What exactly are an executors duties?

[MrsPringledusts]

Can anyone advise me? I'm asking as I am a beneficary under a will, and have had no contact from the solicitor/executor at all. I understood that they should keep beneficeries advised as to what was going on. I also thought that as they were managing the deceaseds estate that they should ensure that any property that is to be sold should be maintained, which has not been the case at all. Can anyone help at all?

Is the solicitor the executor? How long since the person died?

I have been executor twice. On both occasions, we applied for probate (ourselves) and then sold the properties and distributed the funds.

Applying for probate didn't take long, but you may have to wait a while for the hearing/for the Grant of Probate. And then if there's a house sale that takes however long it takes. But nothing can be distributed to beneficiaries until probate is granted.

If a solicitor is the executor, I wouldn't have thought they would have any responsibility re property maintenance, but I'm not sure who would.

If you can give a bit more detail about the situation, and who is involved, it may be possible for people to shed a bit more light on what might happen.

A solicitor is our executor, they invited us to a meeting at the beginning to read the will, hand over paperwork etc and we have monthly email updates. The house is for sale so agents have to do a weekly visit as per instruction from the insurance, water and heating also turned off. The Solicitors arrange for bills to be paid for utilities, we pay for gardening and windows cleaning which will be reimbursed. Have you got details of the solicitor and executors and asked, are you family and sole beneficiary.

If you know the name of the solicitor, then contact them and ask them what is going on.

We were Executor’s to my father’s house, until Probate was granted we had to make sure the house was insured and heated properly over the winter months. His Estate was fairly straightforward and took about 10 weeks to get Probate granted. There also wasn’t any inheritance tax to pay, which I understand can be complicated. Solicitors can work at a snail’s pace and as they are acting for the Estate, but they should respond to your request for information about how Probate is going.

I am not a lawyer and have no direct experience in this area, but I would be very surprised if the executor, whether a solicitor or not, didn't have some liability for keeping the deceased's assets in good order. If you had (say) a house valued at £500k as at the date of death, and the executor allowed it to fall into rack and ruin so that it could only be sold for £100k two years later, surely the executor could be sued for negligence? This would especially apply to someone appointed because of their professional background, e.g. a solicitor or an accountant.

An executor is not required to keep beneficiaries advised of what is going on. However, they should ensure that any properties are kept in good condition prior to sale.

Maybe it's different if you are next of kin, they arranged a meeting with us in person and zoom fir those who couldnt attend and we had to hand in birth, marriage and death certificates, poa, utilities, bank details and sign the Solicitors contracts and t&c. It was agreed we would have monthly email or zoom updates.

That sounds like good service, but what @prh47bridge is saying is that your solicitor has chosen to do that, or alternatively you're paying for that level of service. No executor has to do that by law.

The question is what an executor is required to do. Many executors will keep the beneficiaries fully informed, but they don't have to. They should provide beneficiaries with general information about the estate and a copy of the will if requested. They must also be provided with a copy of the estate accounts on request. Beyond that, it is left to the executor's discretion to decide what to share.

My parent's will both appointed professional executors. I met with their rep to hand over paperwork shortly after each of them died (2 years apart) and they dealt with everything. They had very little/no contact with my 2 siblings who were equal beneficiaries after 2nd death except to get agreement to the offer on the house. I seemed to be the contact for any other queries - eg missing papers, whether shares were to be sold or transferred, getting jewellery valuations (they reimbursed me). I also met them at the house. They gave everything the once over to see if there was anything valuable (there wasn't) discussed clearance (we did it ourselves but they paid for skips). They had the water systems drained and organised insurance and payment of further bills.

We heard very little until probate was granted when they made an interim payment of cash assets.

The executor was the deceaseds solicitor. The lady died in August last year, probate granted in October. Property was sold STC last year, but the electricity was off in the house, cold snap last November (2022) tank froze and then burst house flooded. Solicitor/Executor advised when I found the mess in December. He did nothing - didn't even bother to come and look at it. DH and I cleared most of it, and when I rang to ask what i should do with salvagable items he said to get rid of what could be saved. So charity shops did quite well. When i went to see the house in March, still nothing done, and sol/exec not replying to emails. So, I complained to the practice manager which did start some repairs. But it's now a year on, and it seems as if no one cares about this.

Did the sale fall through?

It did - no surprise really when the floors were awash, and the paper coming off the ceiling! House is back on the market with sloppy renovations, cheap carpet and has been reduced by 50 thousand. To be honest, I think it will need to be reduced again because it now needs so much work both indoors and out

Was the house insured as an empty property, did a surveyor come out to assess the damage

Complain again, vociferously and tell them you will be reporting to the Law Society and then do it. Their negligence has resulted in a financial loss to you as beneficiary and you should tell them you will be looking for compensation.

What the solicitor will tell you about how the estate is progressing may depend on whether you are main beneficiary or not ?
If you are not a main beneficiary then do you know who is ? It might be best to contact them about progress and concerns about care of the property.
As far as the executor settling the estate this won't be done until the property is sold but it would be up to the main beneficiaries to complain to the solicitor if they feel the property is not being looked after properly - there should empty building insurance in place and someone nominated as a keyholder either a family member or an estate agent can do this - they may be using an estate agent or a third party property management company who are meant to be checking on the property. Are the estate agents/ solicitors local to where the property is ? Or are they online or national company.I am dealing with similar situation with a probate property atm as an executor.
I have one other beneficiary to keep informed of progress but I also have to act as administrator for the solicitors / conveyancers. You really need someone who knows the property to look after it and liase with the solicitors if I wasn't doing that for my property my solicitors wouldn't do it properly- they would arrange for an estate agent as keyholder. But they would only check it infrequently or when they were doing viewings. You ideally need a nominated person to ' look after the house' other than the lawyer.

The Executor is responsible for insuring the property. As the property was empty I'm pretty sure the insurance company would have stipulated that all water systems should be drained to prevent what happened in this case.
I would be filing a formal complaint via the Practices complaints process and asking for sight of the insurance policy and why the water was not drained. If they don't respond or have failed to follow any conditions then ultimately you can complain to the Law Society and go for compensation for the loss of property value and cost of any work already done to make it saleable.

The insurance policy may also state that the property needs to be checked weekly until its sold