Estate administrators : Solicitor fees

[jetbrains]

Is the Estate administrator, who's also the main beneficiary,allowed to put solicitor fees incured when defending against a claim under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependents) Act 1975 from other residuary beneficiaries against the estate. The claim did not go to court, nor mediation. The administrator said she investigated the claim and found that it had no merit.

Additonallty, would it be considered a conflict of interest if the administrator investigated the claims herself, the administrator should remain neutral and only pass information between the parties involved.
https://www.ashfords.co.uk/news-and-...dants-act-1975 as mentioned under The Executor's role in Inheritance Act proceedings.

Lastly, it seems that the administrator has transfered multiple properties into her name and is using estate income to pay mortgage and admin costs on these properties. Should that be concerning?

[des8]

So residuary beneficiaries didn't actually initiate a claim but threatened to do so.

The main beneficiary(also the administrator) investigated the claim and disputed it.

The potential claimants decided not to pursue the claim.

The main beneficiary/ administrator needs to apportion her costs between her two roles so that she pays her dispute costs but the estate pays her admin costs.

Regarding your last query, I think the answer will lie in the final accounting.
Presumably a certain portion of the estate income will pass to her as main beneficiary, so as long as that is apportioned correctly in the final accounting there should be no concerns
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[jetbrains]

Thanks des8! That clears a lot of things up!