Solicitor as executor

Mintyrose

My Dad, has made his will, and appointed 3 executors , myself, brother and solicitor, he put a clause in his will because brother lives with him, that he can stay in the house until 2 years after his death, we don’t get along at all, solicitor is also brothers solicitor, is this allowed? Can she be impartial if she is also employed by him? Thanks all 😬

Nearlyold

Yes of course it's allowed, why wouldn't it be? Your Father and Brother are perfectly entitled to appoint whoever they like to act for them. The only time they couldn't choose the same Solicitor would be if your father or brother were looking to take legal action against each other via the same solicitor.

RAS

Even if the solicitor is the brother's solicitor they are legally required to execute and distribute the estate as per the will. Not as per "brother might like it."

If dad is open to conversation, you might want to explain that this could well leave you with a CGT liability (18-28% for any uplift between death and sale) which wouldn't affect brother as it was his primary residence. Or you could just move in for a while?

Mintyrose

Could it? You see I live in social housing, dad only has a 2 bed bungalow and I couldn’t risk giving up my home, in case this all goes wrong 😭

Marcon

Mintyrose said:

Could it? You see I live in social housing, dad only has a 2 bed bungalow and I couldn’t risk giving up my home, in case this all goes wrong 😭

No. Stupid idea.

There may not in any case be a CGT liability. See https://www.crane-staples.co.uk/news/do-i-pay-capital-gains-tax-on-inherited-property/ for a very clear explanation (and of course the property could sell for less than its probate value so the whole issue of CGT would fall away).