Probate, Executor and property

*Deceased not decreased!

The job of the executor is to administer the deceased person's estate, including managing the assets, paying debts, and distributing assets according to the will.

An executor can renounce the role but only if they haven’t taken any active steps to administer the estate. If they have and then try to renounce, it can be considered intermeddling. This means they cannot now simply walk away without a court's approval.

There are legitimate reasons why someone who has started administering an estate may be unable to continue, poor health, for example, but a court application is required to remove anyone who has intermeddled.

Examples of intermeddling:

•Selling assets of the deceased.
•Collecting debts due to the deceased and issuing receipts for their payment.
•Paying debts.
•Carrying on a business of the deceased.
•Disposing of the deceased's possessions.

Examples of actions which are notintermeddling:

•Arranging the deceased's funeral.
•Insuring the deceased's assets.
•Gathering and perusing the deceased's papers.
•Collecting the deceased's assets to protect them.
•Arranging urgent repairs.
•Removing assets to secure storage.
•Securing the deceased's property.
•Opening an executor's bank account.
•Making arrangements for the welfare of dependants.

Take this up with the solictors who dealt with probate.

Have you received any money? Just a small amount of cash, from the cash assets?
Or had sight of the will or any other paperwork eg estate accounts?
Does anyone live in the property?
If the will says the property is to be sold and the proceeds distributed, do you know the executor is doing nothing about it?
The property needs to be insured, cleared etc.

If the will does not mention the property, it forms part of the estate and needs to be sold, and the proceeds distributed in accordance with the will. This is the job for the executor.

Where are these “ wishes” recorded? A letter of wishes has no legal status, no has any wish expressed verbally.
It is vital to know what the will actually says.
The executor cannot just disappear. You could instruct your solicitor to write her/ him a letter.

Just to add once Probate is granted, the will is in the public domain and a copy can be purchased for a small fee.

Once probate has been granted, the Will becomes a public document and a copy can be obtained from the Probate Registry by anyone who requests a copy.

The Executor can just instruct an estate agent to sell the house.

The Executor should be making sure that the empty property is insured until sold.

As a beneficiary, the executor should have sent you a copy of the will.

My first reply was simply answering the question: Can they just bail out if probate is done?

Important to note that Grant of Probate is simply that. It will name the person to whom probate has been granted and the gross and net value of the estate.

The execution can then take years, for example, if there are issues to do with the sale of assets or a dispute of any kind over the Will.

Also, while executors are encouraged to keep beneficiaries reasonably informed about the progress of an estate's administration they have no legal obligation to notify them of step by step progress.

Executors hold the discretion to decide whether or not to disclose the Will to any potential beneficiary.

Once probate is granted and the Will becomes a public document, it can be obtained from the Probate Registry (cost £1.50) by anyone who requests a copy.

For this reason, there is often little point in refusing to supply a copy of the Will to an interested beneficiary ... but they will add the cost of doing so to estate costs leaving less to distribute.

Thank you so much everyone for your excellent replies. We were never given a copy of the will so I need to look into that to check what's actually what, it was just a verbal discussion with the executor who said the sale of the house and division of the proceeds was in the will, I think I'll get a copy of the probate/will from the probate registry tomorrow, great advice! The house is empty and uninhabitable and I don't know if it is insured. We have had no interim payout from the bank assets but the solicitor implied there would be some. The intermeddling thing is interesting, thanks for the insight. Yes, we need to speak to the probate solicitor. If the Executor does instruct the estate agent to sell the property then that's great, as long as they do whatever it is they are supposed to do then we are happy even if the execution of everything takes a while. They were under the impression that once probate was granted their job was done and dusted & their services were no longer required but it's seemingly not the case. Thanks again all!

Update: I checked the probate registry and it's not been updated yet to reflect the grant of probate as it's pretty recent, so we'll have to wait a few days or weeks or ask the solicitor who would have been formally notified. Might also ask for a copy of the will. Thanks everyone

The Probate solicitor might not supply you with any information as s/he has been instructed by the Executor, not by the beneficiaries. Or is s/he possibly a joint executor with the other person?

As far as I'm aware there were two executors but one died so there is just the one now and I don't think the solicitor is an executor. I guess we'll wait until the online probate records are updated, by the time the solicitor gets it sorted and allowing for impending holidays not to mention extra costs, it's probably easier & cheaper to 'diy' it via the probate court ourselves with a copy of the will and probate, as you say Cabbie21, the solicitor might not supply it which is odd given that it's going to be in the public domain shortly but you're right, they're working for the executor and not us beneficiaries.

I am sure that as a beneficiary you can request a copy of the will. You can also go online to see how much probate has been agreed at. You might be able to get a copy of the will online if the executors won't give you one. Sadly, there are many unscrupulous executors out there. I am still fighting for my inheritance from Dad from 3 years ago. I do know assets have been sold snd pretty certain the money hasn't gone into the estate. Good luck.

Thanks Sarahr. Yes, the online probate records haven't been updated yet but once they have I will get a copy of the will & probate for myself and my friend. Gosh I'm so sorry to hear that, I hope it gets resolved soon & you can recoup your inheritance. Could that be classed as intermeddling as per pp and can you not do something about replacing the executor? I'm not very up on these matters!

Trouble is that a person may agree to be an executor for a friend without realising how much (unpaid) work may be involved in cases such as this.

grannymo123

Trouble is that a person may agree to be an executor for a friend without realising how much (unpaid) work may be involved in cases such as this.

That's fine. An Executor can decline the Executor ship on the death that appointed them, if their circumstances have changed and they are no longer able to take it on. They just need to declare their refusal right away, before starting any of the tasks ..

In our own Wills, we have two named Executors so that if one becomes unable, the other can take the role solo.

My mother had two executors, one predeceased her, the second declined upon her death, so my sister and I, in conjunction with her solicitor, handled probate.