Must I pay beneficiary share to third party?

[Jzero]

Hello. I am the executor of my Mum's estate. Everything had gone surprisingly smoothly, I had proved the will, realised all the assets, produced my accounts and was ready to distribute the funds ..... but now I have an issue! One of the beneficiaries has given me instruction to pay his share to a third party. I am not sure why he wants to hide the funds and am unhappy so doing but do I have any choice? Must I send the funds where he instructed? Thanks for your help.

[MIKE770]

Peridot

sounds very ominous

[Jzero]

Ominous indeed! I am not at all happy about it but I do not know if I can refuse. I will refuse if I can!!

[MIKE770]

my thinking you follow the word of the will, asked Peridot to pop in soon

[Peridot]

Hi Jzero,
As a solicitor we would not pay to a third
party other than guardians and parents of course. You can refuse to follow their request and in my opinion would be wise to do so. If they need to pay debts etc then they can forward the sums to those requiring payment, themselves. If this is to avoid benefit being reduced or some such then you don’t want to be involved in potential fraud. I’m not of course suggesting there is anything untoward but it would be sensible to protect your position and pay to the beneficiary only.

[lukewarm]

No,just execute the estate exactly as per the will.

You are the executor and only you have the power to carry out the deceased's final wishes.

My 2 siblings tried this - after them trying every trick in the book to get more money out of the estate with zero success,their solicitor told me to pay their total share by way of bank transfer to his practice bank account - no way!

In the event,I totally ignored their request (especially in view of their despicable behaviour up to this) and paid their bequests by cheque to the names
exactly as spelt in the will.

Interestingly,one of the beneficiaries lives overseas and so exchange differences would have been an issue - but not my problem and I just raised a £sterling cheque on the executor's account and sent it though their solicitor.If they lose money through exchange differences tough.

They even provided deeds of variation "instructing me to pay their solicitor" - again totally ignored by me.

Remember the solicitor is only interested in one thing - getting as much money as possible out of the client,their legal power is only through the courts.

Only the judge in the court has the power but solicitors like to try and frighten lay people into thinking they can threaten all sorts.

It may be that this beneficiary is wanting to avoid tax,so don't even open that can of worms.

Also,if you pay to a third party you may be leaving yourself open to a subsequent claim on the estate from this beneficiary as he may say you haven't paid him per the will.

[Jzero]

Thank you for the advice - I will refuse to pay anyone other than the beneficiaries as named in the will. Probably will mean one less Christmas card in future but hey-ho! Seriously, thank you for your advice.