Concerns over brother as an executor of dad's will

[Winn1e]

I have query about my eldest brother who had hardly supported and/or responded to numerous appointment and health update emails from the rest of his 4 siblings over the past few years re: our 93yo dad's cancer (multiple myeloma) treatment, but responds almost immediately when the issue of drawing up a will comes up.

NB. Our brother is a registered accountant, and wanted to make it clear in his recent correspondence that he would be prepared to act as an executor when it came to administering my dad's//parents joint will, (whilst making it clear that it was an onerous task that requires getting the finances right).

But given there have been tensions in the past between us as siblings, should we be concerned that he is offering to act as an executor, whilst also being a beneficiary of my parents (future) will? Is there any scope for fraud or underhand activity if he is left to record my parents financial assets, (as part of the probate process), and to then distribute those assets evenly amongst the beneficiaries named in the will?

Completely agree that it doesn't sound as though your brother should be the some executor. BUT don't appoint a solicitor as executor either - much better to have 4 family members and then they can use a solicitor as much as they need to.

IME sons and daughters who are executors usually do it for nothing, as a family duty, but may charge for stamps and stationery (a lot of the initial time is in writing to banks, insurers, utility companies etc, and sending death certificates, which is pretty easy for a person with business experience, and making up accounts of assets and liabilities).

However, an executor who is, for example, an Accountant can charge his time to the estate at his normal rates.

If you make a solicitor the Executor, you're stuck with them. I favour making siblings joint Executors and they can appoint a solicitor to work for them. If they are dissatisfied they can move to another. You can't do that if the solicitor is named as Executor.

Thank you for your advice Maine3. I have been posting up on another online forum and have pretty much decided that my mum's original suggestion of having myself and my sister as the executor's is probably the best one - as we're very unlikely to fall out when it comes to administering my parents wishes as set out within their (future) will.

Also, I know my parent's will not want to record having a solicitor as an executor because they would see it as an unnecessary cost - as money/wasting money has always been a big and deciding factor for them throughout their lives. It's almost part of their DNA, and I have felt frustrated (along with my siblings) over the years that they won't budge from the "it's too expensive... don't waste your money" mentality.

Hi Piglet John, that sounds like very good advice. We can have as many family members act as executors (up to 4), and if needs be - we can get independent legal advice when it comes to navigating our way through the probate process.

Thanks again!

Ditto to you GU24Mum re: the response I gave to Piglet John.

Thanks all, it makes it a lot clearer in my head now as to how we can proceed/decide on the executor roles within our family. The only thing is - will my older brother kick up a fuss if he isn't chosen as an executor?

Hi Celtirose, initially my mum told the hospice nurses dad would want to have 50% of his share of the family home split between his 5 children, (and dad also confirmed this), which I thought was odd at the time.

I subsequently asked my mum where she had gotten that idea from, and she said one of my other brothers had suggested it to her recently re: a means of avoiding inheritance tax. Then my older brother (the accountant) later whatsapp'd that he didn't think this would be a problem as having 50% of the house shared between 5, would take us below the IHT threshold of £325,000. However, he also gave the estimated cost of their house as approx. £250,000, which is well below the threshold anyway. I thought this was odd in itself!

Then, when one of my sister-in-laws pointed out that if we had a 50% share of the house as well as my mother having her half share as the surviving parent - this might have the following implications:

"...if the property passes to you all in the near future, you all become owners with an owner's responsibility. The council tax for empty homes is 100%, rising to 200% after 2 years, so if your mum ever goes into care or moves elsewhere for care purposes, although there will be an exemption for this period, when she passes away and after probate is resolved the effective date of the property becoming empty is backdated to the original date. So, I often find executors who are suddenly faced with bills of 200% every month until the property is sold. In fact, as you will all be owners via your dad's bequest, you will all be jointly and severally liable anyway, so I do wonder if you'd have the benefit of any of the usual exemptions."

She also pointed out the following:
"I don't for one minute think one of you children would try and force a sale of the house but think about this for example - if one of you were to divorce then your ownership share would form part of the assets to be divided and could mean that one of us in-laws could request it is sold if our partner could not raise the cash equivalent."

All of the above is perfectly valid, and I hate the fact my mother was given bad advice from one of my other brothers, and have even wondered if this initial bit of advice might have been passed on from my accountant brother - such is my level of paranoia at the moment!!

Jjcoleman, I'm so sorry to hear about the issues you have had with your mum. Did your sister have LPA to make such decisions e.g. to move your mum out from her home and into a care home in Kent. Also, as far as I can tell - a good solicitor should ask for a medical opinion re: the person's capacity to make a will, (although this doesn't appear to be compulsory).

www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-support/publications-and-factsheets/dementia-together-magazine/can-someone-dementia-make-will

Thanks for your comments Tigerty - I'm inclined to agree with you on everything you said.

I'm sorry you're also going through a similar situation RockinHippy, and my thoughts are also with you and your father as he manages with his myeloma.

Thanks also to everyone else who has offered their advice/suggestions thus far!

If your father passes his total estate to his wife there is no IHT and then when your mother passes the IHT threshold doubles to 650k afar as I know. You can check at the Gov. Website

I honestly don't understand why anyone would choose as executor someone who is a) related to them and b) an equal beneficiary to other people.

I'm one of two executors to my sister and BIL's will, the other being a lawyer, that's because if they both die, I am also the person who will be raising their children and looking after their interests. Even that, if they had just made the lawyer the executor I'd have been fine with.

My dad recently realised getting one of my siblings to be executor was silly and changed it.

I'm in the process of trying to convince PIL to change theirs as DB's brother is currently named and it would be a disaster.

Neutral, paid, third party needs to be the answer here.

As someone who's recently had to deal with numerous complications because my parents (now both deceased in the last 14 months - and the last 2 days ago) made it hopelessly complicated, I'd say stick with one (impartial) executor if you can. Multiple (even just 2 executors) are a nightmare because you'll need multiple signatures, multiple agreement, and have multiple paperwork issues.

We haven't even finished sorting out the issues with the Will/probate with the first DP to die, and now we have to deal with the death of the other one, and one of joint executors (my sibling) is flaky to say the least. It took them 4 months to stump up their ID last year... now anticipating all kinds of delays all over again. Plus they 'lost' a set of the paperwork they were sent to be signed last year... and I am really not looking forward to the next few months. To make matters worse, neither me, or my sibling, live anywhere near where my DPs lived, so we can't be present in person (I am actually overseas, my sibling lives in another part of the UK entirely) and it just makes things so much more complicated.

If you anticipate issues, appoint one impartial executor. With multiple executors it's just a nightmare, take it from me.

Please insist that you are all granted with POA and act as executors. We will soon be on year 4 of a contentious probate dispute because 2 of my siblings forced my parents to name them as attorneys and then went on to drain tens of thousands of pounds from my dear parents' bank accounts before and after they died. It has been utterly soul-destroying and could all have been avoided if we had been less naive.

I think an outside/independent executor is better in your circumstance...then you know for sure it's being split up evenly and that your brother doesn't have access to any more than his share of the will