Executors paying money away

Uplander1111

Hope I am posting in the right area, quite a while since using the forum.

My Mum passed away in a care home during a Covid outbreak.  I was Mum's POA and my wife and I are her executors.  Her estate is straightforward (basically cash held in savings accounts) and we have gained probate, established an executors account and are now waiting for the banks to pay out the funds.  The beneficiaries are my brother and myself 50/50.  During the years of Mum's illness he and I managed to fall-out (over selfishness / disinterest) and when it comes to us he's now not too pleasant.

We communicate via email and he would give us his bank details but my question is this.  When we reach the point of distribution, what is the best approach to get the money to him.  Would it be better to use a cheque drawn on the executors account, a bank draft, or a CHAPS payment?  I understand the difference but wonder about the relative merits.  I guess security in all senses (has it reached him, can we prove he has had the money etc) are our concerns.

Thanks in advance for any thoughts. 

BooJewels

I've just been thinking about this in respect of a similar tricky money transfer situation myself. 

Not one of the methods you already suggested, but what I normally do when sending a larger amount of money - to a new payee especially - is to transfer a small amount first.  Get the recipient to check and acknowledge that they have received that initial amount, then send the rest using the same details you've set up.  That way you have confirmation of the correct bank account and they have to acknowledge as much before they get the rest.

If sending a cheque, if they claim not to get it, say you'll cancel that cheque and issue another, but the fee for that will be deducted from the new one.

The banking forum has lots of banking experts who can advise on the most secure methods.

Keep_pedalling

You should provide your brother with a full set of estate accounts with his legacy, so why not just enclose a cheque with the accounts. I would also enclose a prepaid envelope with an acknowledgement slip, although there is no guarantee he will fill it in and return it, but cashing the cheque should be sufficient proof he got it.

Uplander1111

Thanks for these posts - both really sound approaches that would work.  I have kept good accounts and will be sending these though to my brother for sure.  I will check out the banking forum too but thanks again, I appreciate it.   

SevenOfNine

In the past I used cheques with a copy of the accounts, covering letter to say cashing the cheque would be taken as approval of the accounts. No legal protection for me whatsoever, I just felt more comfortable saying & doing it that way. Hand delivered - everyone was local.

This time around (different beneficiaries) I made BACS bank transfers of small'ish interim payments as the banks have started that 'verification' of the recipients names now (forget to correct terminology for it), that comes up when you key in the sort/ac no. so I knew they were going to the correct named people. 

Later, I used cheques for the distribution of main balance because the bank daily transfer limit meant moving large amounts to 3 different people would have to be divided into 9 transactions & spread over 9 days!

Uplander1111

SevenOfNine said:

In the past I used cheques with a copy of the accounts, covering letter to say cashing the cheque would be taken as approval of the accounts. No legal protection for me whatsoever, I just felt more comfortable saying & doing it that way. Hand delivered - everyone was local.

Thanks for that.  You may be right that if offers no legal protection but in my case this feels like a sound approach.  The details matter not but I believe my brother just wants to be as difficult as possible without truly disputing things when push comes to shove.  That's my hope anyway so the " cashing the cheque would be taken as approval of the accounts"  would be helpful.  Appreciate the post.

Keep_pedalling

Uplander1111 said:

SevenOfNine said:

In the past I used cheques with a copy of the accounts, covering letter to say cashing the cheque would be taken as approval of the accounts. No legal protection for me whatsoever, I just felt more comfortable saying & doing it that way. Hand delivered - everyone was local.

Thanks for that.  You may be right that if offers no legal protection but in my case this feels like a sound approach.  The details matter not but I believe my brother just wants to be as difficult as possible without truly disputing things when push comes to shove.  That's my hope anyway so the " cashing the cheque would be taken as approval of the accounts"  would be helpful.  Appreciate the post.

Cashing a cheque does not mean they have approved the accounts, if the beneficiary thinks they are owed more cashing a cheque does not mean they can’t make an additional claim. 

There is no obligation on an executor to get approval of the accounts from residual beneficiaries, and I would not ask for such approval.