Wills and Solicitors

pasturesgreen

Should we have a Solicitor as an Executive of our Wills?

Emmia

I would say that depends on the complexity of your financial arrangements and the age (relative to your own) of your executors.

Mark_d

pasturesgreen said:

Should we have a Solicitor as an Executive of our Wills?

I would say it's not necessary.  The other executor(s) will likely engage a solicitor when the time comes.

Keep_pedalling

You provide zero information about your family situation so the answer is no idea. If you have no adult children who would trust to wind up your estate then a solicitor might be worth appointing as a back-up to your spouse, but otherwise a solicitor will only add costs to the administration as well as an extended period to get the estate wound up.

PS this has nothing to do with pensions so I have requested this is moved the the deaths, funerals and probate board.

Exodi

Depends on your circumstances.

It could be seen as wasteful if you only had one person of whom you intended to leave everything to.

It could be worth it's weight in gold if you have multiple beneficiaries who have a tumultuous relationship.

And everything in between.

ali_bear

I would say no. You need the executor to be one of the main beneficiaries, and not a service provider in the process. 

RAS

The absence of information make this a difficult call, but there are a few instances when a solicitor might be useful.

If your family makes the War of the Roses look like a minor skirmish or you literally have no friends or relatives who might be alive when you die, it might be a good idea.

If you think there might be some family unrest consider a relative or friend as executor who can be neutral, make sure they know that they can employ a solicitor if there are problems (rather than appoint one as executor), and leave them some recompense.

Otherwise don't try to be fair, pick the person who is financially reliable and you trust to do the job, rather than asking all the kids to share the role. 

Emmia

RAS said:

The absence of information make this a difficult call, but there are a few instances when a solicitor might be useful.

If your family makes the War of the Roses look like a minor skirmish or you literally have no friends or relatives who might be alive when you die, it might be a good idea.

If you think there might be some family unrest consider a relative or friend as executor who can be neutral, make sure they know that they can employ a solicitor if there are problems (rather than appoint one as executor), and leave them some recompense.

Otherwise don't try to be fair, pick the person who is financially reliable and you trust to do the job, rather than asking all the kids to share the role. 

The solicitor fees (if used) would come out of the estate of the deceased. So you don't need to recompense for that. You should though leave an executor something (if they aren't a major beneficiary) to recognise their efforts (over and above expenses they might claim)

DavidT67

Having the interests of the executors aligned with those of the residual beneficiaries makes for a smoother administration.  

MobileSaver

pasturesgreen said:

Should we have a Solicitor as an Executive of our Wills?

I've been involved in two roughly similarly Estates lately:

Estate 1 - Executor was a solicitor who took over 7 years and charged over £20,000 to finalised the Estate.

Estate 2 - Did it myself, took less than a year and spent £1,000 on a solicitor to handle the property sale.

I've also handled several much smaller Estates in recent years without spending a penny on solicitor fees so the beneficiaries received larger inheritances. However the biggest advantage was that I was in control so for example was able to make interim inheritance payments very early on in the process, much to the gratitude of the beneficiaries.