Duty of Confidentiality?

hog_man

I am the Executor for my late father's Estate and have recently sent Final Accounts to all residual beneficiaries. One of them is now demanding to see his bank statements for several months before he died and I've told her I won't allow her to see them since:

a) they are nothing to do with the Estate as they date to before his death and

b) I owe a Duty of Confidentiality to my late father, even after his death.

Am I correct on both counts?

naedanger

hog_man said:

I am the Executor for my late father's Estate and have recently sent Final Accounts to all residual beneficiaries. One of them is now demanding to see his bank statements for several months before he died and I've told her I won't allow her to see them since:

a) they are nothing to do with the Estate as they date to before his death and

b) I owe a Duty of Confidentiality to my late father, even after his death.

Am I correct on both counts?

On point b) I am fairly sure the answer is you are not correct.  A person has no rights to confidentiality or anything else after their death. 

On point a) there must be circumstances where a residual beneficiary does have a legitimate interest in the testator's accounts prior to their death. Unless there are good reasons to withhold them then I would let them see them. 

Mojisola

hog_man said:

I am the Executor for my late father's Estate and have recently sent Final Accounts to all residual beneficiaries. One of them is now demanding to see his bank statements for several months before he died and I've told her I won't allow her to see them

There have been cases on here where the executor has withdrawn (and kept for themselves) large amounts of money in the weeks before the testator died. 

If there is far less money available than the beneficiaries expected, it's reasonable that they would want to verify the amounts in the accounts.

Is there really stuff in the accounts that your father would want to be kept secret?

naedanger

The following seems worth reading:
https://www.nelsonslaw.co.uk/can-the-executor-of-a-will-keep-information-confidential-from-beneficiaries/

Keep_pedalling

You have a duty to provide estate accounts, but no obligation to provide bank account statements, although in your shoes, I would do it to avoid additional agro. Confidentiality is not an issue.

Flugelhorn

Agree - just let them see them, they may well be thinking that there should be more money than there is - by seeing the statements they can understand the estate a bit better 

theoretica

What - in the bank statements - do you particularly want to keep confidential from the beneficiary in question?  Were there large payments to anyone that might lead to questions of undue influence?  If there was a small payment to an embarrassing name then most likely the beneficiary would be content for statements with some names redacted.  Or maybe just the monthly amount in the account to show it hadn't decreased suspiciously.

MoneySeeker1

You don't say what relationship there is between the other beneficiary and your father.

I'm guessing they are another child of the same father and, with that, the answer is obvious anyway - ie that, irrespective of legal position, they have every bit as much moral right as you do to see this.

At the least you (presumably) have a reputation to protect - and won't want them going round wondering visibly why you weren't allowing them to see these figures (ie "So what are they hiding?"). Cue for them telling anyone/everyone about anything else they know or suspect is amiss in your conduct - ever - if you don't prove you are honest etc.

If you have nothing to hide - then you have nothing to fear.

hog_man

There's nothing to hide. It's just that the person concerned (a long term friend of dad in her late 80's) has an irrational hatred of me and will do anything she can to put obstacles in my way. For example, towards the end of my father's life she talked him out of giving me POA which made life difficult for me when trying to arrange/pay for care for him and also threatened to call the police on me several times for no reason at all etc.
Also, in my opinion, she's suffering from some form of dementia so, even if she bothers to listen to what I'm saying (which isn't often), she forgets what she's been told within a short while and I can see myself spending the next month answering questions about each and every transaction on the account, then having to answer them again!!
Am thinking about sending her copies of the monthly bank account summaries (opening balance, total money in/out and closing balance) to see if that will mollify her.
Finally, I've discussed the problem with the other Residual Beneficiaries (my brothers and sister) and they are 100% backing me as they are all aware of what she's like.

Mojisola

hog_man said:

There's nothing to hide. It's just that the person concerned (a long term friend of dad in her late 80's) has an irrational hatred of me and will do anything she can to put obstacles in my way. For example, towards the end of my father's life she talked him out of giving me POA which made life difficult for me when trying to arrange/pay for care for him and also threatened to call the police on me several times for no reason at all etc.
Also, in my opinion, she's suffering from some form of dementia so, even if she bothers to listen to what I'm saying (which isn't often), she forgets what she's been told within a short while and I can see myself spending the next month answering questions about each and every transaction on the account, then having to answer them again!!

Given that extra information, I wouldn't send her anything but her share of the estate.

hog_man

Which is what I've done, along with a copy of the final accounts which she is legally entitled to.
But I need to know if I'm acting legally by refusing to show her the pre date of death bank statements.