Dispersing of accounts as an executor

jjaneriley

Hi

Any advice appreciated, so dispersing of accounts, I know I need to share statement of accounts & I’ve read it’s R185 form. Complete this and send the same copy to all 5 charities, please what do I get them to sign for completion or excepting their %\money, before transferring of funds.
I’m helping my mum who is elderly handling a friends estate, she’s in a real panic about it, it’s information overload.

thanks in advance

Jane

Keep_pedalling

Form R185 is for informing beneficiaries of tax paid on estate income which may or may not be required. If the charities are the sole beneficiaries or the residual beneficiaries then the executor should provide them with a set of estate accounts which is not the same thing.

Did the estate earn more than £500 while your mother was winding it up? Were the charities the only / residual beneficiaries or were they left fixed sums or percentages? Was probate required?

BooJewels

As @Keep_pedalling has mentioned, how you process the transaction perhaps depends on how much money is involved, whether it's a percentage as residuary beneficiaries or fixed donation etc.

The last one I did was a fixed amount, so I didn't give them any accounts or paperwork, but they did have a system where you contacted them first via a form on their web site, to get a payment reference, so that they could tie your payment to the relevant benefactor - I then got an acknowledgement and thanks by email. That was enough to satisfy me that all was in order - the Will had specified that it should be receipted in some way.

But had it been a greater sum and a percentage, I'd expect to jump through more hoops, provide accounts etc.

If you applied for Probate, large charities do monitor granted Probates and read Wills, looking for any legacies, so they'll know the outline size of the estate and what they're set to receive, in those cases.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6653165/dispersing-of-accounts-as-an-executor

Did the estate generate income during the administration period which the executor then went on to settle income tax thereon?

If there was no taxed estate income, then no potential tax to be recovered by the charities which would be the purpose of an R185 in their regard. A note to this effect in the estate accounts would be all that is needed.

Of course if there was taxed estate income the R185s are then required, but this should be a relatively straight forward excercise, given the guidance notes embedded within the form.

Hopefully the executor has a reasonably clear template for the format and presentation of the estate accounts, assuming they may only have rudimentary knowledge of double entry bookkeeping and how to set out income and capital estate transactions.

See below general guidance on how to deal with estates where charities are the primary beneficiaries -

https://www.ashfords.co.uk/insights/articles/how-to-administer-a-legacy-to-charity#:~:text=Executors%20should%20provide%20a%20signed,they%20have%20received%20the%20R185.

Skint_yet_Again

@poseidon1 Please can you advise if executors need to follow a particular format for estate accounts & have this sort of knowledge or is that only needed if charities are involved?

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81867617#Comment_81867617

If you can follow this explanatory guide from the Co op, they outline the reccomended format and contents of accounts which would be professionally produced by STEP practitioners -

https://www.co-oplegalservices.co.uk/media-centre/articles-sept-dec-2018/what-are-estate-accounts/

However, it is my impression that most DIY executor's efforts at accounting do not meet this standard and are little more than fairly simple income and expenditure statements.

The Co op approach does require a degree of understanding of the principles of double entry bookkeeping. That said see below a simplistic layout typical of what many high street solicitors might produce, note the explanatory narrative at the end -

https://qlaw.co.uk/services/power-of-attorney/probate-downloads/

BooJewels

When I first had to do estate accounts, I looked at a lot of on-line resources (including the Co Op one linked above) and there was a lot of variation in style etc. - and estates themselves vary enormously in their complexity.

In the end I went with a slightly more detailed version of the QLAW one linked. I noted that no IHT was payable as an excepted estate, when Probate was granted, all assets, all expenses and finished with a distribution list, including what was given in cash, what in bank transfers etc and dates. In the two I did which needed accounts, myself and the other executor also signed them - me for having drawn them up, my sister as having checked and validated them.