Wills and how long until executor contacts beneficiaries

[Dreamerinme]

How long would/should it take for the executor/s of a Will to contact beneficiaries to advise them of the details etc?

Not asking for me, before anyone jumps to conclusions.

How long is a piece of string?

It all depends on the circumstances of the deceased's life and also who the executors are and how they go about doing things.

At one end of the line, a deceased person may have been living in rented accommodation and had one bank account and that's it. It won't take long at all to sort that out.

At the other end of the line there are estates with assets held under complicated structures in different countries and there may be complicated and unknown debts. This sort of thing can take a very long time indeed to sort out.

It all depends whereabouts on that line the particular person falls.

Im an executor right now and I just gave addresses to my solicitor. They contacted beneficiaries. They have offered sight of the will because, as executor, I agreed to that. However the executor has to decide how they wish to proceed with regard to a solicitor and how they get probate. I’m sole executor so I decide. Once probate is granted, a will is a public document.

It just all depends ...

As an executor, I would want to notify beneficiaries sooner rather than later but there would be initial steps to take like settling any debts (at a minimum, credit card balances) and paying any costs first. This would clarify what was then remaining in the estate to pay bequests or allocate assets.

Other relatives/friends I know who have been executors mention that it took at least a year to discover all the accounts and assets the deceased held. They report that in the 12 months post death, every so often a statement would arrive, revealing another account/investment. In some ways, I think this is harder now since so much is done online. The executor needs to be monitoring the deceased's emails, texts, whatsapps, etc. It comes from all sides!

Certain things I have looked at in the UK suggest a 3 year limit on resolving an estate - after that deadline, many 'automatic' options and advantages, such as transferring all ISAs into an 'inheritance' ISA, cease.

@Another2Cats @TizerorFizz

Thanks for your explanations. I’ve been a bit confused as I thought executors usually inform beneficiaries of what is intended for them in a will, and then of course it has to go through all legal processes/probate etc. It sounds like it’s up to the executor then when they decide to tell beneficiaries what’s intended for them, and this could even be after probate?

We got probate in 3 weeks. That was only 6 weeks after death. Beneficaries can be informed they are in the will even if the executor(s) don’t have the financial details.

it would be unwise to tell someone what they might get before probate as you don't know what the probate process can uncover.

It doesn't matter what anyone's been left, debts have to be paid first. Imagine telling someone they're inheriting a million pounds, but the debts are two million and eventually they get nowt...

@Dreamerinme Theres no legal requirement to share a will’s contents. I think telling beneficiaries they can contact the solicitor or executor to see the will
is a good strategy or just send it to them, but it’s not a requirement. When an estate is ready to be distributed, bank/savings account details should be asked for. Getting probate and then waiting for full payment because everything is sorted, or making interim payments is up to executor. I’m getting it all done in under 4 months but had to wait for house sale completion.

It depends on the circumstances

I was left a pecuniary legacy in the will of an aunt. The solicitor who was either the executor or acting for them wrote to me within a few weeks after death giving and amount and timescale. The amount concerned was generous but not life changing and the estate had ample funds in bank accounts.

If it were a portion of residue I think they would have been more guarded. .

On one occasion when I was an executor, there were three small legacies and then the rest was to be divided between my siblings and me.

I told the three recipients of the small legacies at the funeral - said it might take a bit of a time to sort out but that they would be getting £x in due course. That seemed the right thing to do.

On a similar occasion, I was not officially informed until more than a year after the death that I was the recipient of a small legacy. I found that very frustrating because I strongly suspected that I had been left something but would have liked to know. I was very happy to wait to receive it, but it seemed odd and unnecessary to wait so long before telling me. It just made me suspicious that they were going to ignore it (o knew there would be plenty of money to cover the legal

Sorry. Last word should have been "legacy", not "legal".

The other way round is to ask the beneficiaries if they wish to see the will after they are told they have been included in it. Saying what an amount will be if it’s not specified is not a great idea. Being pleasantly surprised is better than being disappointed.

As I was attorney, I had sorted out and found out about the accounts but one bank sent more money than I thought. So it can be difficult to ascertain what’s there. If there are annual statements they can be overlooked which is why I think I had miscalculated.