Solicitors as executors of will - what should they be doing?

[WishYouWereMine]

Am asking you lovely ladies on behalf of a friend. She was left everything when a family member died this year.

Basically, she was led to believe by his friends and other relatives that there was over £100k in the estate (apart from the house and car). The solicitors (who are also executors of the will) however, have sent paperwork which claims there is only £15k, and that there is not enough money to cover the liabilities, so either the house or car will have to be sold.

Obviously friend is concerned as this conflicts with what she has heard from other people. (They were not in contact when he died.)

I have no idea how it all works, but would the solicitors be aware of and have access to all of the accounts held by the deceased? How do they know what accounts are held? Is it possible the rest of the money is hidden away somewhere?

Thank you in advance.

Hopeful bump!

Ask to see all the documents which the solicitors hold.

Ask to see the documentation which was submitted to the Probate Registry. Who appointed the solicitors as executors?

The executors' (whether solicitors or not)duties include investigating and ascertaining the value of the estate.Sometimes solicitors will have full details of all bank a/cs etc but often not,it depends on all the circumstances eg time that has pased between will being made and death. I have made hundreds of wills,some clients give you a full breakdown of assets to the nearest penny others for some reason are more reticent.She should speak to the solicitors,advise of her concerns,speak to the family members to ask what they based their estimate on

Thanks everyone.

So she has the right to see all of the documentation which was submitted to the Probate Registry/that the solicitors have?

I believe the deceased appointed the solicitors as executors. If it was upto my friend then she would have used her own (more local) solicitors.

He died back in March time I think, and probate was granted a few months ago. The solicitors have said that they have to wait 6 months for everything to be released in case of any further claims on the estate or something?

Sorry I know we're a bit clueless on this - which is why it's so worrying. We don't know what that they are doing the right thing!

Someone can go to the probate registry and look up the records and find out what value was put on the estate by all the records submitted.

Right.. as probate has been granted, should she have had any notification as to what the result was? Or should she have to wait until the 6 months is up to find that out?

There are a few things that she finds a bit suspicious about the way the house was left - no clothes, socks, vacuum cleaner, no food etc. It's all a bit odd.

What is the likelihood of there being accounts the solicitors are unaware of?

Has your friend seen a copy of the will?

Tell your friend to look at the probate registry web site on www.hmcs.gov.uk

If she knows which office of the Probate Registry would have handled the application for Probate, she could make a personal visit to that office. Then she asks them for a copy of the will and the grant of Probate. Has your friend been to the house and searched for documents?

Not sure if she has seen a copy of the will to be honest. All I know is that everything was left to her.

She has keys to the house and we've been there a few times to keep the garden and house tidy etc. but it's a couple of hours drive away.

I'm not sure which office it would have been sent to, but will check everything with her later.

Thank you for all of your advice. It's difficult when you don't know what to look out for, or what rights you have with regards to documentation etc.

I'll relay everything to her as soon as I speak to her.

Might be back if there are any further developments!

Well, if she doesnt live near to the Probate Refistry. I think there is a Central Office ( York possibly) where you can write and ask for a copy of the will. Supply the name, address and date of death of the deceased person.

As a residuary beneficiary she should be entitled to a copy of the will.I think it is more straightforward to ask the solicitors for clarification Yes she can probably get most of it from the registers etc but I would only recommend doing that if the solicitirs are not respnding to her .I may be biased but most solicitors are more than happy to try and resolve any difficulties directly

Rangirl, can I hijack & ask you something? My aunt has made a will but home-made iyswim... She has named my dad & his brother as executors but both live abroad & are elderly so when the time comes I think it might be too much for them to manage - is it straightforward to get a solicitor to handle it instead? She probably has less than 15k in savings & no other assets (in rented property).

Tbh I am dreading when she dies from a practical pov as I think I will get lumbered with dealing with a lit if stuff (like clearing out her flat). She has kindly left the contents of this to her brothers, can't see them being interested in keeping old ladies clothes & cheap flatpack furniture.....

Solicitors usually take too long and charge for their time. In my opinion it is much better for a family member to do the job of executor.

Lucinda is entitled to her opinion. I am posting to try and help not to talk up solicitors.Decorhate given that level of estate there probably won't be any need for much administration.Could she appoint you as an additional executor then you could do the job.

Rangirl, problem us she now has been diagnosed with dementia so probably not feasible to change her will?

Yes that's correct. It would be possible for the executors to add you as an additional executor but given the value of the estate probably not worth it and in any case may not be necessary >

Rangirl - She has a copy of the will. I will double check with her about what it says, but am sure it only says that everything is to go to her. The trouble is that she doesn't know what 'everything' is. Do the solicitors only know about accounts that the deceased told them about? Or is there some other system where they can find out about all accounts held?

I think the only thing to do at the moment is to go through all of the paperwork at the house.

If you look at the Probate registry application forms, Bank and building society account balances need to be listed and the totals need to be shown pretty accurately. Debts and liabilities also need to be listed. Your friend can find out from Probate Registry what the Gross estimated value and what the Nett value was.

I am not aware of a central database you can ask for details of a/cs held Normally you get the papers and go through them.There can be problems with a/cs that have not been used for a while particularly if the 'bank 'is now part of a new bank due to amalgamation.It would be unusual for a person's papers not to have some evidence of the account or for none to show up during the course of the administration,we all know how much pperwork we get from Banks offering to sell us financial products,most banks send out some correspondence,a statement or the like every so often particularly for large deposits.I reiterate that as a starting point I would raise the concerns with the solicitors,no point in wasting time in leg work they have already done They should be more than happy to advise of the accounts ,balances etc,indeed I always provide all this info when advising the residuary beneficary of the cash position