Co-Executor Issues

sun8eam

There are 3 siblings who joint executors of our late Father's will. Our Father passed away in 2021; my brother who was the first appointee as Executor on the Will, asked myself to arrange the Grant of Probate which I did willingly at the time.

My Father had left £40K (approx) in his bank account, which is now in my sole name in a high interest bank account at the moment.

One of my siblings has recently lost his job and is currently out of work, he is now demanding access to the account, he is notoriously very bad at managing his money, in his 60's, still has several years left on his mortgage, owes circa, £20K to a building company for work recently carried out at his home over the past year. 

My late Mother & Father have also previously given him several thousands of pounds when they were alive because of his laissez faire attitude towards money and to get him out of a hole several holes that he’d got himself into previously.

What would be the best way to handle this type of situation as I am reluctant to let him have access to the funds because he simply cannot manage his money?

Sea_Shell

Are all 3 of you set to inherit the estate in equal shares?    If so, what £££ he had from them before is irrelevant. 

Was there a house to be sold?     Do you know the final estate value?    Have any estate debts been found and settled?

Once the estate is collected in and ready for distribution, you can't withhold it from someone, just because you're worried they will burn through it.

If it's not quite ready to be fully distributed, you are able to give a beneficiary an interim payment, at your discretion.

A % of what they would eventually be entitled too.   Say 25%, of their 3rd.     So on a £120k total estate, you might consider an interim payment of £10k.    

Flugelhorn

Are there any other assets? If not then are you waiting for some other reason to distribute the estate?

If probate work is not complete yet then you don't have to distribute the estate and TBH sounds like it wouldn't be a good idea to let him have "access" to it - suppose you could give him a third and make it clear that it comes of his share of the  total amount in the end

The fact that your parents bailed him in the past is one of those things - he would have to get the same as you and your  sibling now 

poppystar

Your role as an executor is to distribute the estate once all debts have been paid. Is there a reason why you have not done this after such a long time? 

I assume the Will is a three way split between the siblings with no other specific bequests. A bad history with money in someone else does not change their right to have their share. You may be worried about this sibling but it doesn’t change your responsibilities as an executor. 

sun8eam

Many thanks  for your replies and advice on this. 

My late Father’s wish was for my other sibling to reside in the family home for however long he wishes to, effectively for the rest of his life, he’s in his fifties. This is specifically written In his Will.

There is some building work that needs to be carried out at the family home and the three of us had all agreed after my Father had passed, for the funds to be used for any work that needs to be carried out to complete the building work. Then after this whatever £’s are remaining, we will then share this equally amongst the three of us afterwards. 

No other assets.

Flugelhorn

sun8eam said:

Many thanks  for your replies and advice on this. 

My late Father’s wish was for my other sibling to reside in the family home for however long he wishes to, effectively for the rest of his life, he’s in his fifties. This is specifically written In his Will.

There is some building work that needs to be carried out at the family home and the three of us had all agreed after my Father had passed, for the funds to be used for any work that needs to be carried out to complete the building work. Then after this whatever £’s are remaining, we will then share this equally amongst the three of us afterwards. 

No other assets.

oh crumbs sounds difficult - TBH suspect other sibling could go back on that verbal agreement (if it wasn't in the will etc)  and have his money from the account now - either younger sibling pays for the repairs on the house out of his share or you share the cost with him. Not sure the hard up sibling can be made to contribute out of his share 

elsien

This. However terrible he is with money isn’t your problem. Your role is to stick to the legalities and distribute the estate as per the will. Any verbal agreements made afterwards can be retracted. 

What is the nature of the building work that needs doing?

sun8eam

Yes it is a bit of a difficult situation at the moment, it was going along fine up until the “other sibling” had lost his job!  Now he needs “help” to access some of the money. I’m just worried that he will drain the account if he has full access to it as he has no control on his spending and does not know how to save, he doesn’t think long term, sadly.

Does he have a right to access the account that’s currently in my sole name?

Shedman

What did the will actually say about your brother staying in the house? Normally that would be by way of a life interest and there would be provisions that stated the life tenants responsibilities for the property e.g. insurance, maintenance, utilities etc.  If there are such provisions then your brother would be potentially be liable for the repairs (bit more debatable if they were pre existing repairs that needed doing) so he maybe he needs to be strongly advised of this obligation and that he is better off taking the other siblings offers of using some (all?) of the estate monies to repair the property.  However, be aware that it is possible that you and other siblings share of the estate used for such repairs could well be regarded as a gift to him as the repairs may not be considered a 'legitimate' debt of the estate and hence will come from your inheritance and hence potentially impact your own IHT positions. You might need to get some clarification on that dependant on what the will actually says.

Sea_Shell

sun8eam said:

Many thanks  for your replies and advice on this. 

My late Father’s wish was for my other sibling to reside in the family home for however long he wishes to, effectively for the rest of his life, he’s in his fifties. This is specifically written In his Will.

There is some building work that needs to be carried out at the family home and the three of us had all agreed after my Father had passed, for the funds to be used for any work that needs to be carried out to complete the building work. Then after this whatever £’s are remaining, we will then share this equally amongst the three of us afterwards. 

No other assets.

Ah, that does complicate things.   

Does the will say that the residual estate (excluding the house) be split 3 ways?

ATEOTD He can't have it all ways.   You either all chip in to do the building work, to maintain the property, as verbally agreed, or you do the 3 way cash split now, and he'll just have to manage on his share to do what needs doing (or some of it).     

I assume the house eventually comes to the other 2 (plus any children of the occupying sibling) once he passes, so I can see why you'd want to ensure that it stays maintained.* 

Is he asking for more that a third of what money you think will be left?    

Tricky, as the works may easily go over budget and cost more than you all originally expected, leaving little or no money left to distribute.   

Who is going to be the one to instruct the work (the one being invoiced)? 



* How will the house be maintained, long term.   Can he afford it's upkeep on his own?    Did the will make reference to any ongoing costs in respect of the house.


ETA - is the £20k of works outstanding part of that which you'd all agreed to chip in to pay? 

sun8eam

In the Will it states to split it 3 ways equally.

The occupying sibling currently pays for the daily upkeep and outgoings of the property and keeps it in good repair atm. He is managing it on his own.
He Is also arranging the building work and does the majority of it on his own (to save on costs wherever possible), my late Father had initially arranged the building work but he sadly passed away whilst the work was initially being carried out - all three of us had agreed verbally shortly after his passing that we would complete this work in his name.

The “other” sibling is not asking for the third of the funds yet. I’m concerned that the the available £'s will be used to fund his lifestyle.