Will - who does what?

[New2Quizzes]

It has emerged that I am an executor to a will. A firm of solicitors is the other executor. Paragraph b) on page 1 reads as follows:- "AS Trustees of this my Will I APPOINT the persons who take out the first Grant of Probate (not being a Grant being limited to settled land) to be obtained in respect of my estate"

First, in simple terms, what does this clause mean in practice? Secondly, the members of the immediate family of the deceased seem anxious not to let the solicitors run up sizeable bills (from what will be a modest estate). Can I insist (if that's the right word) that I carry out some/all of the tasks arising from the will, so as to mitigate such potential charges?

As usual, any advice gratefully received.

[dzug2]

You can't insist, but you can negotiate with the solicitor as to who does what, and possibly give up his role altogether if it's a small estate that's not going to produce much in the way of fees anyway.

[New2Quizzes]

Thanks, dzug2. Household effects are to go to the daughter: the house is to be sold and the proceeds divided between her and her brother: two small sums of money are to go to two other beneficiaries. Are these wishes likely to produce big bills? Thanks again.

[New2Quizzes]

Would appreciate any further experience of/thoughts on this kind of situation. Thank you.

[ubasses]

If it is very simple and you think you can do it yourself ask the Solicitor to renounce their right. Of course they do not have to agree and if you will then be on your own with it. I understand if they refuse and work for a large Company you can appeal higher up but no guarantee.

[New2Quizzes]

Thanks for that, ubasses. What exactly is "the first Grant of Probate" referred to in b) above? I thought probate only came into play in the absence of a will.

[woofgang]

Every single will has to go through some form of government process operated by the probate office. The reason for this is to ensure that there are no monies owed to government and no inheritance tax to pay.
Talk to the firm of solicitors, they may be willing to renounce their right in exchange for a fixed fee. Solicitors executor charges, from my experience are based on a fixed percentage of the value of the will, so if they don't renounce entirely, your taking on more of the work may not save you any money and may just save them work.
Thirdly its not up to the immediate family, although of course they want to maximise the inheritance and I can see why and in a way, agree with them, but its arguable that the deceased wanted to have solicitors as as one of the executors and that forms part of their wishes and should therefore be adhered to.

[New2Quizzes]

Many thanks, woofgang. Your answer makes a lot of sense. Who has the job of informing the solicitors of the death (assuming they have not already picked up on it from the local press, for example) ... and what if no-one does ...?

[woofgang]

Well if you are the other executor, then you.......If no one does, you might hit two snags. The first is that administering the will might require joint sign offs on stuff, the second is that if you just administer and don't tell them, they may be entitled to a fee anyway and if they are miffed you can kiss goodbye to any negotiated fee reduction. Have you got the actual will or a copy?

[New2Quizzes]

So far, I've only been sent a scanned PDF by a family member. Not sure whether they've got the original or a copy. Are you indicating it might make a difference? Thank you, meanwhile.

[woofgang]

Only the original can be presented for whatever kind of "probate" process is required. If the solicitors have the original which is fairly common, then you may have to use them willy nilly

[New2Quizzes]

Thanks again, woofgang. Have been talking to someone who thinks fees are normally set at around 0.5% to 1% of the value of the estate. Does anyone know if this is about right? Many thanks.

[woofgang]

Yes it does. Bigger more complex estates might be charged more though but I guess this one isn't.