Co-Executor Issues

elsien

You don’t have to give him access to the account to give him his share. 

BooJewels

I think for your peace of mind you're perhaps going to have to be pragmatic about this and come to a compromise arrangement so that you can move forward. 

First option:  The sibling in the house with the right to stay continues living there and you distribute whatever cash funds are left in the estate three ways to each of you.  The unemployed sibling gets his third to do as he wishes with and so do you and the brother in the house.  I think maybe you and he need to come to an agreement between you on how the building work is funded - maybe you can help him out from your share.

Second option - fairer but less palatable to the unemployed brother:  You estimate how much is needed for the remaining building work, knock that off the cash balance of the estate and divide and distribute the rest as a third each.  If there's anything left at the end, you then distribute that in thirds too.

You certainly don't 'give access' to the estate funds to the one who needs money, but you can transfer his share to his own bank.

Sea_Shell

Sorry, I got confused.

I didn't realise the resident sibling and the one asking for money were 2 different people.   So he's rowing back on the verbal agreement to chip in to the work and wants/needs the cash himself?

In light of that, I'd suggest just finalising the estate, doing the split.  What will be will be.

Then, you can decide how much you want to help the resident sibling with repairs, from your share.

sun8eam

Thanks again for your inputs on this, it really is appreciated 🙂.

I think we will try for the 2nd option that BooJewels mentioned, this was something that we had considered previously.

What if he asks for the bank details for the account? As he has every right to know, do you think we should set up some kind of update on the account via text/email on a monthly basis perhaps?

I am so reticent for the unemployed sibling to have access to the account as he really has no idea how to manage money.

BooJewels

If the estate funds are in an account in your name, then he can't access it, unless you make it a joint account with him and/or the other brother.  In my experience that requires both parties to visit the bank in person with ID etc. 

He can't demand access to the estate funds - it's not his money, until distribution, it belongs to the estate.  Well, he can demand until he's blue in the face, but he has no actual right to access the money for his own purposes.  Don't let him bully you - at best, he's entitled to a third of the cash balance, not just access it as he sees fit.

But you can send him his third share after deducting the anticipated building costs.  That will give him around £6,666 which should tide him over whilst he looks for another job.  If he has other debts, they're beyond the concern of the estate.

Sea_Shell

sun8eam said:

Thanks again for your inputs on this, it really is appreciated 🙂.

I think we will try for the 2nd option that BooJewels mentioned, this was something that we had considered previously.

What if he asks for the bank details for the account? As he has every right to know, do you think we should set up some kind of update on the account via text/email on a monthly basis perhaps?

I am so reticent for the unemployed sibling to have access to the account as he really has no idea how to manage money.

If it would appease him, you could give him a copy of an account statement, showing the balance.

He can't actually DO anything with that information.  

We used to give our bank details to everyone, every time we'd write a cheque! 😉

sun8eam

Great, thanks for advising on this.

If anything, I think he just wants to be able to see what is showing in the account, fund wise, what £'s are left basically. Thanks for clarifying that he can't deman access to it, this was something that I was unsure about.

All three of us are joint Executors of the Will, the sibling residing in the house was appointed executor on the Will, however, he then appointed myself, the unemployed sibling at the time, said that he did not want to do it.

So, I had arranged everything regarding the Probate process during that summer which was both stressful and time consuming.

Sea_Shell

Theoretically, he could attempt to petition to have you removed as executor and take on the role himself.   

But that seems OTT and would be very expensive.

Distribute ASAP, so it's done and dusted.  Then there isn't anything left that he could do, even theoretically.

BooJewels

If he only wants to know the amounts, do a quick account summary of what has been spent etc. and show him a screen grab or statement from the bank.   If nothing else, if the estate funds are in an account in your sole name, you'd probably be breaking the account terms if you let him 'have access' to it.

When my sister and I were joint executors of 2 different family estates I did all the admin work and she did more practical running around as she lived near the properties.  We each made pertinent notes or posted photos in a shared access app and once a month I'd do a quick summary of any financial activity for that month with a screen grab of the latest entries and balance in the estate account.  If all 3 of you are executors anyway (I didn't understand your comment about that) then you perhaps should have been doing this periodically anyway.

sun8eam

Just to clarify, residing in house sibling appointed Executor, the Will quotes “if he is unable or unwilling to act as Executor, then the other two” siblings (unemployed sibling & myself) to act as Executors.

I'll take on board what you all have advised on this, thank you again 🙂.