Need advice and don't know where to turn!

doodling

Hi,

JigglyPlates111 said:

Thanks so much for all of the guidance and advice. After a bit of my own research I think the following is likely to be best:

- register death and obtain death certificate 
- identify if life insurance policy forms part of estate or not (at present I think it will not)
- if not, complete the form to state I renounce myself as executor. 

The only ‘dealings’ I’ve had in anything to do with my father is informing his estate agent that he has passed. No banks have been informed etc and I won’t do anything further.

What I cannot find is where on earth I send the form to have it formally registered that I renounce the role and wish not to take part. 

Does anyone know how you do this? Or who you do this through? Should I contact the solicitors he completed his will through?

Do I still put his details in the ‘tell us once’ service or anything to notify people of his death? Or just do nothing at ALL? 

You can register the death and use the "tell us once" service without it being classed as intermeddling. 

You only need to formally do anything with respect to the executor role if someone else wants to be executor (or Administrator).  Until that happens (if it ever does) all you need to do is tell anyone who asks that you have renounced your role as executor.

I suspect that legally it is suffiicient to verbally renounce the role but if anyone else wants to take it on then you will need give the form you have filled in to them to keep the bureaucrats happy.

Keep_pedalling

Yes, no need to formally renounce, that would only be needed if the estate was actually going to be administered. 

Marcon

DE_612183 said:

1. Life insurance is part of the estate.

Highly unlikely if it's written in trust.

Savvy_Sue

You might want to prepare some standard replies to enquiries. Do NOT give your contact details (especially phone no.) on them: I think something along the lines of

"Thank you for your correspondence regarding the late Dad's Name. His estate is insolvent and the executor has no plans to apply for probate. Signed, Jiggly."

Should do the job, but others may have better ideas.

doodling

Hi,

Savvy_Sue said:

You might want to prepare some standard replies to enquiries. Do NOT give your contact details (especially phone no.) on them: I think something along the lines of

"Thank you for your correspondence regarding the late Dad's Name.

 His estate is insolvent and the executor has no plans to apply for probate. Signed, Jiggly."

Should do the job, but others may have better ideas.

My only question would be why would anyone be contacting the OP - no-one will know who they are or what their address is?

If the OP does need to write something then I'd go for: "Thankyou for your correspondence regarding the late Dad's Name.  The estate is believed to be insolvent, the executor named in the will has renounced their role and no-one has any plans to administer the estate.".

Whether the OP gives contact details in any letter is up to them. I agree a phone number is probably not a good idea.  A lot depends on how thick skinned the OP is if one of the creditors foolishly thinks they can get away with chasing them for money.

mattojgb

If it were me I'd just put "Undelivered: deceased" on any post received, and return to sender.

Flugelhorn

JigglyPlates111 said:

What I cannot find is where on earth I send the form to have it formally registered that I renounce the role and wish not to take part. 

You don't need to complete / send a form - if needed just tell any interested party that the estate is insolvent and no-one is administering it. 

The form is for people who do need probate but the exec doesn't want to do it so them someone else can take it on. You don't need probate and don't need your name registered anywhere 

you don't need to show the will to anyone  - no-one needs to know that you were named exec.
 if anyone chases you up for money / implies that you should do something then you just need a standard letter stating that the estate is insolvent and no-one is administering it. 

Savvy_Sue

doodling said:

Hi,

Savvy_Sue said:

You might want to prepare some standard replies to enquiries. Do NOT give your contact details (especially phone no.) on them: I think something along the lines of

"Thank you for your correspondence regarding the late Dad's Name.

 His estate is insolvent and the executor has no plans to apply for probate. Signed, Jiggly."

Should do the job, but others may have better ideas.

My only question would be why would anyone be contacting the OP - no-one will know who they are or what their address is?

If the OP does need to write something then I'd go for: "Thankyou for your correspondence regarding the late Dad's Name.  The estate is believed to be insolvent, the executor named in the will has renounced their role and no-one has any plans to administer the estate.".

Whether the OP gives contact details in any letter is up to them. I agree a phone number is probably not a good idea.  A lot depends on how thick skinned the OP is if one of the creditors foolishly thinks they can get away with chasing them for money.

Except that, for example, Dad's landlord / estate agent knows who the OP is, and might pass on the information he has to others, including debt collection agencies. 

caprikid1

The letting / estate agent are just trying it on to see if there is any money in the estate or you are a soft touch.

That said you have no idea what may lurk in the bank accounts !

JigglyPlates111

Thank you all for your advice and guidance. 

Letting agent have my name, number and e-mail only. No address or other details. I’ll just send them the basic letter stating estate is insolvent and nobody is administering it if they contact again. Then if anyone else makes contact I’d just respond with the same to them. 

@caprikid1 I’m very sure he has nothing to speak of hidden away, he’s been borrowing money from me to cover living expenses for quite some time. I’d assume any money sat in his accounts is recent state pension payments / housing benefit, which I’d not access anyway as it’s likely an overpayment as no banks etc have been informed of his passing yet.