I am an executor, if I die can I leave those duties to my sister

optimist?

Thank you Poseidon1, you make several relevant points, the answers to which are as follows:

1. It seems that if the Trust process is wholly online I will not be able to consult HMRC face to face, which is a great pity as although I did not expect them to lead me step by step through the process I did at the very least want to ask them if a trust in my Mother's name did in fact already exist - and then I would know to some extent where I stand. I would anticipate having to go through that process to find that out, so I shall attempt it, with some trepidation given the complexity of the Trust registration manual.

2. It has been about four years since (I thought) I had registered it and now have no memory of the process you describe, so I think you are right in that whatever I did it was NOT register the trust. Another reason to do it now, though I see they may decide to apply a £5000 fine for late registration, which I cannot afford as there are no financial assets remaining from the estate. We shall find out.

3. There were no additional clauses in the Will to direct the proceeds of the sale to any investment per se on behalf of my brother. The assumption was that he would want to move to somewhere more manageable (financed by the house sale) at some point, or that he would remain there for the rest of his life. We have gone five years down that second route and now he accepts that he cannot maintain the property, so wishes to move. My sister and I accepted from the start that this would be the eventual outcome of that second route at some point in time but it would take time for it to become evident to him, and now we have reached that point, though nobody ever pressured him to take either option - it is a conclusion that we knew he would have to reach in his own good time and we, perhaps wrongly, went with that as the least stressful course of action, though maybe 'inaction' would better describe it. We were trying to be considerate and not force him into anything he did not want. It certainly would have been easier on me, as originallly an executor, if this had happened earlier in the process but I can only do my best to cope with the situation as it now is and still do what is best for him.

Finally, I have resisted involving solicitors up till now as I have no good experiences of doing so in the past and frankly cannot see why HMRC should make it so difficult for people to manage their own dealings with them - and then blankly refuse to engage with those people. I am sorry if that seems unreasonable but I have spent a lifetime doing things for myself and old habits die hard. Nonetheless, I am grateful for your advice and may end up having to finance that alternative despite the fact that I expect not to benefit from the Will in any way, the proceeds of the house sale will go entirely to my sister and brother.