Executor Query

[Queenanne20]

MIL sadly passed away recently. Dh and his sister are the beneficiaries of her Will, being left 50% each. SIL and Solicitor are the two Executors as Dh has health problems and it was agreed when MIL wrote her Will that Dh would be unable to act as Executor. We have just found out that Dhs share of the inheritance is a lot less than we estimated it to be. SIL has said she is sending him half the proceeds from the house sale after fees etc and half the money that was in the bank account, again, after settling all outstanding bills etc. This amount is a fair few thousand less than we expected it to be but SIL insists it's all that is left over. Apparently, she sacked the Solicitor and has acted as sole Executor and is refusing to give Dh a breakdown of how she has arrived at this figure. Did she have the right to stop the Solicitor acting as Executor and can she refuse to give Dh details of where all the money has gone?

Also, we applied for a copy of probate online without telling SIL. It just gave the amount of money in the bank account and the value of the house. We know how much the house sold for and obviously, expected things like estate agents and solicitors fees to be deducted but the amount being paid to Dh by SIL is way lower than we estimated. The same goes for the money in Mils bank account, we knew how much she had and roughly how much expenses would have to be deducted from it but again the amount Dh has been told will be paid to him is thousands less than we estimated. When we asked SIL for a breakdown of costs deducted she said as Executor she does not legally have to provide that information to us!

She DOES have to render an account to beneficiaries. I believe that the only legal requirement is that is should be done once the distribution is completed but if you suspect wrongdoing and the estate is big enough to warrant it, you can legally force her to give an accounting sooner. I am not sure how she sacked the solicitor if he was a named executor?

As I understand it - it’s only the residual beneficiary that is legally entitled to final accounts.

however it sounds like she has mismanaged the estate and the executors must act in the best interests of all. She is not entitled to be paid for what she does other than things like travel expenses but not her time - is that what she has done?

If your dh is a residuary beneficiary (entitled to the remainder of the estate once debts etc paid) then he is entitled to a set of estate accounts.

issue is if she won’t provide them he will need to take her to civil court to force her. Which will likely cost more than the few thousand he is missing.

probate needs a massive revamp imo. It relies completely on the honesty of the executor, and if they aren’t, we’ll not much you can do.

has he called the solicitor to ask why they stepped down?

Thank you for the replies. Apparently, she collected the will and told the solicitor that she would be handling everything, probate etc herself and did not require them to do anything. According to her, this is allowed. We completely agree she should deduct any expenses she has incurred in dealing with the probate, selling the house etc fuel costs, car parking fees, in fact absolutely any costs she has incurred, we are more than happy for her to be fully compensated. She went to the bank after MIL passed away and had all the money from MILs bank account paid into an account she opened in her sole name. She has also had the money from the house sale paid into this account and this is the account she is paying dh from. When we queried the lower amount than we anticipated she just said she'd had to pay out a lot of expenses but refuses to give us a breakdown of what they are.

I don't think you can just remove an executor and it would be unusual for a solicitor to do it without being paid a fee. If there are thousands missing, I'd try and talk to the solicitor who supposed to be an executor to see what he will tell you. and maybe take some legal advice.

It’s normal to open a bank account to use

there is a process to remove the other executor

any legal fees your Dh incurs getting her to do what she’s supposed to do if she hasn’t will come out of the estate so it’s in her interests to comply with your wishes.

We haven't contacted the Solicitor yet but think that will have to be our next step. It wasn't a massive estate, we anticipated receiving around 80k being half the value of the estate but have been told we will be paid 60k. We can't work out where the extra 40k has gone (20k less to dh and SIL if she's truly getting the same amount as dh). MIL had no debts, just the funeral expenses and final utility bills etc We are relying totally on the honesty of SIL as Executor and it's disappointing that she appears to be giving Dh less than his 50% share. SIL and her husband have been having some financial difficulties and I suspect they have given themselves a few thousand extra from the "pot".

They can’t do that!

well they can but then you can legally get that sorted

if you tell them what your going to do they would be wise to hand it over

It's very worrying, we know how much the funeral cost, how much the estate agent and Solicitor were charging and a few other things we knew had to be paid out and we had a good idea of what we should expect to receive. We have asked SIL where the extra 40k has gone and asked her for a breakdown of expenses/costs paid out but she is flatly refusing and will no longer speak to us. We aren't well off and this money would have been life changing for us. I'm worried about how much it would cost to get a solicitor to force SIL to come up with detailed accounts but it looks like we haven't much choice in the matter. Thanks to everyone for the replies.

You are entitled to see the accounts as the residuary beneficiary. If this is not provided in a reasonable time then you can make an application to the court for an inventory and account. I think the first step would be to give sil a reasonable time to share the accounts with you and state that if not shared within say 28 days you will make a court application.

Sil could have asked the solicitor to sign a deed of renunciation if she wanted to act alone. Not having the solicitor administrate the estate would have saved money so it’s not necessarily a red flag.

Thank you so much for that information. Initially, we understood completely that SIL had got rid of the Solicitor to save on costs and we were happy about that. However, in hindsight we'd rather have paid a couple of thousand on a Solicitor and know that everything was being split fairly.

Dh has a life limiting illness and this money would have given us and our severely disabled son a bit of security for an uncertain future. SIL knows all this and we, stupidly, trusted that she would be honest and fair with us. It's good to know that we do have the right to demand sight of her accounts.

This and send the letter signed for

"Residuary beneficiaries are additionally entitled to receive a copy of the estate accounts, once these have been prepared, so that they can see how their share of the inheritance has been calculated. They are not entitled, as of right, to any information over and above that and it is again down to the executors’ discretion whether or not to provide any additional information or documents requested.
However, if an executor does not provide a copy of the estate accounts within a reasonable timeframe after they are finalised, then the residuary beneficiary may be entitled to make an application to Court for an Inventory and Account. In effect, this is a statement on oath setting out full details of the Estate and a Court can order that the costs of such an application be paid by an Executor personally. However this will only usually be done if the Court is satisfied that there is a good reason to make such an Order."
Your husband is absolutely entitled to see the estate accounts. Maybe start the ball rolling by writing a formal letter, sent by registered post, setting out the above. It probably won't need a solicitor to get her into court.

Perhaps speak to citizens advice also? It doesn’t have to cost thousands to take it to court, as you can represent yourselves. It seems fairly straight forward in terms of what you know to be true about assets and the main costs. All you would be asking for initially is to see the calculations.

£40,000 is excessive for expenses! How much was commission on the house sale, are you absolutely sure there were there no debts etc? I only ask as if you didn’t process the estate, there could be costs you weren’t aware of? It seems hard to believe that a family member would just steal several thousand pounds.

@Queenanne20 I acted as executor for my DM’s will as my siblings live overseas (they wrote letters of permission for me to do so). The estate was relatively straightforward (bank accounts, house and ISAs) and I dealt with all of the paperwork myself. I won’t say it was easy as the paperwork was time-consuming (forms leading to other forms etc). I didn’t charge my siblings a penny and can’t claim anything other than my time in expenses.
She needs to provide proof of the costs.

lol. They can, and do. I’m in a few sm groups for help and advice and you’d be surprised how common it is, and how easy it is to get away with.

it’s easy. There’s rarely any comeback either due to the expense of the court process.

Thanks so much for all the really helpful information. Since the new mumsnet app was introduced I have problems tagging posters individually so I want to say a collective thank you to everybody for their replies. The next step will be writing a formal letter to SIL asking for the accounts and giving her a timescale in which to reply before taking further action. It's very sad it's come to this and poor MIL would be devastated. SIL has a history of poor financial decisions but we thought the fact that a solicitor was the other Executor would protect us from any "errors" she might make when distributing the estate. When we thought everything was going to be very straight forward eg we knew exactly how much money MIL had and exactly how much the house was selling for, we thought SIL getting rid of the Solicitor was just to save money, I now suspect it was to make it easy for her to do what she pleased with the money. A few years ago when FIL died we helped MIL move house to be nearer to us (SIL lived far away and didn't have much contact with MIL at this time) and we helped MIL sort out her finances (dh was well at that point) so we knew MIL didn't have any debts etc I cared for MIL during her final months and SIL only appeared on the scene to take over after she died. Sadly, as a previous poster said, I can imagine "mismanagement" in handling the distribution of inheritance to other family members, when there is only one Executor, is quite common.

Op Also note as the poster said executor can’t pay court costs for their fraud out of the estate - so all the costs would fall on sister

its not her accounts / it’s the estate accounts - she has a legal duty - it sounds like she has been guilty of misconduct as an executor

would be good to point out to her in your letter that she will be personally liable for the cost rather than the estate

@Queenanne20 sounds like a solid plan.

OP's DH is a residual beneficiary. The residual beneficiaries are those between whom the estate is split after all specific bequests have been dealt with. As OP's DH has been left 50% of the estate, he is clearly a residual beneficiary and is entitled to a copy of the estate accounts.

@Queenanne20 - When you write to her, be clear that she is required by law to provide a copy of the estate accounts and that, if she fails to do so, your DH will take her to court to force her to provide the accounts. Point out that, if it does go to court, she is likely to be personally liable for your DH's legal costs and that she will have to pay those and her own costs herself - she cannot use money from the estate.

This is awful OP, it’s sad that money often brings out the worst in people. I’ve seen it several times and as you say your poor MIL would have been horrified.

I dealt with my MILs estate recently and my DH and a family friend were executors. There’s a form online that they can fill in if they want to step down from that role which is what this friend did as he’s quite elderly now. But it sounds suspicious the way your SIL did it.