Executor’s headache: Gifts in Will sold by Testator

Misha96

Hi,

I’m the executor and primary beneficiary of an uncle’s will. Probate has been granted.  I’m in the process of closing account and paying small debts. My uncle made his last will in 2010. It gifts his late wife’s jewellery and his car and coin collection to other family members and close friends. Most of the jewellery and the car were sold several years ago and the money passed into my uncle’s bank account. Since the Grant of Probate, some of the people to whom specific items were gifted have been baying for the sale value of the items they would have received had my uncle not sold them. Am I legally bound to give them the money from the residue of the estate?

Thanks,

Misha

Keep_pedalling

No, if the items were sold by the testator then the bequest fail and they are entitled to nothing.

This is the danger of leaving specific items in your will and then failing to update it when things changed. You have a number of option here.

1. Stick to the inheritance rules and write to the loosing beneficiaries explaining that in the 12 years since your uncle wrote his will the items left to them had been sold by him prior to his death and therefore the bequest fails.

2. As above but get a solicitor to write the letters and handle any flack.

3. As above but offer something else out of the residual estate as compensation for their disappointment. If you did this anything they receive comes out of your inheritance so you could do this via a deed of variation so anything you give away never forms part of your estate for IHT purposes.

NorthYorkie

A gift of a specific asset in a will which no longer exists at the date of the testator's death fails (under what is called the Doctrine of Ademption). However you need to consider the precise wording of the will - if it refers to 'my Rolls Royce reg. no. xxxxxx, the gift fails. But if it refers to 'any motor car I own at the date of my death' the gift of that car will be valid. Speak to a solicitor.

Misha96

Thank you for the information and advice. I'm uncertain how to proceed but it's good to know I am not bound legally  to start signing cheques for the people concerned.

Keep_pedalling

Misha96 said:

Thank you for the information and advice. I'm uncertain how to proceed but it's good to know I am not bound legally  to start signing cheques for the people concerned.

I think it would be worth taking legal advice on the best way to inform failed beneficiaries. Even if you do it correctly people can get nasty and might start making unfounded accusations.

Sarahspangles

Misha96 said:

Hi,

I’m the executor and primary beneficiary of an uncle’s will. Probate has been granted.  I’m in the process of closing account and paying small debts. My uncle made his last will in 2010. It gifts his late wife’s jewellery and his car and coin collection to other family members and close friends. Most of the jewellery and the car were sold several years ago and the money passed into my uncle’s bank account. Since the Grant of Probate, some of the people to whom specific items were gifted have been baying for the sale value of the items they would have received had my uncle not sold them. Am I legally bound to give them the money from the residue of the estate?

Thanks,

Misha

How do they know what was in the Will?

doodling

Hi,

Keep_pedalling said:

Misha96 said:

Thank you for the information and advice. I'm uncertain how to proceed but it's good to know I am not bound legally  to start signing cheques for the people concerned.

I think it would be worth taking legal advice on the best way to inform failed beneficiaries. Even if you do it correctly people can get nasty and might start making unfounded accusations.

I don't see any point in using a solicitor to write letters for you.

All you need to do is write to the beneficiaries whose bequests have failed explaining what has happened, explaining the very simple legal position that if the testator bequeathed something they haven't got at the time of death then the bequest fails and there is no entitlement to any kind of substitute (including money), expressing your sympathies at their predicament and explaining that you cannot legally do anything else unless another beneficiary is willing to accept a reduction.

You only need a solicitor if the beneficiary engages their own or commences legal action of some kind.

p00hsticks

Sarahspangles said:

Misha96 said:

Hi,

I’m the executor and primary beneficiary of an uncle’s will. Probate has been granted.  I’m in the process of closing account and paying small debts. My uncle made his last will in 2010. It gifts his late wife’s jewellery and his car and coin collection to other family members and close friends. Most of the jewellery and the car were sold several years ago and the money passed into my uncle’s bank account. Since the Grant of Probate, some of the people to whom specific items were gifted have been baying for the sale value of the items they would have received had my uncle not sold them. Am I legally bound to give them the money from the residue of the estate?

Thanks,

Misha

How do they know what was in the Will?

OP says that probate has been granted, so the will is in the public domain (for anyone willing to pay £1.50)  

Misha96

Sarahspangles said:

Misha96 said:

Hi,

I’m the executor and primary beneficiary of an uncle’s will. Probate has been granted.  I’m in the process of closing account and paying small debts. My uncle made his last will in 2010. It gifts his late wife’s jewellery and his car and coin collection to other family members and close friends. Most of the jewellery and the car were sold several years ago and the money passed into my uncle’s bank account. Since the Grant of Probate, some of the people to whom specific items were gifted have been baying for the sale value of the items they would have received had my uncle not sold them. Am I legally bound to give them the money from the residue of the estate?

Thanks,

Misha

How do they know what was in the Will?

A probated Will is a public document. Anybody can buy a copy from the government website for £1.50.

Sarahspangles

Misha96 said:

Sarahspangles said:

Misha96 said:

Hi,

I’m the executor and primary beneficiary of an uncle’s will. Probate has been granted.  I’m in the process of closing account and paying small debts. My uncle made his last will in 2010. It gifts his late wife’s jewellery and his car and coin collection to other family members and close friends. Most of the jewellery and the car were sold several years ago and the money passed into my uncle’s bank account. Since the Grant of Probate, some of the people to whom specific items were gifted have been baying for the sale value of the items they would have received had my uncle not sold them. Am I legally bound to give them the money from the residue of the estate?

Thanks,

Misha

How do they know what was in the Will?

A probated Will is a public document. Anybody can buy a copy from the government website for £1.50.

I wondered as sometimes the person making the Will has discussed it with them. In this case it’s unfortunate they’re now aware since they’re no longer going to get something. Presumably Uncle thought he needed the cash.

Alderbank

Sarahspangles said:

Misha96 said:

Sarahspangles said:

Misha96 said:

Hi,

I’m the executor and primary beneficiary of an uncle’s will. Probate has been granted.  I’m in the process of closing account and paying small debts. My uncle made his last will in 2010. It gifts his late wife’s jewellery and his car and coin collection to other family members and close friends. Most of the jewellery and the car were sold several years ago and the money passed into my uncle’s bank account. Since the Grant of Probate, some of the people to whom specific items were gifted have been baying for the sale value of the items they would have received had my uncle not sold them. Am I legally bound to give them the money from the residue of the estate?

Thanks,

Misha

How do they know what was in the Will?

A probated Will is a public document. Anybody can buy a copy from the government website for £1.50.

I wondered as sometimes the person making the Will has discussed it with them. In this case it’s unfortunate they’re now aware since they’re no longer going to get something. Presumably Uncle thought he needed the cash.

Presumably not!

Otherwise he would have said 'To my nephew Willie I leave my Rolls-Royce. If this bequest fails I leave Willie the sum of £100,000'