After Probate

[Icantknit]

Probate has been granted.

Executor of Will is fairly confident there will be no unknown creditors appearing - deceased was not able to manage their affairs for some time before their death & so Executor is opting not to place an ad in the Gazette.

However, an adult child of the deceased was deliberately left out of the Will, and the residual estate is to be shared equally between the other adult children.

Are there any steps the beneficiaries should take in case the Will is contested?

@1987qwerty 🙄 I don't see what difference the note makes, the left out child could still contest & my question was is there anything the beneficiaries should do in case this happens.

I know it's highly unlikely they'd succeed, note or not. I am asking if the beneficiaries need to do anything in the meantime.

Thanks for your contribution though, appreciate it. 🙂

If a s.27 notice has been placed, the creditors are covered off after 3 months.

In order to protect against an IPFDA claim, it’s advised to wait 6-10 months after probate. 6 months for the claim period to expire and then a further 4 to allow for any claims started to be served.

And re the likelihood of a claim - it’s better for the executor to wait, as if there is a claim/solicitors are needed and the estate has been distributed, the executor may be personally liable!

I THINK you can get some sort of insurance policy but I don’t know all the details and don’t know if it’s applicable but maybe something for you to look at it’s called a No section 27 insurance cover.

“What does No Section 27 Insurance Cover? The insurance covers the administrator or executor of the Estate together with the beneficiaries against losses, legal costs and other pre-agreed expenses that arise should a claimant come forward s after the estate has been distributed”.

they’ve placed the notices though. They need early distribution indemnity insurance

@LifeOfAShowGirl no notices have been placed. The Estate has gone through probate but no Gazette notice has been placed & probably won't be, as the deceased wasn't able to manage their finances themselves for a long time, so we are fairly confident there are no creditors lurking.

You should still place them, or the executor will be personally liable.

If I was the Executor, I’d send a copy of the note to the left out party to make clear why they are not included - straight from the horse’s mouth. That seems like the easiest way to deal with this. Why wouldn’t they do this? If I was the left out party I wouldn’t expect anything left to me as it sounds like they had minimal interaction with the deceased.

Personally liable for what? I am looking after my housebound mother's finances. I know exactly where the money is going and what she is doing day to day. When she dies there is no chance whatsoever of an unexpected creditor coming out of the woodwork. I will not be wasting money on advertising for creditors. My brother and I are the executors named in the will and I will run this past him, but I can't see the point. Having said that, in our case it's a very straightforward will. Nobody is being excluded.

@Mamamia35 the left out person will know why they have been excluded - there's a codicil with the Will, which they will have seen sight of by downloading from the Probate pages. This will be the only way they will know they have been excluded, as they are NC with their siblings.

The letter along with the Will is in our families case something that the Solicitor recommended in case the NC DS ever contested it and would make it extremely hard to contest with an actual written piece with actual signatures.

Any debts etc., if the estate is distributed incorrectly. You have no idea what could be revealed in the background. I worked on an estate where the executor was certain that there were no other debts, they had been managing finances etc. We places s.27 notices and three creditors came forward! You never know

The point of a will is so the deceased has some control over what is to happen to their worldly goods and finances once dead . Once the probate is finalised , those wishes are carried out .
For example 3 people ( the deceased adult children ) to inherit £100,000 each . They are given that to do as they wish ( it's now their money )
However , there is a 4th sibling who did not inherit from their parent but one or all might give them some of that money , their choice as it's now their money to give away .

I do know. My parents' finances are completely transparent. Obviously this won't always be the case, but it certainly is here.

In a case known to me one of the siblings doesnt get the same as the others

BUT thats because she was assisted by her parents following a divorce AND why is explained in the will or supporting documentation.

Like anything its a question of explaining why

Don’t they have to be careful as you can only give £3 per year away (tax free?) and you’ve got that 7 year thing too?

@PersephoneParlormaid This can be dealt easily with by the beneficiaries doing a 'Deed of Variation' so the 4th person can benefit from the other 3.