard, and that cannot be the appropriate standard, especially when many executors act without reward.  

Mickey666

Discretion leaves things wide open disputes fester.  This thread is an example of that.
Suppose the beneficiaries hated the deceased and didn’t want to spend more than the bare minimum on funeral costs but the executor felt that a ‘better than minimum’ funeral was ‘appropriate’ or ‘reasonable’ and spends many more thousands than strictly necessary by law.  I don’t mean a legally-defined figure, just the minimum unavoidable costs.

In case of such a dispute, where would the executor stand from a legal perspective?

Emmia

Do people actually want the book? I was given one after my father died with memories of him in it, and I don't/didn't want it, or know what to do with it (it's wrapped in paper at the back of a cupboard as I don't even want to come across it or see it accidentally). I also don't want to bin it, as the person who made it is someone close to me. 

If I'd been asked if I wanted a book prior to it being produced, I'd have declined it - so I'd definitely check with all potential recipients whether this is something they want. 

naedanger

Mickey666 said:

Discretion leaves things wide open disputes fester.  This thread is an example of that.
Suppose the beneficiaries hated the deceased and didn’t want to spend more than the bare minimum on funeral costs but the executor felt that a ‘better than minimum’ funeral was ‘appropriate’ or ‘reasonable’ and spends many more thousands than strictly necessary by law.  I don’t mean a legally-defined figure, just the minimum unavoidable costs.

In case of such a dispute, where would the executor stand from a legal perspective?

He would have to explain to a court how he had acted reasonably in the interests of the beneficiaries. (But if he spent many more thousands that was necessary then he would be likely to find that difficult.) It would be for the judge to decide what was reasonable in the circumstances. 

Reasonable is a very common legally used term e.g. the definition of self defence is "A person may use such force as is reasonable in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large."

The definition is not "A person may use the minimum such force needed in the circumstances in the prevention of crime, or in effecting or assisting in the lawful arrest of offenders or suspected offenders or of persons unlawfully at large." That is too high a standard to meet.

AlanXR

We have decided to produce the remembrance book of photos ourselves, outside of the estate but will still provide a copy to this beneficiary if they want it. Thanks all for your thoughts and responses.

jackieblack

Emmia said:

Do people actually want the book? 

This was my first thought - I certainly wouldn’t, but would feel obliged to accept politely