Category: Wills & Inheritance

A bereavement is bad enough; having an issue with the executor adds to the stress.

When you make a will one of the most important things to consider is who you appoint to administer your estate: the executor. This is certainly not a decision to take lightly.

Acting as an executor is a role of great responsibility particularly if affairs are not left in good order. You need someone honest, reliable, organised and used to dealing with financial issues. Thankfully, you can have more than one.

According to STEP (Society of Trust & Estate Practitioners), the cost of probate fraud is predicted in the region of £150 million and executors, particularly with their level of control, could potentially manipulate things and help themselves to the estate. Or perhaps an executor is genuine but stalling decisions and not dealing with the estate properly.

Whether it is a human oversight or something more sinister, we asked Theo Hoppen from the Stowe Family Law office in Harrogate to join us on the blog to look at what you can do to remove an executor.

“I am often consulted by clients who are frustrated by the failure of an executor to properly administer an estate.  When a person dies, his or her Will (if they have one) will appoint one or more executors to collect in the estate’s assets and distribute them.  If there is no Will then a beneficiary of the estate under the Intestacy Rules can be appointed to administer the estate.

Sometimes a beneficiary has concerns that the executor is behaving improperly by, for example, keeping estate assets for themselves or transferring estate assets to a third party.  These disputes can be complex and very emotionally charged.  I find that the death of a loved one can exacerbate tensions within a family, sometimes leading to all-out warfare between relations.

My job is to sort out the dispute so that everyone gets what they are entitled to and move on with their lives.  Usually, the best option is to arrange a mediation session.  I find this can often resolve even the most acrimonious disputes and, importantly, the court will expect the parties to mediate before taking the matter to court.

If you bypass mediation, without a good reason, the court will hold this against you and may order you to pay some or all the other party’s legal costs if you lose your court case.

A mediator is an independent third party appointed jointly by the parties.  He or she will spend a day encouraging everyone to negotiate and resolve the dispute.  Whilst the parties pay for mediation, it is considerably cheaper than pursuing court proceedings and a much quicker process as a court case can take at least a year to conclude and sometimes longer.

If mediation fails, the court remains the only other option. The court can make various orders to sort matters out and ensure that the estate is administered correctly.  It can order that an executor is removed and replaced by someone else and also order how the estate should be administered. “

If you need advice on removing an executor or different claims against an estate please do not hesitate to contact me at theo.hoppen@stowefamilylaw.co.uk or at the details below.

The post How do I remove an executor from a will? appeared first on Stowe Family Law.

When German designer Karl Lagerfeld sadly passed away earlier this year, the media reported that ‘many’ people were concerned about the fate of his beloved pet cat Choupette.

Well, it seems they should not have been as media reports suggest that she has been named in Lagerfeld’s will. The feline could be set to receive a portion of the estate, which is estimated to be worth more than £150 million in total.

So, we asked Theo Hoppen, our inheritance law expert to join us on the blog to look at what provision you can make for pets in your Will in England & Wales.

“I often get asked by clients whether it’s possible to leave money or property to pets in a Will. The short answer is ‘no you can’t as any gifts you make in your Will must go to a human beneficiary however, it is possible to indirectly provide financial support for a beloved pet.

You can create a gift in your Will leaving your pet to an appointed person in the same way that you might leave a family heirloom to someone.  This is because the law regards a pet as a chattel, i.e. an item of property other than freehold land, which means you can gift it to someone else.  If no one is able or willing to look after your pet, it can be left to an animal charity to look after.

When advising clients, I always recommend that they speak to the person who they want to care for the pet, so they can check that they are willing to look after them.

People can also consider providing the nominated pet owner with a cash sum or set up a Trust to cover the cost of caring for the pet. A sensible move is to make any cash gift conditional that they look after your pet when you die.  Unfortunately, they are not legally obliged to spend the money on the animal and can use the money as they ‘see fit’.

Like the Karl Lagerfeld story, you often read about people leaving their fortune to their pets but it’s not possible in this country to leave a cash gift directly or transfer assets to a pet. (It is reported this can be feasible under German law.) Thankfully this is the case, as unsurprisingly, an animal cannot open a bank account or manage the money.

If you would like to provide provision and care for your pet, you will need a Will or update your existing one to ensure they are looked after to your wishes. You can get make a quick enquiry here or use the contact details below.”

The post A family pet or the beneficiary of your father’s entire estate… appeared first on Stowe Family Law.

I am often asked “do I need to make a will” and of course the answer I give varies depending on who is asking the question.

As a solicitor specialising in wills and probate, I am sure that I should answer the question with an emphatic “of course you should”, but everyone’s circumstances and wishes will differ and there are those rare cases when a will may not be required.

I think what people should ask themselves is “what would happen if I died without making a will?”

I have detailed below some key points to consider:

Registering the death and arranging the funeral

Believe it or not, this is where an estimated 18% of family feuds following the death of a loved one occur.  There can be initial uncertainty as to whether you wanted to be buried or cremated, and this can be distressing to family members with whom you may not have had this conversation during your lifetime.

If there are arguments, it can delay the funeral as funeral directors are increasingly afraid to release the body until an agreement has been reached.

Who is the rightful “next of kin” and how do you prove it in the first few days after death?

It is much simpler to state in a will who you would want to appoint as an Executor to deal with the administration of your estate and what your funeral wishes are rather than try to provide documentation to prove you are the next of kin.

Dealing with financial Institutions and insurance companies

We all know that with data protection legislation in place it can be quite difficult to contact companies to speak about your own affairs, without having to answer multiple questions and passwords to confirm your identity.

Imagine what that may be like trying to speak about your loved one’s affairs with the institutions refusing to deal with you unless you can prove why you have the authority to deal with the estate.

An Executor under a will has the authority to act from the date of death and can prove this by providing the death certificate and will.  If there is no will, the person who wishes to deal with the administration of the Estate must make an application to the Court/Probate Registry to be appointed.

This can take many weeks, even months, and again may lead to disputes, especially if more than one family member has an equal right to apply.  Surely it is easier to appoint an Executor in a will?

Without a will, who would inherit my estate?

If you don’t have a will, the distribution of your Estate is governed by a set of rules referred to as the Intestacy Rules.  Under these rules, only your spouse or civil partner and other close family members may inherit your Estate depending upon its value.  The list is a hierarchy with preference given to family members who are more closely related.  It does not matter whether you are separated or getting divorced from your spouse or civil partner, they are still entitled to a share of your Estate.

Not all parents wish to make an equal provision for their children on death.  You may already have made lifetime gifts to one child and wish to equalise matters between your children on death.  One child may have additional needs, or your children may be under the age of 18 years old.  Who would look after them and be appointed as guardian?  Do you want them to inherit at 18? What if you do not see your children and do not wish to leave them anything?

The Intestacy Rules should not be a substitute for putting careful thought into making a will that is right for your unique circumstances. We are lucky in England to have testamentary freedom, which is not available in many European countries.  Testamentary freedom being the ability to leave our assets to whomever we like.

So, the question I ask you now is, do you want peace of mind that you have set out your wishes following your death?  Do you need to make a will?

If you need to make a will please contact me, Wendy Scarr at the contact details below.

The post Do I need to make a will? appeared first on Stowe Family Law.