My executors?

I was executor for both my mum and dad (mum signed hers across to me on my dads death as she didn’t want to do it and my dad had made provision for her to do so in his will.)

With probate both times we agreed a fixed fee with the solicitors.

I have never heard of a Letter of Wishes. Is it a legally binding thing?
Here in Canada, the Will is the only legal document after you die.

I'm definitely no expert but surely some sort of trust should be set up for your DD? Maybe ask your solicitor for advice

Allex50

My plan for contents is (if I have the opportunity) the get rid of everything before I go. Job done!

I agree. We don't want lots of stuff. I have very little jewellery and I have made it clear that my daughter will divide that between my granddaughters. Most of the jewellery I had came from my MiL and wedding rings from DH side somewhere. We sold those and put the money into PSB.

All but my youngest now have homes of their own so don't really need household stuff. We are in the process of doing a grand clear out. So if our home is not used to provide care the kids can just sell up and split it equally.

My advice is stay with the solicitor. It will cost a fortune, every phone call, every letter, in fact,everything they do will be charged to the minute. However, noone dares dispute the solicitors. Believe me,my husband was executor to his cousin's will,and it has caused the most stressful year of our lives. My advice to anyone asked to be LPA just say NO.

Will a guardian need to be appointed for your own child? will she need help? does this come under a will?

It also depends how much support your daughter will need in the future. If she can manage money that's OK but if not you may need to think about setting up a trust, although you would need trustees to administer it.

It seems you're in a very difficult spot with your stepchildren wanting to become executors. You say you're sure they will look after your daughter but also say you fear they may not if not allowed to be executors. I would err on the side of caution and keep the solrs as execs and maybe try to explain to step children that it's for their own good/less hassle for them to sort out etc. I would also make sure your letter of wishes is included in your will instead of being a separate, non enforceable document.

My plan for contents is (if I have the opportunity) the get rid of everything before I go. Job done!

I’ve been an executor for my
Mother, and as far as I can see there’s no check to see that you’ve carried out the bequests in the will. I did find it emotionally draining, though, and it went very slowly, so my sister (the other executor) and I agreed to hand a lot of work on to the solicitor. She was very careful about the rights of my brother, who had lived with my mum for some years, but didn’t want to be an executor.

The solicitor would certainly keep hold of the money and distribute it. But there’s no control over the possessions left in the house, AFAIK, so if there’s anything valuable, like jewellery, you might want to put it somewhere safe.

I think in this situation I’d turn to my nieces and nephews, who have always been close to our family.

I hope not….. My brother is difficult as it is. The world might implode

JamesandJon33: You have a clear conscience that you fulfilled your mother's wishes. It's possible that the cousins might discuss this now that they're adults and then your brother's action would be revealed…..

My brother and I were co- executors to my mother’s will. She left bequests to each grandchild There were five grandchildren, I have two children, my brother three. All fine I thought. The money was divided as my mother wanted and as the children were quite young , it was put in our own bank accounts. I opened Isas for my two. I learned later that my brother had kept his children’s money, and when I asked him why, he said his children would get it when he died. That was twenty years ago. ….What could I have done? ….Nothing

Whethertomorrow

I’m very disappointed with this post. I thought the OP was hiring someone to execute an enemy!

There IS a difference between executor and executioner

My father named his bank as executor, for the best of intentions, I have no doubt. However, it turned out to be a painfully slow process and my sisters and I had no power under the will to exercise any pressure on the bank official who dealt with the case. My uncle, fortunately, named me and one of my sisters as executors and we were able to form a very satisfactory relationship with his solicitor who handled the business on our behalf. I have named both my sons as my executors as I know they will act in the best interests of the family.

I’m very disappointed with this post. I thought the OP was hiring someone to execute an enemy!

Yes, their involvement will end with the distribution of the estate. Their job won’t be to advise the daughter unless the daughter asks for advice, and they will charge for it. Lily of the Valley needs to consider carefully what help her daughter will need. I certainly wouldn’t live in hope that the stepdaughters will provide it. It may be that the daughter would be better off living in a form of sheltered housing rather than, as is the impression I get, living in a house which she has to maintain and insure, with bills to pay. However we have no real clue as to what the estate will consist of and what provision is made for the daughter and stepdaughters - though I suspect the daughter is to have the use of the family home for her life, which may not be the best solution for her. Lily needs to talk this over with a solicitor and make her daughter’s learning difficulties, and consequent problems with looking after a house and paying bills, entirely clear. We don’t know, for instance, if the daughter is able to work. It’s possible that the solicitor may suggest that she is best protected by the solicitor being given Court of Protection guardianship - an unbiased person, but one who would charge for their services. We don’t have enough information to do more than speculate.

When I instructed the solicitor as executor he said it is hard to put a figure on how much it would cost, but anywhere between £5,000 - £10,000 depending on how much work is involved.

It seems as though they could pluck a figure out of the air and I would be dead anyway so there would be no one to query it!

I need to come back to this and ask Lily of the Valley what help she thinks the solicitors will give her vulnerable daughter that her step sisters will not? The opening post mentions help maintaining a property for instance.

GSM will put me right on this but, unless the will specifically contains provision for ongoing help from the solicitor, I think their involvement will end once the estate is wound up.

I'm with the advice of GSM on this one .

I would look for more than ‘several years’ of experience. And on their websites they all claim to be experts. When we moved here and were looking to update our wills I looked at the local offerings and decided they were still in nappies (if actually born) when I qualified. A really uninspiring bunch. Then I found someone from a City firm that I knew well, who had moved here. I was happy to pay for the experience I knew he had.

Germanshepherdsmum

I fear that for £300, he probably was. A higher hourly rate should mean someone who is more experienced and efficient.

He was supposed to be an expert in Wills, Probate etc with several years experience. I thought it was a shocking amount of money for what he actually did.

Germanshepherdsmum

It’s also concerning that the stepdaughters want to be executors. They know your daughter is unlikely to challenge them.

Indeed. Being an executor is not a pleasant task and I’d be very sceptical about why the step children are so keen to take it on.

No one should be named as executor if there’s the slightest doubt of their honesty and trustworthiness. One of my executors is my step daughter and I know she’ll do the bulk of the work but I place great trust in her.

I fear that for £300, he probably was. A higher hourly rate should mean someone who is more experienced and efficient.

Sparklefizz

Roughly how much per hour do solicitors charge to execute an estate? I know it's an impossible guess, but can anyone GSM? give an approximate figure per hour?

As far as I remember I paid the solicitor £300 an hour plus VAT. That was 3 years ago. He was pretty rubbish actually.