Executor questions

SiliconChip

Having had the question about the Will in my previous thread answered by knowledgeable members and confirmed by a solicitor I now have a few questions about the executor process which I'm sure those who have been through it will have be able to supply some answers. I'm one of two executors, along with my sister, we are both beneficiaries (1/3 each) along with her two children (1/3 shared). It will be an excepted estate consisting primarily of a single property and savings.

1. We've agreed to use one of my existing current accounts for money from the estate (a Metro Bank account that I only use for the fee free ATM withdrawals in Europe, so pretty much unused for the last 2 years), and so far I haven't had any issues getting money transferred into it or payments made out of it. However, I'm slightly concerned that at some point somebody will require an executor account to be opened. If so do both executors need to be named on the account, and does that create the financial relationship that would happen with any other joint account?

2. Any recommendations for banks that will offer an executor account if needed? The deceased and my sister were both with Lloyds, I have current accounts with Nationwide, Santander, Halifax, Starling and First Direct as well as the one at Metro.

3. How much effort needs to be put into valuing every little household item for the IHT205? Many items will either be given to charity shops or thrown away and affectively have no value to us, can they be valued at zero? There are a few items, mainly furniture, that we're trying to get a proper valuation for, but everything else we're either estimating value based on ebay listings or by taking the price new and discounting it for being second hand, is that a reasonable way to do things?

4. Once probate is complete are we free to sell anything that the beneficiaries don't want to keep? Can balances from closed savings accounts and disposal of liquid assets be distributed as soon as they're available, with the proceeds from the sale of the house to follow after completion?

kipsterno1

2. Any recommendations for banks that will offer an executor account if needed?

I'm also going through this at the moment. I haven't fully completed making it an executor account but openned one with Natwest. It was fairly straught forward and all online so far.

Keep_pedalling

3. Not much, just lump household chattels together with a nominal sum.

GSS20

No need to open an executor account the one you’re using is sufficient provided there is trust between you and the other executor. You could open a joint account with the other executor with your current bank.

p00hsticks

kipsterno1 said:

2. Any recommendations for banks that will offer an executor account if needed?

I'm also going through this at the moment. I haven't fully completed making it an executor account but openned one with Natwest. It was fairly straught forward and all online so far.

I found Nat West a bit weird in that they make you open an ordinary account with them (which as you say, is done easily online if you are an existing customer) but then make you jump through hoops in a branch in order to turn it into an executors account - including needing sight of the will, which isn't mentioned in their documentation and I therefore had to return home to get.

I managed for a long time without an executor account, but have set one up now in the expectation that when selling the property the solicitor might want to pay the funds into one (I'm executor but not a residual benificiary, and the proceeds will need to be distributed to multiple beneficiaries - I imagine that if you are both executor and beneficiary the conveyancing solicitor would be prepared to pay the funds directly into your personal account.

TBagpuss

1. This should be fine -  if you were to open a joint account it should only affect your credit as long as that account is open, and if specifically opened as an executors account may not even count as you are on it as trustees not as private individuals. 

You may find that someone requests formal confirmation from your sister to make payment to an account in your sole name, and you may need to check with the bank whether you can pay in a cheque in your joint bananas into a sole account, if that comes up. Most organisations can re-issue the cheque or payment to whomever you request and a lot will ask when you submit the claim, how / where payment should be made.

2. Not sure - I've used HSBC in the past but it was some time ago, and it was a situation where the executors had had, and been using a POA for some time before the death, so had already done lots of ID verification, so I think just changed the existing account to an executors account. Using a bank where you are already a customer is usually easiest.


3. Very little. Normally saying 'household contents £500' or whatever is fine. If there are individual items which may have more value, such as items of jewelry, you can get them valued separately but remember to ask for a probate / resale value not a replacement / insurance valuation. 

4. Yes, you would be making an interim distribution and it's fairly common. It is generally god practice to treat all beneficiaries the same (e.g £500 each for you and your sister and £500 between them for the grandchildren)  - it's easier to keep track and avoids any issues of treating people unfairly or prioritising one over the others. 

It would normally be sensible to retain some liquid funds as you may have expenses that need to be paid - for instance to pay for things like insurance on the house before it is sold, any repairs which might be needed, or any payment on account which might be needed by the agents or conveyancers  (it's fairly common to have to pay up front for the EPC, for example, even though the agents own costs are normally paid on completion) If the house takes a while to sell you may also have things like council tax , standing charges for utilities etc or may fell it inappropriate to have the heating on intermittently so the house doesn't get, or feel damp. - of course if you were to distribute the money and then pay those things out of pocket you would be entitled to be refunded but it's probably simpler to keep some money in reserve.

SiliconChip

Thanks to everyone who has replied so far, it seems like I'm on the right lines anyway with what I'm doing now and what I plan to do in the future, so hopefully things won't get more complicated.

@p00hsticks - I'll hope that the solicitor handling the house sale won't need an executor account to pay into and can either transfer it to my account for me to distribute or will distribute it themselves, one small complication is that one of my nieces lives in New Zealand so I'd rather be able to send her share using Wise which the solicitors may not be prepared to do, but she does still have an account in the UK so if necessary it can go there and she can transfer it to NZ herself.

@TBagpuss - thanks for the comprehensive responses, I will be following your final suggestion, there's quite a lot of cash (6 figures) in the estate so keeping a reserve while also distributing a reasonably large interim sum to the beneficiaries won't be a problem.

thegreenone

I didn't have an exor account for my late Mum.  Mum and I opened an account with Halifax (my bank), years ago, and I had online access (with POA).  When Mum died I changed the name to hers and used that to pay all the bills until her flat sold so there was a clear paper trail.  The Banks had no problem sending her savings there.

I started clearing the flat after she died and put it on the market, empty, after probate was granted.  Her solicitors paid me the proceeds from the sale, directly to my bank account.

Yes, definitely keep a reserve.  Mum's With Profits Bond paid out in February and in June I received a Chargeable Event Certificate and will need to pay tax.  Fortunately, my tax return is due and our accountant can add it to that.  I may also have CGT to pay.  We're almost a year since Mum died and the paperwork is not over yet.

wizzywilc

If you can deal with the rest of the estate without needing to open a special executor account, it would be worth asking the solicitor who deals with the house sale if the proceeds could be paid direct to the beneficiaries. Mine did. I dealt with and distributed an estate of over a million pounds without needing to open a specific executor account. I just had a standard Nationwide Flex account opened, and used, solely for managing the estate.

DairyQueen

TBagpuss said:

You may find that someone requests formal confirmation from your sister to make payment to an account in your sole name, and you may need to check with the bank whether you can pay in a cheque in your joint bananas into a sole account, if that comes up. Most organisations can re-issue the cheque or payment to whomever you request and a lot will ask when you submit the claim, how / where payment should be made.

Dontcha just love prescriptive text 

Doshwaster

Don't think there is any need for a special executor account. I'm just using a spare personal bank account which had been dormant for a while to keep everything separate from my own finances until everything is settled and then I will distribute to the other beneficiaries.