Distributing funds after probate granted.

mahony3

So i have been granted probate as a executor of my mothers estate, probate was applied for on the 20th of May and believe it or not it was granted to me as sole executor on the 3rd of June !!, there is no property to sell as i was appointed as a court of protection deputy five years ago for my mother as she had advanced dementia and unable to mange her finances etc,  her property was sold three years ago to fund ongoing care home fees, there is only a bank account and premium bonds to sort out ( both already applied for ) and a income tax bill of £1995 payable to HMRC and no inheritance tax to pay as my dads allowance was passed to my mum , i Know there are no outstanding bills or creditors to pay as i have been managing mums money for five years and no dependents either, my question is how long before i can distribute my mums money to the beneficiaries once it's transferred to my account ( the will names me and my two siblings as equal shares), as it's  not a complex estate i was assuming i could do it straight away ?

Keep_pedalling

In the circumstances I can’t see why you can’t distribute the estate now. If you want to be a little more cautious then you could distribute the bulk of it now and hold some back in case something crawls out of the woodwork like a mistake with the billing for her care home. 

mahony3

Keep_pedalling said:

In the circumstances I can’t see why you can’t distribute the estate now. If you want to be a little more cautious then you could distribute the bulk of it now and hold some back in case something crawls out of the woodwork like a mistake with the billing for her care home. 

No care home fees to pay or billing issues, i actually got a partial refund from them as Mum ( bless her ) was in credit with them  !!, Thanks for the reply

madbadrob

If you are sure of the debts etc to the estate being zero you can distribute immediately.  There is no set time limit for how long after probate is issued for the payout of the gifts although one would expect it to be in a timely manner unless of course the will stated differently.

My only caveat to this is that whilst you have been acting on your mums best interests since she lost capacity are you 100 percent sure there were no other debts prior to you taking this role on because they can claim for up to 7 years after the debt accrued.  If you are then go ahead.

Finally my condolences on he passing of your mum

Rob

mahony3

madbadrob said:

If you are sure of the debts etc to the estate being zero you can distribute immediately.  There is no set time limit for how long after probate is issued for the payout of the gifts although one would expect it to be in a timely manner unless of course the will stated differently.

My only caveat to this is that whilst you have been acting on your mums best interests since she lost capacity are you 100 percent sure there were no other debts prior to you taking this role on because they can claim for up to 7 years after the debt accrued.  If you are then go ahead.

Finally my condolences on he passing of your mum

Rob

Many thanks Rob for your reply and your sympathy, I'm 100% sure there where not debts prior to me taking control of my Mother's finances, so once the bank and NS&I get their act together I can distribute my Mother's wishes. 

             Mahony3