Legal or not?

Purpleblue90

My grandparents passed away and their house has been through probate and will be sold in the coming weeks. The executor of the will has debts in his name (unpaid council tax and rent) at my grandparents property. He is going to use the other beneficiarys share to pay these off even though these debts are in his name alone. 
Is this allowed?

RAS

Why would he pay rent and Council Tax on your grandparent's property?

Keep_pedalling

If the executor is living there then he is responsible for CT if not the estate is. Where does rent come into this?

Purpleblue90

The property was shared by my grandparents and the council. They owned around 40% the council the other 60%. After they died the council were informed but they obviously still wanted the money.
He didn't live there but as the executor the debts were then sent to him.

Keep_pedalling

In which case he does not own the debts, the estate does and it has to be paid before the rest of the estate is distributed to the beneficiaries. 

Purpleblue90

Thank you, I wasn't too sure as the debt was in his name only. Thank you for your help.

RAS

Plainly these are debts of the estate, not the executor's personal responsibility.

Linton

I assume that the debts were actually owed by the grand parents.  If so they remain with the estate.  All estate debts must be paid before any bequests can be distributed. The executor is just an administrator acting on behalf of the estate.

fatbelly

The bills would have been sent to him as 'executor of...'

Those things get settled first

frayedknot

This is a unique problem with a partly-owned house; the part-rent still needs paying and is charged to the estate. It means a quick sale is required or the debt will continue to mount.

poseidon1

frayedknot said:

This is a unique problem with a partly-owned house; the part-rent still needs paying and is charged to the estate. It means a quick sale is required or the debt will continue to mount.

I fear a quick sale maybe a problem with this shared ownership situation, especially if  a council is in fact a substantial shared owner ( not usual for councils to be involved in this kind of arrangement, more often than not its a housing association).