Joint executors

Himoutdoors

I was thinking of nominating both siblings as joint executors so as to avoid favouritism.  But if dual signatures are required, that just adds to the workload.  Is it possible to specify that dual signatures are not required?  This would also allow more flexibility to divide the workload.  Thanks in advance for your thoughts on this subject.

GoogleMeNow

I'm not an expert, but my two brothers and I were executors for our Uncle's estate.  One of my brothers asked if he could deal with the estate with me and the other brother "renouncing" our role but with "reserved power".  Reserved power means that we could take up the role of Executor again, should the nominated person not be able to continue doing the administration of the estate.  Could this be something your siblings would be happy with?

Keep_pedalling

No you can’t do that, but the executors can decide on one of them applying for probate and the other  holding their powers in reserve.

Have you any doubts on whether the two can work together without issues?  If there are issues between them then it might be better to appoint one of them as the primary executor and the other as back-up.  Hopefully you are not DIYing this so you can talk though the options with your solicitor.

Mojisola

Himoutdoors said:

I was thinking of nominating both siblings as joint executors so as to avoid favouritism. 

If both are equally competent when it comes to administration and finances, nominate one as executor and the other as reserve.

To avoid the favouritism concern, explain your choice for first and reserve with practical reasons such as one lives nearer to you.

If that would still worry you, follow Keep_pedalling's advice.

Are you getting Power of Attorney forms done as well?  You can nominate both children but allow them to act 'jointly and severally'.

SiliconChip

My sister and I were joint executors for our mum's estate, we agreed to divide the tasks, she dealt with disposing of the contents of the house and I did all the paperwork and financial stuff. The only things that we both had to sign were the probate application and some papers relating to the sale of the house, which didn't add much to the overall timeframe. 

I think the key will be for them to use a bank account (either a normal one or an executor account, I just used one of my own) that belongs to only one of them rather than a joint account so that there is no need for cheques to be signed by both, or to set up complicated dual authorisation processes for online payments. That does require one executor to trust the other but hopefully that is already the case.

BooJewels

@SiliconChip has posted pretty much the same as I was about to.  My sister and I have been joint executors several times and there was very little that we both had to sign - just the big stuff like the Probate form and house sale stuff.  Likewise, she did local stuff with the house, I did paperwork and admin and banking for the estate funds, which worked well for us.

For the most part, if you're an executor, you can get stuff done on your own - maybe you have to prove that you're actually an executor by showing the Will, but it doesn't necessitate all executors to sign for something.  You don't have 'joint' executors as such - that arrangement is more relevant to bank accounts and LPAs - where you can stipulate that both have to sign.  

Himoutdoors

Thanks everyone for your comments.  There has been some very useful insight about the legal basis and practicalities.