Administrator duties - intestacy - minors inheritance

lovinyourwork

Hi. I am Administrator for my uncle's Estate. He died intestate. Myself, cousin 1 and the two sons of cousin 2 (sadly deceased) are the beneficiaries of the Estate. The two sons of cousin 2 are 15 and 17 yrs old. This is making the distribution of their shares of the Estate complicated and is delaying the whole Estate from being distributed by the solicitor appointed by me to supposedly make this process less painful. Everyone concerned either was or is based in the UK, except for me (Ireland) - an added logistical complication. I'd like to know the simplest and most pragmatic way of getting the money to them whilst fulfilling my responsibilities as Administrator. I understand they can't have access to their share of the money until each one reaches 18. The sum they are each inheriting will be above the annual allowance for a Junior ISA and I don't know of other options which secure the money until 18. I have no clue about Trusts, or how to go about getting one (and whether I can even arrange one since I do not live in the UK) and the solicitor is also unhelpful on this point. The boys father is on board with helping with all this, but it seems far more complicated than it should be. Any suggestions for how I solve this?

msb1234

Isn’t the father of the boys dead???

poppystar

msb1234 said:

Isn’t the father of the boys dead???

Not necessarily, their mother could be the pre deceased cousin.

lovinyourwork

Yes, their mother was my cousin. My uncle who died had no children nor wife and his siblings - our fathers - are also deceased).

doodling

Hi,

You say the sums are over the annual limit for a junior ISA, could contributing over two years be a solution or are the sums vastly over the JISA limit?

If everything else is settled then there is nothing stopping you keeping the children's bequests in an executor account and drip feeding it into JISAs over several.years - it means that you still hold the Administrator role until that is done but it shouldn't be arduous.

lovinyourwork

doodling said:

Hi,

You say the sums are over the annual limit for a junior ISA, could contributing over two years be a solution or are the sums vastly over the JISA limit?

If everything else is settled then there is nothing stopping you keeping the children's bequests in an executor account and drip feeding it into JISAs over several.years - it means that you still hold the Administrator role until that is done but it shouldn't be arduous.

Thanks for the response. Yes, literally the Estate Accounts are complete apart from this one thing.The amounts for each child would span more than 2 and a bit years worth of JISA, but this is a helpful suggestion, and if I'd thought about it sooner perhaps this could have been arranged asap and the majority of the sum could have placed in a JISA at the end/beginning of the current and next tax years, respectively.

An executor account, sounds interesting and something which could work, too. Is this something one can set up at a regular bank, do you know? And could I do it, since I don't reside in the UK. Or could their father do it? But he his not an administrator? This is where we seem to get into a Catch-22 with this whole thing. I can see that the solicitor is protecting the boys' interests and also my liability as an Administrator should the money not get distributed correctly, but not quite sure what is acceptable to them legally.

Thank you for the helpful suggestions.

Shelldean

Can the money be out in an account with the father as trustee??

lovinyourwork

Shelldean said:

Can the money be out in an account with the father as trustee??

Yes, I think the solicitor is considering this option. Would you happen to know if an account with a trustee has to be any special type of account? Or is such an account one easily set up through a regular bank? The boys' father said he was having trouble finding an account he could set up in each boys name into which he a largish lump sum of money can be deposited. The solicitor also wants it to be secure until they are 18 and then can deal with their own money. It's frustrating that I am not in the same country and making enquiries to banks via the phone is not as easy these days.

Spendless

How close to being 18 is the eldest one? 

lovinyourwork

Spendless said:

How close to being 18 is the eldest one? 

Next year, I think. 

madbadrob

Yes setting up  accounts for minors with parents as trustees is not as straight forward today as it was in the past.  My daughters have just set up accounts for my granbdchildren and its taken weeks. I was surprised to hear I cannot have the account details to pay money into their account.  My daughters have to send me a link each time I want to give them the "pocket money" and before its taken they have to accept the money on behalf of the children.  Its all done to stop money laundering and an adult using the kids accounts to groom them.

As for the rest of your question others have said all I would say.  

Rob