Once a will has been executed, what do you have to do?

[tactum]

Am in the process of executing Mum's will - probate granted, writing to pensions, banks etc. After I have gathered all the assets and dispersed them as per the will - which should be quite straightforward - what else do I have to do?
Do I have to officially record somewhere what the final value of the estate was and who got which amount? Or am I just trusted to do the right thing? Do a sample of wills get checked or what?
Sorry - new to this and trying to do it without a solicitor.

ALso, another quick question. Her 3 children are the sole beneficiaries, but our sister predeceased her. Can someone confirm what we believe, which is that my sister's share goes to her 3 children and not her husband?

I think if your Mum’s will didn’t specify what happened to your sisters share it would just be you two that benefit? You could give some to your sisters children if you wish from your share, or agree with your sibling to do so.

When my grandma died a couple of years after my mum, mums share just got split between the remaining 2 siblings. Yes, the kinder and fairer way would've been for mums share to come to us children but my aunty and uncle are just greedy selfish bastards to be honest and were under no obligation to share the money legally so they didn't.

I did all you did executing my mums will and nothing more. I didn't record anything, no one checked anything. All straight forward though. I did keep all relevant paperwork for a few years.
I have also been the beneficiary in lieu of my dad who pre deceased his aunt and had left her nephews and nieces money. My aunt (his sister) was pissed off she didn't get more, but the will stipulated as much. I think that's probably the right thing to do too tbh.

I think the only situation in which all that would be checked is if someone contested the will or accused you of wrongdoing in its execution?

See I've just found this on a QnA site, stating that the deceased beneficiary's right lapses, UNLESS

If the predeceased Beneficiary was a direct descendant of the person whose Will they were a Beneficiary of – the testator. Instead of lapsing, any benefit will be passed on to surviving children of the Beneficiary.

@tactum

See I've just found this on a QnA site, stating that the deceased beneficiary's right lapses, UNLESS

If the predeceased Beneficiary was a direct descendant of the person whose Will they were a Beneficiary of – the testator. Instead of lapsing, any benefit will be passed on to surviving children of the Beneficiary.

It really does depend on the wording in the will. My mums will stated that if any of the 4 beneficiaries were to predecease her, the estate was to be split between the remaining beneficiaries. What did it say in your mums will?

Oh, and I had a solicitor look over her wills before I submitted it to probate. She confirmed that was correct.

And this on gov.uk:

There are exceptions to the rule. The most common are where

a gift in a Will to a child or remoter issue of the testator or testatrix (IHTM12001) will not lapse if the dead beneficiary leaves issue (children) who are alive at the testator’s death (in England & Wales, the Wills Act/ S33 as amended by the Administration of Justice Act 1982/ S19; in Northern Ireland, article 22 of the Wills and Administration Proceedings (NI) Order 1994). This does not apply where the gift is a life interest.

You need to read the Will carefully to see whether it says what happens if someone predeceases, and also check whether s.33 Wills Act has been specifically excluded. My father predeceased my grandmother, and when she died his share passed to us kids.

Yeah it's an absolutely bog standard will she just filled in herself and got witnessed so I'm sure that would apply - I think she bought it in WH SMiths! No solicitors involved.

My mother predeceased my grandmother and luckily there was provision for her half share to be passed to us 3 rather than my uncle. Fairly sure he would have passed on only a token amount. Having tied up the affairs of both parents I would recommend you keep records - especially regarding the transfer of lump sums for eg. Towards a deposit for a house for the beneficiaries when you have to show a paper trail.
What would your mother have wanted regarding the beneficiaries? Personally I think of my dear nan every day and am so glad that although she left school at 13, could gift us sone money to make a difference to our and our children's lives. RIP Nan

DH's mum predeceased his grandmother, and on his grandmother's death, his remaining aunts, not being greedy bastards, decided to pass his mums share down to DH and his siblings. However I know there was paperwork involved - one of the sisters was the executor of the will. My understanding is that it could have been complex if his aunts hadn't agreed - I think the total estate was in 7 figures.

Your sister's share definitely doesn't go to her husband, though if the grandchildren are under 18, again, it gets more complex. I think as executor you have some sway over what happens, e.g. if the money needs to be put in trust.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Make an itemised statement of the estate listing and valuing everything. Anything over £10,000 (and definitely land or property) needs to be valued by a professional. For everything else, you can just decide what you think its worth if sold. Small items and low value items, like furniture, you can just group together as 'furnishings' and put a reasonable fixed disposable value on or no value at all if it's to be given away. List any liabilities the estate has, ie mortgage, loans, utility bills owing. Deduct the total liabilities from total assets, and that's the estate value.

2. Notify HMRC of the estate value, there is a simple form for doing this on their site, search for 'what to do when someone dies'. They will look at the value and decide if any inheritance tax is due.

3. As an executor with probate granted, you can proceed to dispose of or distribute assets from the assets to the beneficiaries in the will, and/or distribute beneficiary inheritance in accordance with the will.

4. As the executor of the estate, you're required by law to keep a copy of the statement of estate, and make a final signed and dated statement stating that the will has been executed and beneficiaries notified and paid any inheritance due. You must keep these records for up to 10 years by law. Although very unlikely, HMRC could ask to see them at any point in that time period.

There's no other legal form requirement on an executor, but it's often worthwhile issuing beneficiary receipts to all the beneficiaries (you can find templates online) showing that they have been paid or received assets from the estate. This can be important for tax reasons and just shows you've properly executed the will, in case there's any disputes further down the line.

Regarding your other question about the sister being a deceased beneficiary. If the will makes no provision for this, then it's normal practice for the inheritance to go to the spouse, not the children. However, you could (with agreement with the husband) pass down inheritance to the children instead. To do that, you might want to consider, drawing up a deed variation which changes what would have happened in the will. Although not legally or strictly necessary to do that, it just makes things clearer and avoids any disputes over the handling over the estate. If the husband agrees, probably not necessary and you could instead just get him to sign a simple agreement saying the inheritance is to either go to the children, or perhaps be held by him as trustee until the children reach a certain age..usually 18 if you're talking about property or a substantial amount of money.

Hope that helps

Are the children over 18? If not I would look to getting it out into trust until they are rather than just handing it to their father.

You are correct that your sister's share goes to her children unless the will states otherwise. Since your sister is a child of the deceased, Catmummyof2 is wrong.

LangtonLegal's suggestion that the money would normally go to the spouse is contrary to the law (Wills Act 1837 S33). There is absolutely no need for a Deed of Variation to give the money to the children since they are entitled to inherit by law. Their inheritance may go to the sister's spouse to be held in trust for the children if they are still children but, if it goes directly to him and he fails to pass it on, the children can take action against you, as the executor, to recover their share of the estate.

I'm assuming, by the way, that you are not in Scotland. I believe the rules are different there.