Wills & Probate

Flugelhorn

they may not have to get probate if the money is in bank accounts
bank may well pay the funeral expenses from the account
if you don't need probate then no need to contact the solicitors, even if you do then they may well be happy to renounce as it is a small estate 
you should divide up the assets as per the will - if named property is no longer owned by him then it is ignored 

BooJewels

I know it wasn't actually asked, but for the avoidance of doubt for anyone else reading, you cannot use an LPA to write a new will for the donor - it's the one task explicitly mentioned in the document, that you cannot undertake as an Attorney.

Mojisola

warrior1960 said:

Someone close to us made a will many years ago since which his circumstances have so drastically changed, he has long since been without any assets, such as a property. His savings and current account are well below what I understand is the minimum to go through probate.

Is the person who wrote the will mentally capable of writing a new will or even just destroying the current will so that the estate will be dealt with as an intestate one?

Savvy_Sue

RAS said:

Utilities accept that they have to wait. Watch out for unpaid bills for care and for benefits revision if they were paid for periods after the person died.

And those unpaid bills may have to wait too: if there is no-one in a position to pay and reclaim from the estate, then just reply to letters that the estate is being wound up and these matters will be dealt with in due course. 

warrior1960

Thanks again everyone for your advice. I do appreciate it. The will is very small (just 2 pages) and just names 2 siblings to act as trustees/executors and there's no mention of the solicitors themselves acting in the event of the person's death. Now the siblings have POA they are acting very much accordance with the terms of the will.

So is there any requirement to involve the solicitors when he dies? He doesn't have any assets and not a great amount of capital. If the terms of the will are being complied with, is that sufficient without involving the solicitors? After all, the will was written in 2005.

BooJewels

I'm a bit confused as to what your concern is.  Powers of Attorney and Wills are totally unrelated - and should be treated as such.  The PoA applies when the person / donor is alive and need practical assistance - the PoA authorises this.  But it ceases to have any authority at 'last breath' and then the Will takes over to say how their assets are dealt with - and it can outline any wishes they have for funeral arrangements, gifts etc.  So the Will takes over from the PoA at the time of death, as a document of authority.

So an Attorney acting under the PoA to help the person whilst they're alive doesn't need to consider the will in any way - in fact, most attorneys don't even know what the will contains - in many ways, it would be better if they didn't.  Often, Attorneys go on to become Executors, I've done that myself several times now - but I didn't know the content of the Wills I was to execute, whilst I was acting as their Attorney, before death.

If the solicitors only responsibility was to draw up the will and they're not mentioned in it as executors, then their job is done as such.  They might need to be contacted if they hold the original of the will to release it to the executors, but there's no obligation to use them to execute the will if it isn't specified in the will.

Mojisola

warrior1960 said:

The will is very small (just 2 pages) and just names 2 siblings to act as trustees/executors and there's no mention of the solicitors themselves acting in the event of the person's death. Now the siblings have POA they are acting very much accordance with the terms of the will.

Just to add to the good info from BooJewels:- 

the attorneys' duty is to act in the best interest of the person they are attorneys for; 

the duties of executors is to follow the instructions in the will.

Quite separate things.