(Probate) Final Duties vs Farewill

Mouseboy007

Has anyone had any recent experience of either company and would you recommend either of them or advise avoiding either of them?

I'm trying to organise probate for an estate worth between £500k-£700k (not clear yet), and do not want to DIY it (even if some would wholeheartedly recommend it).
I'd happily consider a good fixed-fee probate company that's recommended, has reviews available to read up on, and can take care of most of the work.
There are 10x living-person beneficiaries, and 7x charities, and the value of the estate is made up of a house, car, narrowboat, investments, pensions, and cash (in bank).

Thanks

Silvertabby

I do hope that the awards to the Charities are expressed as £s rather than as a %age of total assets.

If the latter, then this could drag on for years while the charities argue for 'waiting' for better offers for the house, car etc.

In the case of the pension benefits, are you sure that they form part of the estate?  Pension death benefits are normally paid straight to the named beneficiary(ies). 

BooJewels

I often see posts where people refer to Probate as though it is a significant part of distributing the estate.  What Probate actually is is a court certified document stating that you (and other executors if there are any) have the legal right to access funds, sell property etc.  The Grant of Probate itself is a disappointingly simple document that gives your name and the overall value of the estate.  It won't help you distribute the estate etc. - it just declares that you have the right to.

It always troubles me a little that people pay solicitors and probate companies to apply for probate, when for most cases, they're just expensive clerks, being paid big money to put numbers that you give them into boxes on a form - they won't do most of the work, you still will.  So please ensure that you understand what Probate actually is and why you can't do it yourself, before paying for someone to do it for you.  In many cases, if tax is an issue etc. an accountant or financial adviser might be better placed to assist.

I'm with @Silvertabby on this about charities - I've recently found out that an estate I'm executor for (for someone still well and truly alive) will be largely distributed to a charity, as fractions of the estate and if anyone predeceases her (which 2 now have) or renounces their executorship, their share goes to the charity too - this now means they're in-line to get the majority of the estate, but I bet it won't be them emptying her freezer or her knicker drawer.

Marcon

Silvertabby said:

I do hope that the awards to the Charities are expressed as £s rather than as a %age of total assets.

If the latter, then this could drag on for years while the charities argue for 'waiting' for better offers for the house, car etc.

They can argue all they like, but that's for the executor to decide. Provided the executor's decision is 'reasonable', there are few instances where the waters have got any choppier than a stroppy letter or two from an over-zealous lawyer representing the charity.

Even so, I think OP would be very sensible to get professional help, both getting to the point of obtaining probate (guidance on how to get things valued is important, especially with lots of charities in line for some loot) and then actually distributing the estate. Ringing round some local lawyers and getting quotes is no bad starting point.

Mouseboy007

Marcon said:

Silvertabby said:

I do hope that the awards to the Charities are expressed as £s rather than as a %age of total assets.

If the latter, then this could drag on for years while the charities argue for 'waiting' for better offers for the house, car etc.

They can argue all they like, but that's for the executor to decide. Provided the executor's decision is 'reasonable', there are few instances where the waters have got any choppier than a stroppy letter or two from an over-zealous lawyer representing the charity.

Even so, I think OP would be very sensible to get professional help, both getting to the point of obtaining probate (guidance on how to get things valued is important, especially with lots of charities in line for some loot) and then actually distributing the estate. Ringing round some local lawyers and getting quotes is no bad starting point.

Thanks Marcon - OP here

I think one of the things that's spooked me and the other executor is the number of charities and also the volume of legwork. I know a lot of people say 'it's pretty simple' and I'm a reasonably intelligent (ha!) guy, but time wise I work full time in a high pressure role and have a demanding family life with two young children. Although it's a cost to the estate, I'd rather have a singe point of contact to deal with rather than having to plate-spin the entire thing end-to-end. I would usually be one of the first people to try and cut the chaff regards costs (after all, we're all MSE's right?) but this is an occasion where balancing time and effort vs costs seems to make a third party a reasonable endeavour!

Thanks for your feedback and advice. I'll also mention that in the Will there is a clause that in plain English effectively says the trustees aren't to be bound by the charities or any beneficiaries - I'm not 100% on the legalese, but I think that covers a prying charity. At most I think the charity receiving the highest payout will receive something like £10k, so it's not like the estate was worth £60m and 50% is going to a charity, it's a modest estate that will pay out between £3k-£10k to each charity I'd imagine. Unfortunately it was expressed as a small percentage rather than fixed value.

p00hsticks

Mouseboy007 said:

Marcon said:

Silvertabby said:

I do hope that the awards to the Charities are expressed as £s rather than as a %age of total assets.

If the latter, then this could drag on for years while the charities argue for 'waiting' for better offers for the house, car etc.

They can argue all they like, but that's for the executor to decide. Provided the executor's decision is 'reasonable', there are few instances where the waters have got any choppier than a stroppy letter or two from an over-zealous lawyer representing the charity.

Even so, I think OP would be very sensible to get professional help, both getting to the point of obtaining probate (guidance on how to get things valued is important, especially with lots of charities in line for some loot) and then actually distributing the estate. Ringing round some local lawyers and getting quotes is no bad starting point.

Thanks Marcon - OP here

I think one of the things that's spooked me and the other executor is the number of charities and also the volume of legwork.

I think that the point BooJewels made above is valid - getting a company in to just handle the probate probably won't eliminate a great deal of the legwork. I've no first hand experience, but I suspect that unless you are prepared to hand over the executorship to them competely they'll still be expecting you to obtain most of the information and pass it on to them to enable them to simply fill in a form...

RoseBerni

I’ve used Farewill to do my fathers estate but you still as the executors have to get everything together 
they offer various option 
probate only 
probate and dealing with everything is selling the house 
but I chose probate only as there was a lifetime interest trust possession I wanted to get it right 
they update you weekly and so far I can’t fault them