Executor account or not?

[ExecutorAttorneyAdvicePlease]

Name change and keeping some irrelevant specifics vague for what is hopefully a simple question.

Posting on AIBU for traffic (have googled but it’s not clear to me).

One of my parents died and the other is the sole executor and beneficiary of their Will. They surviving parent as appointed me as their attorney to help sort out probate, which we have eventually managed.

As the parents is sole executor and beneficiary, is it reasonable that all the financial aspects of the estate just goes into their normal bank account?
Is there a need to set up a separate account to demonstrate a clear trail?

There are no debts to pay.
Funeral expenses came out of their joint account in case there is any query later down the line about that.

In case it is of relevance, they were both married to each other. The house has been transferred to the surviving parents’ sole name now.

AIBU - you need a separate account (executor or just normal) for a clear trail
IANBU - it’s all going to one beneficiary (who is the executor) with no debts to pay so it can go straight into their usual account.

Executor account is the way to go as that way all estate money is kept separate until everything is sorted. Then money can be transferred and account closed.

I am not a lawyer but I can't see why it would be necessary in this case. One executor, one beneficiary, they're the same person. Who's going to query any of it? No inheritance tax, as it's one spouse leaving everything to the other spouse.

My mother handled all of the finances for her and my father, and when she died, literally carried on as normal. She made bequests to the grandchildren as per my father's wishes from their savings.

When she died, we dealt with probate ourselves, and were advised by the probate office to use my father's allowance as well as my mother's, and there was no issue at all.

This was around 10 years ago - not sure if things have changed. We did have to open an executor account for my mother's estate.

In your circumstances, surviving spouse being sole beneficiary, don’t bother.

My father's estate was simple and I dealt with the probate myself. I did open a separate account ( not an executor's account) to avoid confusion and have a clear trail. There were a number of beneficaries. It was pretty easy tto do.
The bank helpline advised me to open an ordinary current account - simppler than an executor's account.

Oh yes, this is a good point - we may need to probe that the nil rate tax band applied and my dad IHT allowance was passed onto my mum for when it come to mum’s estate.
Sorry, I know that sounds grabby but it’s not meant to be - neither of them would want their money to go to HMRC unnecessarily.

It's not grabby. My personal view is that the total amount a married couple can leave their children and grandchildren free of tax if it includes the family home is far too high, as it goes like this:

Spouse 1 - nil rate band, £325k - unused if spouse 1 leaves everything to spouse 2
Spouse 1 - residence nil-rate band, £175k - ditto
Spouse 2 - all of the above.

Add it all together and that's £1 million pounds that can pass from parents to children with no tax paid whatsoever. Outside London that means most married couples' estates will contribute no inheritance tax at all. Given that house price inflation is unearned income and just sheer good luck, I can see no justification for that at all.

However, I think most people would agree that parents should be able to leave their parents some of their money without paying any tax. It's just a question of how much is fair, given the effect on social mobility.