Writing a will, lost touch with one beneficiary..

[bumblebee1000]

I am going to make a will next month and would like to leave a sum of money, about 10k, to an ex lodger...he stayed for several years and was so helpful doing many jobs around the house etc. I lost touch with him about 7 years ago and no trace on any internet sites or social media. He may have returned to Poland and their very strict privacy laws doesn't allow access to phone books etc. I know his full name.....any ideas.....

Leave it to him, with as much detail as you know.

it will be your executors problem to locate him :D. If they can’t, it will be split according to the terms of the rest of your will.

it will be your executors problem to locate him :D

It’s a real shitty thing to land on your executors, if you do this knowing the beneficiary is virtually untraceable.

It will cost your executors lots of time, and may cost your estate money (reducing the amount that other beneficiaries receive) - If solicitors are executing for you they’ll have a field day running up fees on this. If he’s not traced and that money is distributed amongst the other beneficiaries they may he forced to take out an indemnity insurance or sign something saying if he turns up years later they’ll give him the money.

If you know which area of Poland he’s from you could try finding any local (to his area) Facebook community groups and posting in there, or take out an ad in any local papers. Was he a tradesperson or do you know his occupation? You could try looking at websites of companies from his area that he may be working at. Religious? Can you contact local churches. Hobbies? Any local hobby groups that have websites or Facebook pages.

If you can’t find him before you make your will, don’t include him in it but keep searching. If you find him, great, amend your will.

Your best bet if you've exhausted social media and open source searching and you are sure he's returned to Poland would be to ask a Polish native maybe on Facebook or somewhere like Reddit to see if they can find any trace of him when they are in Poland but just to pass on your details and not say what it's for.

Thanks, a tracing service here wanted about £700 to locate him. so it could be costly in the future. he did work at a hotel and has a security badge, i know his home town in poland so could try fb over there...he has absolutely no social media existence at all and his email no longer works as i tried and it bounced back.

Would this be any help? https://www.internations.org/great-britain-expats/polish

It’s a real shitty thing to land on your executors, if you do this knowing the beneficiary is virtually untraceable.

Yep. I had no clue until recently, when my mum died, how difficult, time consuming and complex being an executor can be. I am going to make a new will that frees my relatives from being my executors, keeps everything really simple, and will instruct them to use a solicitor.

Just one small element like this can completely stall and stymie the process, meaning that the executor could be working on this for a year, and the other beneficiaries don't get their money while it's all going on.

Also be wary of leaving specific amounts. If the estate is much reduced by care costs, this guy would get his £10k while no-one else (including people much closer to you) would get anything.

If her debts weren't going take what's left, that would be the case with my mum's will, and her much reduced estate. The 'gifts' go out first after any debt, so random people that my mum was friends with 25 years ago (and hasn't seen since) would get generous amounts of money, while I, my brother and her grandkids, who were to get percentages of the residual amount, would get nothing.

As it is we still get nothing as it all goes to care debt. But it would be galling to see £20,000 going to people who've probably forgotten my mum's existence

I agree that if you can't find him, it will be very difficult and time consuming for your executor to attempt.

If your executor does find a person of the same name they may be uncertain if he's the "real" lodger, especially if he has moved address several times.

I would write your will without including him and keep looking. If you later manage to locate him, you can arrange a codicil to add him to the will.

Being an executor is an arduous task at the best of times. Why would you put the onus on someone else to find your ex lodger if you can't be bothered to do it yourself?

If a solicitor is instructed to find the person, then their charges and the agents they use will probably cost a few thousand.

If your executors are friends/family, they'll not be impressed at having to waste their time and beneficiary money on tracing services.

Whichever way, it will also delay the estate finalisation as it's not going to be quick and easy, whoever has to do it, meaning more costs if solicitors are involved.

Either get some up to date contact details yourself or don't do it.

Tbf an executor with probate probably has more authority to request information from Polish agencies and has more chance of finding them. Writing as executor to the Polish embassy or equivalent of DWP/HMRC offering an inheritance will get results- o/p asking for his details because she wants to leave him something won’t get her anywhere.

they can use estate money to employ a finder such as Heir hunters as well.

PI might work o/p? Could google to find a Polish one. Can you trace relatives on social media?

I might try polish consulate here then...i have now joined some fb groups for the city and posted if any one has info on him. Absolutely zero on social media, have tried the lot !...he was such a nice chap and did so much here...new kitchen and bathroom fitted etc for free...wouldnt accept any money...he always said he would like to buy more land back home so thought some money would help him at some point.....he did work in some hotels as a security guard and has the badge but they wont release any info on registered people....i really have tried to find him.

Writing as executor to the Polish embassy or equivalent of DWP/HMRC offering an inheritance will get results

You've no experience or knowledge of being an executor, have you?

yes. Thank you. I’m currently stuck in the middle of a complex estate.

i am also familiar with the power a probate document levies. Much more so than not. Without probate I cannot get any information from anyone, they will only speak to the executor.

which is a fuck ton of fun when you’re dealing with executor abuse.

Write all the details you have, name, job, bank account etc.

Oh wow, really? So you know what a nightmare it is.

Interesting in that case that your advice is a blasé "that'll be the executors problem, lol" knowing what a time consuming, costly, hampering ballache it will be, along with assurances that it'll be fine, the Polish Embassy are certain to assist the poor bastard that ends up having to deal with this (Spoiler alert - they almost certainly won't).

Anyway, good luck in your search OP. If you're not able to find a trace of him in a month then it's clear he's going to be very hard for an executor to track down. As a few of us have suggested, rather than give the executor this headache which will absolutely delay finalising the estate for a long time, it might be worth writing your will without including him, and amending or adding him in at a later date if you do manage to find him.

@Allthegoodnamesaretaken92 I've been having the opposite problem. I wasn't the executor, but I was dealing with the executor from hell. Poisonous, dishonest, and with about 1% of the brain power and logic needed for the job. They're gone now, but that leaves me to be administrator of the estate. The executor left a nightmare in their wake, which I have to attempt to clear up. Without getting a penny of the deceased's money at the end of it.

From my own experience it’s far easier to extract information from relevant authorities if you’re executor than if you don’t have that magic probate document.

it depends on o/p’s determination to ensure he gets it. It’s not uncommon for beneficiaries to be lost track of and there are agencies to track them down.

i wonder if it’s possible to include a clause where if he is not located within the executors year funds revert to the estate? I’d speak to a solicitor.

The main thing that stands out to me is that any other beneficiaries woukd have to wait until all avenues have been explored to try and find him. Meaning that your house would be empty, bulks would need paying and insurance would be difficult.

It isn't a situation I'd want to leave behind.

He does sound lovely but perhaps it's time to leave him in the past?

I have now been executor for 2 estates. Never again. And I do have a professional qualification that might suggest I could breeze through this.

My mum last year decided that she was going to remake her will. But before doing that she was going to terminate her connections with the charities she supported. So rather than leave inheritance she made one-off larger donations rather than the smaller regular donations. I've decided to copy her stance. So I am giving living bequests to organisations and simplifying my will. It feels good. It is joyful to discuss with organisations what the donation can do.

I so agree with pp and those pp above. Anything that complicates your estate to that extent is perhaps not worth the effort.

I think that was a very sensible thing for your DM to do @socialdilemmawhattodo and also got you to do the same