Alternatives to using Solicitors as Executives

TychoTMA

I have no surviving family and I'm leaving most of my estate to a charity. A Will has been in place for some years and names the charity (with their agreement) as Executors.

Recently, they have suggested that Solicitors should be given the job as acting as Executors (no clear reason give). I don't want this; ~£20k will go in fees and VAT and I saw what happened when a friend used solicitors and really did not like what went on (problems with the funeral).

Can anyone suggest alternative options for me?

Thanks

Brie

get a trusted friend/neighbour to do the job? 

any executor has the right (I believe) to charge reasonable expenses for doing the job - it's just that most people don't when it's a friend or family member.  solicitors look at it as just another chargable service.

cymruchris

I can't see that any friend would want to take such a task on - it probably does need a solicitor to be executor if the charity themselves don't want to do it (Maybe they don't have an in-house team to deal with it) I'm sure if anyone knows alternatives they'll reply soon enough, but in your situation, I'm not sure there's any other option.  Is it a big well-known charity - or a smaller local setup? 

Flugelhorn

I think it is a lot of work for anyone - and a charity might find it difficult to manage, particularly of they are not a big organisation. Other option is a friend but leave them a significant bequest indicating that you appreciate the work required. other thing is to make sure your affairs are easy to manage

Skibunny40

As executor, the charity can hire a solicitor to carry out all the legal process. The advantage to this, as opposed to the solicitor being appointed executor, is that the executor can chase / complain about the solicitor if need be (and unfortunately, this is frequently the case). If the solicitor is executor, they can be as inefficient and expensive as they like and it will be very difficult for the charity to do anything about it. 

p00hsticks

Brie said:

get a trusted friend/neighbour to do the job? 

any executor has the right (I believe) to charge reasonable expenses for doing the job - it's just that most people don't when it's a friend or family member.  solicitors look at it as just another chargable service.

As I understand it you can take expenses that you incur (e.g. postage, stationery, probate fees etc)  from the estate but if you are not acting in a porfessional capacity (e.g a solicitor) then you can't charge for your time etc, although you can engage a solicitor to handle the work for you and pay for them out of the estate.   

It's therefore (IMHO) bad form to ask someone to be an executor unless they are close family and/or you are going to leave them something. Personally I wouldn't agree to being an executor when asked if neither of those applied, and if named without my knowledge I'd renounce when the time came.....

TychoTMA

I don't think I have any friends who are likely to out-live me. The Charity may be smaller than I had believed.
When my Mother passed away, my sister (a housewife) acted as executor, obvioulsy calling on the solictor for assistance.

As Skibunny said, "  If the solicitor is executor, they can be as inefficient and expensive as they like and it will be very difficult for the charity to do anything about it."  There are no checks and balances.

This is a bad experience; I'm leaving a fair amount of money behind and I'm going through more hassle to do it than I would have believed possible. 

user1977

Were you expecting the charity to do the administration in-house? Unless they're large enough to be doing this frequently, I doubt they'll have the skills or resources to do so, in which case they'll instruct solicitors anyway to do the work - and I suspect even the big charities do so rather than have the overheads of employing an in-house executries team.

If they'd prefer not to be executors and instead that (I presume their preferred?) solicitors are named instead, surely that's up to them? At the end of the day any costs are going to be their problem.

Savvy_Sue

If they're a smaller charity who haven't done this before, they may not realise that they can effectively 'outsource' the legal side to a solicitor, but think one of their staff will have to do it. 

Are you expecting them to organise funeral too? 

TychoTMA

The Charity Agreed to act as executors at least 6 years ago, but now seem uncertain. They could act as Executors and employ solicitors to do the work under supervision.

As Skibunny said, " If the solicitor is executor, they can be as inefficient and expensive as they like and it will be very difficult for the charity to do anything about it."  There are no checks and balances.

I know of one person where the solicitors were so un-helpful that some of the man's friends missed his funeral; the solicitors refused to talk to anyone who was not family. Isn't that truly awful, but really not surprising for that profession?

silvercar

I don’t know how you feel about accountants, but (smaller) accountancy firms often act as executors.