what happens if an executor dies

Savvy_Sue

Solicitor probably requires sight of the death certificate for the deceased executor. Do you have this? I understand they're not hard to get if you know roughly when and where they died. (Note to self: must get new wills drawn up for self and DH to save this hassle when the first of us dies ...)

nukes

I don't think this would be a problem. Can anyone enlighten me regarding the tiny chance that another party apart from myself and my brother being a beneficiary, what is the cat home was awarded say £2000 in the will. Do the family of the executor have any beneficiary should their deceased executor be a beneficiary, though I am not sure if executors can be beneficiaries.

Savvy_Sue

Executors can be beneficiaries. I'm afraid I can't answer any of your other questions: I know that if an executor dies then when submitting the will for probate the death certificate for that executor has to be provided, and I can imagine that a solicitor won't just release a will on your say-so that the executor has died.

A call to the Probate Office might be useful for what happens if a will has been found after you've dealt with the estate as intestate, they are usually very helpful.

But how do you know there is a will lodged with this solicitor, and who the executor is, if you haven't yet seen it?

dzug1

If a beneficiary of the deceased died after the deceased then their estate is entitled to the inheritance

If they died before the deceased then it depends on the relationship as to whether the bequest passes on to their family - I think they have to be children of the deceased. Otherwise it fails and goes into the residual estate


The solicitor has no reason not to hand over the will - or a copy at least - but he will need the death certificates (of both the deceased and the executor) and the Letters of Administration you got when you settled the estate


It's possible he might (try to) insist on proving the will himself - and if the distribution is different to what you have done then there's a good chance you will be held liable. Resist this as he will want to charge you fees

dzug1

nelson60 wrote: »

Employing lawyers to challenge/other would probably lead to a Pyrrhic victory situation, where we get the £10,000 left to us + pay more in legal costs.It's also a route which neither of us would naturally want to take anyway (conflict over money).

We are both reasonably intelligent - have looked at all the angles + come to a standstill.

So your suggestions are genuinely very welcome at this point.

Many thanks.:)

Sadly I think you have three realistic choices


Walk away from the situation


Pay the legal fees


Wait for the obstructing beneficiary to die


Or buy out the obstructive one - but if he/she won't discuss it that won't happen

nukes

Thank you. An added scenario. Let us say that the deceased executor was say given a sum by my dad (she was his sister), but we were unaware of this when the dispersement in all good faith was made. Would we be expected to return the hypothetical figure to the children of the deceased executor?

jackyann

Executors are only supposed to charge "reasonable expenses" when executing the will; so this sum should not have been given to her in her capacity as executor.
If it was given as a free gift - nothing to be done (and it sounds, whatever your dad may have intended, it was, in legal terms, simply a gift)
Some wills do make mention of gifts going to "hotch pot" to even up distribution, but unless specifically mentioned & recorded, no account can be taken of it.

Mojisola

jackyann wrote: »

Executors are only supposed to charge "reasonable expenses" when executing the will; so this sum should not have been given to her in her capacity as executor.
If it was given as a free gift - nothing to be done (and it sounds, whatever your dad may have intended, it was, in legal terms, simply a gift)
Some wills do make mention of gifts going to "hotch pot" to even up distribution, but unless specifically mentioned & recorded, no account can be taken of it.

Executors can be left a legacy in the will.

It's a lot of work to expect someone to do for free!

RAS

Mojisola wrote: »

Executors can be left a legacy in the will.

It's a lot of work to expect someone to do for free!

And in fact many times the executors appointed are family members who are going to inherit.

To get back to nukes question; it is the responsiblity of the executors or administrators to pay out all debts before disbursing the estate. If debts come to light later, they can be asked to pay it themselves.

securityguy

RAS wrote: »

To get back to nukes question; it is the responsiblity of the executors or administrators to pay out all debts before disbursing the estate. If debts come to light later, they can be asked to pay it themselves.

The scenario wasn't a debt, but a subsequent will (or more precisely, a will when the estate was assumed to be intestate) appearing. If executors are responsible for that, in a case when the solicitor won't release the will anyway, then no-one should should ever accept an executorship, because there's always the possibility of another will showing up.