Member of family refusing to sign as exector?

[macsgiants]

Dad recently passed away and left house to four children the two boys being exectors. One boy has signed and the other refuses to sign as it will affect his benefits. Does anyone now how long the legal process takes to get him to sign or had a similar experience.

[New Judge]

I do not understand how being an executor will affect his benefits. It is not a paid position and he will simply have the responsibility of distributing the assets of the deceased according to the will (and ensuring any other provisions within it are carried out). If he is due any proceeds from the will which may affect his benefits, he will receive them whether he is an executor or not.

However, that said, there is no process available to compel him to act as an executor. He can refuse provided he does so before any work on enacting the will has started.

[dzug]

He's refusing to sign because when he gets his inheritance it will affect his benefits. In other words he is refusing to carry out his duties as executor. He's not refusing to be executor, he's that already.

The legal process will take a while - but the threat of it (and him bearing the costs out of his share) may induce him to do so quickly. But it could be months if he doesn't back down.

[Barmaid]

The advice already given is entirely correct. Being an executor will have no bearing whatsoever on his benefits.

Exactly what is it that the executor has refused to sign? Is it the documents for the Grant? If so:-

The remaining executor should serve on him a "Notice to Non Proving Executor". Assuming he does not respond, the remaining executor should then proceed to extract the Grant of Probate on his own without recourse to the unco-operative one. Thereafter the unco-operative one has "power reserved" which means he can apply for a Grant any time he wishes but takes no part in the administration.

If the Grant has already been issued, then he is refusing to carry out his duties in which case I am not going to repeat what dzug has already said.

[macsgiants]

Sorry to confuse. He is a joint executor to his parents will. The will states that the house should be sold and devided equally between the four children. This is why he refuses to sign as he stands to gain approx £45,000 and this will affect his benefits.

[Barmaid]

Yes but exactly WHAT is he refusing to sign?!

[macsgiants]

he needs to sign the house to release it for sale. Think its called probate. sorry not very law minded.

[buildersmate]

Well, yes, that makes sense.
As a joint executor of the estate, he needs to confirm his acceptance that the house will be sold such that the proceeds can eventually be shared between the four children. If he doesn't do so, the co-executor and the other children are liable to get ratty because it stops the division of the estate proceeding - until they strike him off from being an executor.
Just signing this doesn't mean that he is in imminent likelihood of receiving his share of the estate - it is when the executors divide the proceeds that he finally has his money.
Longer term, there is no easy way to stop this. Benefits are paid to those disadvantaged and with little money. If he comes into money, he can fend for himself until the money is consumed. If he won the lottery he would not surely expect to keep drawing benefits (I trust) - try him when that angle.
Personally I think he is just being greedy thinking he can receive both.

[New Judge]

Yes, buidersmate has explained the situation better than I did.

The issues of being an executor of the will (that is one who distributes the estate) and a beneficiary of the will (that is one who receives all or part of the estate) are entirely separate. Refusing to act as an executor will not mean he is no longer a beneficiary.

I’m not sure how he goes about renouncing his inheritance. What I can say is that the benefits available must be even more generous than I imagined if he would prefer to receive benefits rather than £45k!

[dzug]

I expect renouncing it won't get very far if the benefits people find out.

[Barmaid]

I agree dzug - disclaiming could be construed as deliberately depriving oneself of assets. However a Deed of Variation might be more successful - particularly if the one quarter due to the one on benefits was put into a discretionary trust.

[smartcat]

A Deed of Variation is effective for Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax purposes only.
This would therefore still be classed as a deprivation of assets