Unable and unwilling to administer brother's intestate estate

Grahamu

Hello,

My estranged brother who I haven't seen in decades passed away recently leaving no will. I am his only living relative. I have already arranged and paid for his funeral but, for reasons I do not want to go into in detail, I am unable and unwilling to act as administrator for his estate and I can't afford to pay a solictor to undertake the role instead. Please accept this as an irreversible decision/fact, even if it seems on the surface to be very cold hearted.

However, this is where the whole process gets very confusing.

I understand that as he left no will there are no named executors and the estate therefore needs an administrator instead which is something that someone applies to undertake (Letters of Administration).

I believe being an administrator is a voluntary role and not a legal requirement, but I have a couple of questions regarding it in my situation:

1. If I am not going to undertake this voluntary role, and don't know of anyone else who will, I assume some 'authority' will have to undrtake it instead i.e. the same as if somebody passes with no friends or relatives. But how do the authorities get to know that he has passed, there is no will, and nobody to act as administrator? what is the trigger/process?
2. I have seen there are various forms to 'relinquish' the role of executor or administrator but these only seem to apply where someone has already assumed the role (via an executor in a will, being a spouse, or alreday applying). They don't apply to the scenario where someone hasn't assumed the role since no relinquishing the role is needed in that case.

Does anyone have any experience/ideas on how I can proceed? All I want to do is to 'trigger' somebody doing something.

SiliconChip

Others can probably explain further but a quick search found that there is official government information that should help you.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/form-pa15-give-up-probate-executor-rights

Grahamu

Thx SC. Yes I did see that form. It is one of 2 I found the other being PA16. However, neither really apply:

PA15 - this is if someone is already executor or administrator (I'm not) and want to renounce the role.
PA16 - this seems to be if someone has died without a will and their spouse/civil partner therefore aitomatically assume the role of adminstrator but they don;t want to do it.

These are the only 2 forms I could find and neither really fit. I guess, as a last resort, I could submit a PA15 even though I am not currently in any role that needs renouncing.

Thx again.

p00hsticks

Grahamu said:

 All I want to do is to 'trigger' somebody doing something.

Why ?

I don't think any one will.
As far as I can see the only reason for anyone wanting to voluntarily step up to such a role would be if it is is their financial interest to do so.
 
If the estate is worth anything then with no will you are the obvious beneficiary but not interested in administrating it. 

So unless there are any parties out there that are owed enough money to think it worth pushing to get the estate administered, I suspect things will just be left in limbo.  

Keep_pedalling

Does his estate have any significant assets such as a house? If it does you could employ a solicitor to carry out the administration and they would simply take the fee out of the proceeds of the estate. 

Grahamu

Sadly, he had no assets except a few hundred quid in the bank and what looks like considerably more than that in debts (so insolvent).

Keep_pedalling

Grahamu said:

Sadly, he had no assets except a few hundred quid in the bank and what looks like considerably more than that in debts (so insolvent).

In which case just walk away and if any creditors contact you inform them that the estate is insolvent and that none is administrating it. 

This does not stop you contacting the bank and have them pay you what is there to help cover the funeral costs which alway take priority over unsecured debt. 

Grahamu

p00hsticks said:

Grahamu said:

 All I want to do is to 'trigger' somebody doing something.

Why ?

I don't think any one will.
As far as I can see the only reason for anyone wanting to voluntarily step up to such a role would be if it is is their financial interest to do so.
 
If the estate is worth anything then with no will you are the obvious beneficiary but not interested in administrating it. 

So unless there are any parties out there that are owed enough money to think it worth pushing to get the estate administered, I suspect things will just be left in limbo.  

No, the estate is effectively insolvent I think. 

I was under the impression that, if there is no-one else, the probate court would appoint someone (if they knew). The only reason for doingt his is that he rented a house and it still has all his 'stuff' in it which  am sure the landlord isn't happy about. I was going to get someone in to dump it all to help out but apparently that could end being considered as intermeddling.

doodling

Hi,

If you don't want to administer the estate then don't.

If someone else wants to administer it then they will.

If no-one administers it then it will remain unadministered.

If the landlord wants his property back then, whilst in theory he should probably go to court to obtain possession, he could just go in, throw away all the stuff in the property (or take it in lieu of rent but thet would probably leave him administering the estate if anyone bothered to check which they probably won't) and re-let it.

You need do nothing and it is in your interests to do exactly that.

Grahamu

doodling said:

Hi,

If you don't want to administer the estate then don't.

If someone else wants to administer it then they will.

If no-one administers it then it will remain unadministered.

If the landlord wants his property back then, whilst in theory he should probably go to court to obtain possession, he could just go in, throw away all the stuff in the property (or take it in lieu of rent but thet would probably leave him administering the estate if anyone bothered to check which they probably won't) and re-let it.

You need do nothing and it is in your interests to do exactly that.

Thanks Doodling; good advice. I think that is the best course of action.

Cheers.

Marcon

Grahamu said:

Hello,

My estranged brother who I haven't seen in decades passed away recently leaving no will. I am his only living relative. I have already arranged and paid for his funeral but, for reasons I do not want to go into in detail, I am unable and unwilling to act as administrator for his estate and I can't afford to pay a solictor to undertake the role instead. Please accept this as an irreversible decision/fact, even if it seems on the surface to be very cold hearted.

However, this is where the whole process gets very confusing.

I understand that as he left no will there are no named executors and the estate therefore needs an administrator instead which is something that someone applies to undertake (Letters of Administration).

I believe being an administrator is a voluntary role and not a legal requirement, but I have a couple of questions regarding it in my situation:

1. If I am not going to undertake this voluntary role, and don't know of anyone else who will, I assume some 'authority' will have to undrtake it instead i.e. the same as if somebody passes with no friends or relatives. But how do the authorities get to know that he has passed, there is no will, and nobody to act as administrator? what is the trigger/process?
2. I have seen there are various forms to 'relinquish' the role of executor or administrator but these only seem to apply where someone has already assumed the role (via an executor in a will, being a spouse, or alreday applying). They don't apply to the scenario where someone hasn't assumed the role since no relinquishing the role is needed in that case.

Does anyone have any experience/ideas on how I can proceed? All I want to do is to 'trigger' somebody doing something.

Why? It's an insolvent estate, you were estranged...you don't need to do anything, for the simple reason there probably isn't anything to be done. The landlord can dump the possessions - that's a role most landlords get landed with sooner or later.