Could beneficiaries demand this?

Lilio8

We seem to be now at the end of the probate. I can’t quite believe it! A real saga! But I’m still feeling anxious. I might have a post traumatic stress thingy of some sort. There are still some lose ends and the distribution of the residual. Corrections were submitted to HMRC before Christmas and the final bill for remaining IHT has arrived, which is less than £800. Phew! I thought it was going to be higher. 

The bill for Sols2 is going to be close to £9000 (ouch!) because, as it was explained to me, Sols1 took their time to provide information to Sols2 (about 4 months!) and Sols2 found the mistake by Sols1 that lead to a gigantic underpayment of IHT. Sols2 did manage to recover part of the fee that Sols1 had withdrawn.

Could the other two beneficiaries  (there are 3 of us, with me as the sole executor) demand that I pay towards Sols2’s bill from my inheritance, given that Sols2 charged higher than they would have had - about £3,000 extra -  as they had to sort out Sols1’s mistake?

Savvy_Sue

I would say no, this is an expense of the estate. 

RAS

It's all an "expense of the estate." It actually sounds very reasonable given what they had to sort out.

Don't let the other beneficiaries tell you otherwise. And by the sounds of it that "extra" cost has been ameliorated somewhat by the money reimbursed from Sol1 and you've avoided HMRC penalties.

Lilio8

RAS said:

It's all an "expense of the estate." It actually sounds very reasonable given what they had to sort out.

Don't let the other beneficiaries tell you otherwise. And by the sounds of it that "extra" cost has been ameliorated somewhat by the money reimbursed from Sol1 and you've avoided HMRC penalties.

That is reassuring! Thank you. 

I avoided huge HMRC penalties. Sols1 paid for the accrued penalty. And I sorted out the house all by myself, at my expense and toil, commuting 1 1/2 hours to & fro each time--my back still hurts!  I also sold the house in record time, at my asking price and there was no Cap.Gains to pay -- a most pleasant surprise since my expenses were adding up. My dear latest had forecast about £20,000 in expenses. I'm still below that amount, so far -- fingers crossed!