Tranferring a property not mentioned in a will

mr_Jw

I am the executor.
Originally they had a verbal agreement as 2 of them are living in the house and the house was to be signed over to them, then the third person was to be payed a third of the house,s value.
There is enough money from the estate to cover this agreement but there has since been a disagreement about the house value.  There is a also car which is only worth £4000.

RAS

Good. Your duty is to do what the will says. The beneficiaries aren't automatically entitled to change that. If you resign the brothers have as much right to administer the estate as the sister.

What exactly does the will say?

Does it leave one third of my assets to each of my children, or one third of the house? If possible, can you quote minus names?

And if necessary, pay for a RICS valuation on the house. Anyone who seeks advice on challenging distribution based on that will be told it's unlikely to get anywhere in court.

mr_Jw

Hi. 
The will says:

"My executor shall hold the residue of my estate either to retain or sell it.
To pay the residue to (Names of the 3 children) and I direct that section 3 of the wills act shall not apply in this clause.

The standard provisions of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (first edition) shall apply with the deletion of paragraph 5 Section 11 Trusts of Land and appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (Consultation with Beneficiaries)  shall not apply " 

RAS

OK, so the "children" do not inherit the house, they are residual beneficiaries of the estate's value.  They don't get to argue about the value of the property.

Are there any other assets other than the house? 

Given that Section 11 para 5 of the STEP provisions is key, you may want to clarify this with a STEP practitioner although someone here maybe able to explain it's meaning. I wouldn't normally suggest another thread but I think you could put one up with STEP Provisions  11/5 meaning as the title.

Keep_pedalling

mr_Jw said:

I am the executor.
Originally they had a verbal agreement as 2 of them are living in the house and the house was to be signed over to them, then the third person was to be payed a third of the house,s value.
There is enough money from the estate to cover this agreement but there has since been a disagreement about the house value.  There is a also car which is only worth £4000.

mr_Jw said:

Hi. 
The will says:

"My executor shall hold the residue of my estate either to retain or sell it.
To pay the residue to (Names of the 3 children) and I direct that section 3 of the wills act shall not apply in this clause.

The standard provisions of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (first edition) shall apply with the deletion of paragraph 5 Section 11 Trusts of Land and appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (Consultation with Beneficiaries)  shall not apply " 

Based on that then the solution seems reasonably straight forward. The beneficiaries don’t get to dictate to you,  the will gives you the power to act alone. You get a professional valuation for the property (the cost for this comes out of the estate), confirm with the two who want to keep the house that they still wish to do this, the third one gets 50% of the valuation in cash, and once all expenses are sorted the residual gets split 3 ways. The 3rd individual can’t really argue with a professional valuation. 

RAS

Thank you, Keep_peddling. Assume in fact that none of the beneficiaries can argue about a RICS valuation and the executor does not need to discuss value with any of them. Just to give the residual beneficiaries the estate accounts at the end?

OP, I'd get on with organising probate ASAP, as renouncing is just going to make things more difficult. Suspect you were appointed to avoid disagreement between the siblings.

mr_Jw

The grant of probate has been obtained and there,s no IHT due on the estate.
All money from bank accounts and investments have been paid out and ready to distribute but the house is the only item in dispute.
They are now considering an agreement but, if they do come to an agreement, I will ask them to sign a document of acceptance including an agreement to transfer the ownership of the property with the land registry.

RAS

I hope you mean that you have access to all the money, not that you paid it out to the beneficiaries? 

Since you have already intermeddled, you need to complete your duties.

Since there is disagreement about the value of the house, get a RICS valuation. Cost £xxx but protects you from any objection by any of the beneficiaries. 

Deduct that cost before distributing and tell the resident children that their portion will include the 50% of the house value. I'd keep back a couple of thousand for any costs if the other beneficiary kicks off. It's none of their business whether the other siblings get the house or not, that make no difference to their inheritance.

Newly_retired

Agreed. That is the role of the executor.  I hope you can complete this without further hassle. 

In your place I would use a RICS surveyor for valuation and a solicitor to do the legal side of the transfer.

nom_de_plume

Keep_pedalling said:

mr_Jw said:

I am the executor.
Originally they had a verbal agreement as 2 of them are living in the house and the house was to be signed over to them, then the third person was to be payed a third of the house,s value.
There is enough money from the estate to cover this agreement but there has since been a disagreement about the house value.  There is a also car which is only worth £4000.

mr_Jw said:

Hi. 
The will says:

"My executor shall hold the residue of my estate either to retain or sell it.
To pay the residue to (Names of the 3 children) and I direct that section 3 of the wills act shall not apply in this clause.

The standard provisions of the Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (first edition) shall apply with the deletion of paragraph 5 Section 11 Trusts of Land and appointment of Trustees Act 1996 (Consultation with Beneficiaries)  shall not apply " 

Based on that then the solution seems reasonably straight forward. The beneficiaries don’t get to dictate to you,  the will gives you the power to act alone. You get a professional valuation for the property (the cost for this comes out of the estate), confirm with the two who want to keep the house that they still wish to do this, the third one gets 50% of the valuation in cash, and once all expenses are sorted the residual gets split 3 ways. The 3rd individual can’t really argue with a professional valuation. 

Should that not be 33.3%?