Probate name question

doris540

 Ill try keep this short as possible. My MIL died early March her entire estate inc property was valued and submitted for probate. There is a signed will and her 4 children are named as executors. The other three executors said that their mother wanted a family friend to sort out the probate and reluctantly this happened. However within a few weeks she had instructed a solicitor with the agreement of the executors to sort and apply for probate.. Probate has now been sorted. Am i right in thinking that as she applied for it in her name only she can sell the house. My OH who is the eldest has his name been pout on a acct that was setup to cover funeral costs etc by the executors to which they all put money into. 

doris540

I forgot to say that the acct that was setup as it stands only has the family friends name on it and they have paid any monies outstanding from that acct 

poppystar

Just to clarify - are you saying all four executors formally renounced that role? Then the family friend applied for probate despite not being an executor of the Will? Then the family used their own money not the estates to pay for funeral costs? 

msb1234

poppystar said:

Just to clarify - are you saying all four executors formally renounced that role? Then the family friend applied for probate despite not being an executor of the Will? Then the family used their own money not the estates to pay for funeral costs? 

That sounds very odd to me. 

doris540

No all monies that were put into the acct were from the named executors on the will basically everyone put in £2k making total of £8k from which the funeral and a few other bits were paid from the acct as it stands has just over £2k left in it. Im not suggesting this person would do anything they shouldnt but if something happens to them etc where does that leave the process so to speak

doris540

When the estate is divided any monies put in by the executors will be paid out first and then the remainder distributed we discovered she had a funeral plan as well which is in process of been claimed they have agreed to settle and also some money was found in a dormant building society acct again that will go into the acct

poppystar

I can see the friend might have done the legwork but are you sure the probate is in her name? Have you seen a copy of the grant of probate? If it is - and I’ve no idea how this could have occurred if there is a valid Will and the executors have not renounced - then it would give her the right to sell the house as part of dealing with the estate. 

bobster2

doris540 said:

No all monies that were put into the acct were from the named executors on the will basically everyone put in £2k making total of £8k from which the funeral and a few other bits were paid from the acct as it stands has just over £2k left in it. Im not suggesting this person would do anything they shouldnt but if something happens to them etc where does that leave the process so to speak

This is a rather odd way of doing things. And as a side note - if the Executors have been personally paying estate debts (e.g. "a few other bits") then I'm not sure they can renounce their Executorships and leave it to someone else. You cannot renounce an Executorship once you have "intermeddled" in an estate. Paying for the funeral does not count as intermeddling - but paying other debts could do.

Anyway, just do a search and download the grant of probate - you'll see whose name is on it...

https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/

Flugelhorn

doris540 said:

No all monies that were put into the acct were from the named executors on the will basically everyone put in £2k making total of £8k from which the funeral and a few other bits were paid from the acct as it stands has just over £2k left in it. Im not suggesting this person would do anything they shouldnt but if something happens to them etc where does that leave the process so to speak

very strange thing to do - whose name is the probate actually in? - can only be in the friend's name if all the executors renounced, in which case they shouldn't have been paying upfront for anything