Appointed Executor in Will of Disorganised Estate

Nearlyold

Close relative recently passed; substantial estate will I believe be over IHT limit from monies I already know about. 

In addition, there are suitcases, drawers and cupboards containing significant numbers of uncashed cheques from multiple sources, plus copies of letters asking/pleading for documents to be signed and returned to collect maturities or deal with other financial matters (no debts though) which presumably were never returned.

I am a part beneficiary. 

Am I being unrealistic in terms of attempting to administer it myself along with another family member (also an Appointed Executor in Will & a part beneficiary) or should we just hand it over to professionals which should save us time and aggro but could be (very) expensive

Keep_pedalling

If both of you are major beneficiaries I would not want to lose control by handing it over. 

Linton

Keep_pedalling said:

If both of you are major beneficiaries I would want to lose control by handing it over. 

Perhaps a missing "not"!

To the OP...

I do not believe dealing with large amounts of such paperwork would warrant the services of a solicitor.  If you did I suspect you may find it difficult to track progress amd as you say it would be very experience since the charges could be £lots /hour. I would agree with what I think Keep_pedalling meant.  If it is too much admin hassle could you employ someone with basic admin skills?

user1977

A professional will have more experience of making sense of this sort of stuff, and could make their fee worthwhile simply by identifying an asset which others might have overlooked. Bear in mind that even "solicitors" are likely to delegate work to specialist paralegals for most of the work (and charge appropriate rates). But really depends on your appetite for dealing with the admin.

My main concern would be whether the disorganisation included debts, but sounds like you're comfortable on that.

Keep_pedalling

Linton said:

Keep_pedalling said:

If both of you are major beneficiaries I would want to lose control by handing it over. 

Perhaps a missing "not"!

To the OP...

I do not believe dealing with large amounts of such paperwork would warrant the services of a solicitor.  If you did I suspect you may find it difficult to track progress amd as you say it would be very experience since the charges could be £lots /hour. I would agree with what I think Keep_pedalling meant.  If it is too much admin hassle could you employ someone with basic admin skills?

Whoops! Now corrected.

Nearlyold

I wasn't so much thinking about the task of sorting & collating all the paperwork into some semblance of order but rather interpreting what the paperwork might relate to in types of assets, where they might be held and who to contact etc. For example, there are cheques (uncashed) from a council in respect of interest owed to my relative on some sort of loan to that council. I'm guessing there may be other assets held that there is currently no paperwork for.

user1977

That's where a professional might be useful, as they're likely to know off the top of their head relevant contact details, identify clues about other assets, know that e.g. an old share certificate has been superseded.

You can of course get fee estimates if you want a better idea of likely costs before engaging them.

Alphatauri

You are not being unreasonable in administering the estate yourself. Either way you are going to have to go through everything anyway to make sure you have all the paperwork to hand over to a solicitor.

Just be realistic that it is not going to be done in a day. From what you have described I imagine the task of sorting it out feels overwhelming. All I can suggest is that you break down the task, allocate either a set time e.g. 2 hours on Saturday or a set goal e.g sort one chest of drawers. Once you have done that forget about it until the next time you go to clear the property. 

Set up a good filing system before you start so you can collate the paperwork by account, utility provider, financial institution etc. as you go through the boxes, draws etc. This will make it much easier for you to then deal with once you have done the initial sorting. 

poppystar

If you appoint a solicitor then it will probably burn money if they have to sift through so many things or they will expect you to have sorted it out first for them. 

Also from what you have described I wonder if it might not be more appropriate to employ someone with a financial background who might be more familiar with those types of documents while retaining overall control by then doing probate yourselves once all the financial information is clearer. I’m thinking more a self employed bookkeeper to get it in order first and sort the wood from the trees. Then it might be clearer if it is something you can follow on with by yourselves or might need more specialist help. 

If uncashed cheques are for small amounts think carefully on the costs and benefits of following up! 

Sea_Shell

I agree with the "take your time and be organised" approach.

Plastic wallets are your friend😉

Sort into piles for each "organisation" etc.  Then into chronological order.

AIUI solicitors will want to see "organised" paperwork first.   I don't think you can just dump boxloads of paper on their desk and go "over to you!".  Even if you could, just think of the hourly rate they'd charge to sort through it 😲😲

Skiddaw1

I agree.

Once all the paperwork is organised it'll probably be far easier to see the extent of what you're dealing with. Once you know that you'll have a much clearer idea of whether it's something you and the other executor feel confident about handling or whether it's time to involve a professional.

Good luck BTW....