standard bank account for probate?

[TimeToGoNuclear]

My two siblings and I are joint executors for my dads estate. There is not a lot of good will between us, unfortunatley .

My sister has opened a standard current account in her sole name to transfer the funds into (will be about £600k in total) and I wanted to know if this was standard practice? We have a solicitor managing the probate and IHT forms on our behalf but they don't distribute the funds apparently.

A joint account between us would be problematic as we do not live near each other at all.

As the account is in her sole name, is she legally obliged to distribute the funds as per Dads will?

Does anyone have any advice for how I should approach this or questions I should ask?

Unfortunately, from bitter experience, I know that people can act badly where money is concerned and my sister has a bit of a chequered past :-(

Why won’t the solicitor distribute the funds? Ours did and the money transferred to three separate accounts.

Tbh I don’t know. My sister just told me they don’t and she set up the bank account without discussing it with me.

Obviously now it’s done I’m in a difficult position.

I could say I don’t agree with what she’s done and and insist everything goes through the solicitor, but that will obviously have repercussions to our already fraught relationship.

Before I do that I’d like to know where I stand with regard to this bank account - have I got any existing protection due to the fact she is an executor and obliged to distribute my dads estate according to the will?

Basically is it worth putting a bomb under our relationship and finishing it off for good, or should I just let it go as she cannot deviate from the will anyway...
😬😬😬

Just speak to the solicitor. Get them to sort it. Stop relying on what your sister says about it.

Sounds fishy. She has obligations as the executor but if she decides to mess about the process could take months to resolve. I’d double check with solicitor.

I don't understand why the solicitor wouldn't distribute the funds. Check with them directly.

I am sure the solicitor would have Distributed the funds had they been asked to, but she has already opened this account and transferred a small amount of money into it. She claims she thought she asked me.

My brother and sister both agree that this is normal and fine. I will have to go against both of them to undo this which will be the end of our family. I’ll basically be accusing them of planning to steal all the money.
I am already the black sheep amongst us as I’m not quite as free with the law as they are....

Can any lawyers advise if this is standard practice, would the solicitors have advised this? What protection do I have in this situation?

Sorry for your loss, OP.

The executors are responsible for distributing the money, that's right. Not the solicitor - it's the legal responsibility of the executor.

My DH has been an executor a few times, and the last bank account he had with a co-executor was a business one and had the deceased's name in the title of it IIRC. They didn't pick a business one, the bank did and I'm not sure why. But both of the executors were on the account (there was only two for this will) and either could sign a cheque or make a payment - it didn't require both signatures, I assume they set it up that way.

Does the bank that the sole account is with know that it's for an executor/administration of an estate? Will the executors be dealing with the money as the probate and IHT are payments out of the estate, so will need to be made by the executors (even if they go through the solicitor). Are you using the solicitor to administer the estate, eg claim any insurance policies?

All executors are legally liable in the event of a claim as far as I know, so I can see why you would want to keep a close eye on what is happening.

The estate is fairly simple, I had power of attorney for my dad, which infuriated my sister, but it means that I I know how much cash there is, where his investments are, and the rest of the estate is tied up in a flat.

Tbf to my sister, there are ongoing costs to be paid for the flat (ground rent), and dribs and drabs of money coming in (council tax rebate etc) so an account to manage it is needed.

It’s definitely not a executors account, just a standard current account.

I had this exact issue (my bro and I were joint executors), except I insisted on the funds being paid directly to my account as I didn't trust my brother at the time. My solicitor drew up a document stating that my brother agrees for the funds to go into my account only. He signed it and they released the funds. They wouldn't have released the funds solely to me without this document. I've since distributed the inheritance according to the Will.

It's one thing your sister setting up an account in her own name for the estate, it's quite another for the funds to be released in there if there are multiple executors.

Is the estate £600k based on cash, or assets like a property? If property, does it need to be sold first? Has probate been granted yet?

Thank you 💐

The solicitors are basically completing the probate and IHT paperwork on our behalf.

My sister wanted to have control of it, but wasn’t able to complete the paperwork on her own, so I suggested we get a probate solicitor as a compromise.

My dad only died at mid May. We haven’t even sent the initial probate forms off yet. There is a lot of haste as my siblings have both started spending the money already.... 🙄

There is about 250k cash and is a property to be sold which my sister thinks will be completed by the beginning of September.... we haven’t event got probate yet let alone put it on the market 🤦🏼‍♀️

Okay, well when you sell the flat, the solicitors won't transfer the money from the sale into your sister's sole bank account without your agreement; otherwise you'll executors will need to be named on the bank account.

The cash you mentioned, is it cash sitting in your late Dad's bank account? Or is it tied up somewhere? If it's in a bank account, his bank won't release that sort of money until probate has been granted and proof has been supplied to them. If there is minimal cash in his bank account (no more than a few hundred or couple of thousand) they may release it to your sister if she provides a copy of the Will and the death certificate. The only other time they'll release cash prior to probate being granted is to pay for funeral expenses. The bank should only be transferring cash into an account where all executors are named.

I'd try and speak to your solicitors. It sounds like your sister is arranging most of it without you.

When you say your siblings are already spending the cash, do you mean mentally spending it or have they purchased things with it not related to the upkeep of the estate?

*all executors, not you'll executors

sorry for disappearing, I had to go out this afternoon.

@PealHeart3, my Dad has a few £100k sitting in various bank accounts (including one at his investment bank), the rest is property. Most of the documentation from the banks has just asked for a probate certificate and details of a bank account to transfer the money into. Nowhere does it say the account has to be in all 3 executors names or that it has to be a solicitors bank account.

I'm kind of with my sister that it being in all 3 names is actually a total pain, we don't live near eachother so having to wait for each of us to sign everything 3 times would be a pain.

Tbh, I had just assumed the solicitor would handle it. I was surprised when she said she had just opened a standard current account in her sole name.

I think Im going to call the solicitor in the morning for a chat....

DH's executor account didn't have to have both signatories, one was fine - depends how you set it up.

I think a chat would be a good idea.

Just to add - some forms did require the signature of all executors, so you might be mailing paperwork back and forth a bit anyway.

You may have sorted this by now Op, but please make sure that all executors name are listed on probate application - this is key. You can apply in just one name, but all others have to sign the Probate application to say they are happy with that!!

As long as you are all named on probate cert, then the proceeds of accounts should only be paid into an account in joint names OR, if only one name, the other executors must sign to say they are happy with that.

When mum died, we went for joint probate, even though I was doing the work, as DB was an awkward so and so and I didn’t want him to accuse me of anything further down the line.

However, I used a secondary current account of mine for the proceeds, to save opening a specific executor account.

Since DB was named on probate, Mums bank would not pay into the account until they had a signed letter from DB to say he was happy with the money going into an account in my name only.

Remember that executors have a duty to keep a record of the estate accounts, and all beneficiaries get a copy of that, so maybe that should be done by someone other then your sister?