Click Legal Advice ::

 Free Legal Advice

01/08/2011 17:06:22 bikeman Posts: 3	Background: My step mother died recently leaving her estate to my father as sole beneficiary. There are two executors; a relative of hers and my father. My father has had a stroke and we believe has early onset of dimentia; poor memory etc. And so all executor duties have been handled by the other executor. The executor and family have behaved in an underhand way; disputed the validity of will, encouraged my father handover the proceeds of insurance policies to them, encouraged my father to re-write his own will making them beneficiaries etc After months of delay I have been leaning on the executor to apply for probate. The executor now says that he cant apply for probate unless my father (joint executor) resigns as executor. My Qs are: 1. Can an executor delay probate indefinitely? 2. Can my father as joint executor force the application for probate? or apply for the grant independently? 3. Can my father delegate his executorship to another person or a solicitor? If I had power of attorney could I act as joint executor? 4. Does the beneficiary of an estate weaken their legal position by resigning as joint executor? 5. What would happen if probate is delayed beyond the sole beneficiary's death? 6. How can we be certain that the executor has declared all finances and prevent syphoning off?
	• permalink • reply with quote
04/08/2011 09:55:55 www.clicklegalservices.co.uk Administrator Posts: 374	The issues here are of course quite complex. Some of the points made are not fully understood - such as the comment that he executor disputing the validity of the will. The executor's job is to carry out the terms of the will - I cannot see how he/she can do both. Insurance policies - depending on how they are written, may fall outside the estate - but why they would be signed over to third parties is again, something I do not quite follow. Another issue is the "encouraged" your father to prepare a new will after he has had a stroke and has early dementia? This is an issue in itself. Surely an explanation has been given as to why your father has been asked to retire. There could also be reasons - often associated with tax - as to why people are aasked to make new wills or deeds of variation of the deceased's will etc are contemplated. 1. Executors are allowed time to gather in and administer the estate - some large/complex estates can take years to sort out. However, no probate cannot be delayed indefinityely. 2. I do not think so. I think the other executor would have to resign, or be removed by application to the Court. 3. Yes, he can delegate to a certain degree - but not all responsibility. Executors often end up enlisting the help of solicitors - which is perhaps a good reason in itself to appoint a solicitor in the first place (but we would say that) 4. No, the status "roles" of beneficiary and executor are completely different. However, the "control" and ability of knowing what is going on will be given up. 5. Nothing as far as I can see - the important thing is what the terms of the will say what will happen in the event of the death of the sole beneficiary. 6. The executors have to prepare estate accounts, explain and detail/itemise what has gone on, and provide copies of relevant documents if needs be. It seems clear that there are a whole host of issues here and which cannot really be addressed in a short note like this, but I hope this helps. I would strongly advise that you try and hold a round table meeting with all parties, so they can properly explain what is going on.
	• permalink • reply with quote
04/08/2011 10:35:38 bikeman Posts: 3	Thank you for your reply. I think it is worth clarifying some of the background: The executor and family are clearly agreived that they did not benefit. When I say they have disputed the will this was only verbally and no formal objection was made. A pension policy has already been paid direct as it was discressionary and so excluded from the estate. My father gave the proceeds of this policy to the executor as a gift but I subsequently retrieved it. He has not yet given into pressure to rewrite his will making the executor and deceased family his own beneficiaries. He clearly doesn't want to do this but gets confused under pressure. I would like to clarify your answer to question 5. In the event of my fathers death I would expect the will of my step mother to continue to be followed and still benefit his estate. Subsequently his will to come into effect for onward distribution as per his wishes. True? My step mother's will did have provision in the event that my father pre-deceased her but I would expect that this condition is now null and void because he has clearly survived her. So his dying before receiving her estate is nt an issue? This is a very important point so please let me have your view as soon as you can thanks.
	• permalink • reply with quote
04/08/2011 10:39:00 bikeman Posts: 3	And one further question. Is there a time limit for distributing the estate after probate is granted?
	• permalink • reply with quote

---