Probate granted/house sold how long?

[lomaximus1]

Hi all! Advice required please! My mother passed away last April. Probate was granted back in September and the final asset to be sold in her estate is the house which is due to exchange and complete 2 weeks Friday. I am joint executor with a local solicitor my Mother chose. . Myself and my brother are the sole beneficiaries of her will. In total there are £11000 of debts with the house sold the estate is worth £500000. There is no mortgage, no loans, just £3000 in credit cards, £3000 over pay for pension, £5000 house sale fees and of course the solicitors bill. Now I’ve been played a fool by the solicitor who is joint executor before so I want to know where I stand as a executor and a benefactor at this stage. They say once the house is sold they will be looking to do an immediate interim payment to both my brother and I. Question is how much can they technically hold back? In total solicitors fees are £10k and debts £11k. So in my mind £30k held back from the estate should be sufficient to cover these. However they are suggesting more than £100k with no reasoning. My brother has made a cash offer on a house and I’m concerned that I’m loosing a lot of interest on the cash as with Binance fixed savings AXS I get more than 25% APY on my savings account. As executor can I demand that only 30k be left back? Thanks in advance

[des8]

It is not necessary that the executors make even an interim payment, they can retain it all until making a single final payment

[lomaximus1]

Ok so as an executor of the will myself I can make an interim payment then to myself and my brother?

[lomaximus1]

I’m not 100% on what you mean. I am a named executor and so is the solicitor. So surely I have a say.

[Sam101]

As a joint executor, it sounds like to already agreed that the solicitor carry out the work. If so, then you may have renounced your position as executor either fully, or as Reserved. If Reserved, then you can apply to step back in and you make joint agreements with the solicitor, subject to the rules..

However, where a solicitor is appointed, they have a duty to act correctly and all debts need to be accounted for. Also, I expect that the solicitor put an advertisement in the Gazette newspaper to notify the death and ask if there are any debts.

There needs to be a time allowed for the replies before distribution as in the event of payments to beneficiaries before all debts are dealt with, then the solicitor and you could be liable.

You need to check with the solicitor to remind yourself what instructions you gave to him/her to deal with matters. You can also clarify what he proposes.

[lomaximus1]

Hi Sam, to be honest I feel like I have done everything as I have had to chase each stage! I got them to put notice in the gazette on the 22nd September last year as soon as probate was granted. So we are nearing 5 months now it has been in there. I’m £26k into settling the estate out of my own funds as the house was a wreck and unmortgageable. I handled closing the bank accounts, I did the tell them once, contacted all the utilities and sold the remainder of her belongings that neither my brother or I wanted. They applied for probate after chasing. Is that long enough time elapsed for the gazette and involvement from me? I’m not 100% on what happens at this stage and I don’t 100% trust what the solicitor says as they have been caught out lying a few times!

[lomaximus1]

I had to counter sign the probate application

[lomaximus1]

Sorry keep adding. I handled everything to do with selling the house.

[lomaximus1]

Sorry just reread the gazette entry. Claim time period for notifying a claim expired in December.

[Sam101]

I do hope that if you have spent £26,000 on improving the house before sale, that this is all noted and agreed to be split with your brother prior to distribution.

OK, it seems that you may still be the joint executor, but the period elapsed that you feel is a long one is not really unusual. Some estates take a year or more.

As far as the solicitor is concerned, they have been employed by your Mother, as you were, to help the family and they are probably going through the process in their usual manner, which sometimes can be considered to be at a snails pace. You should have a chat with them and express you concern, asking what the next step is.

If you get any problems, the comment to make, lightly, could be that you are reluctant to raise a letter of complaint about the service. However, you need to show that there has been more delay than usual and that there are not good reasons for the delay, so don't raise that too quickly.

The sale of property is often not a smooth one and many questions can be raised to clear up, during which the lay person believes the solicitors are doing very little, so go gently, no Bull in the China Shop, as that may work against you!

I hope you find that things will soon start moving, as it is the property sale that needs to go through before distribution, but keep us informed.

Sam
.

[lomaximus1]

Hi Sam thanks for the response! Yes the £26k is already accounted for in the final settlement. It was necessity as the house had no water rights when I came to sell it so I had to lay on a new water main to the house in order to get it mortgageable. I’m just concerned that I’m getting fed a line. Among lapses in professionalism and competence there was an incident back in October with the solicitor where they used the client account funds account to pay their wages and bills. This delayed work being done on the house. Even though it’s all been paid back it’s an incident that I have had to bite my bottom lip about as I didn’t want to be embroiled into reporting them as it was only going to delay matters. There was an air of arrogance with them as well over the matter which left a nasty taste. I will be dealing with them but after the estate has closed so imI would prefer to not get side tracked on that now. I’m concerned that considering the latter experience why they would need to hold back any money considering the deadline for making representation of any claim to the estate elapsed 2 months ago and the final handful of bills left to pay are all accounted for? Therefore I have just 2 questions. Considering the above is there any reason why they should hold any money after paying off everything that is owed? Also do they have to write a statement to say that the estate has been closed? Thanks

[Sam101]

A full statement of accounts is usually prepared for the beneficiaries when completing matters and you can for it to be fully itemised for you and your brother.

Do you know if a set Fee was agreed for their services when they were consulted to act as executors, if not then you may be surprised and have to bite your tongue. However, do bear in mind that this may be the first time you have dealt with Probate and they are doing Probate all the time so you are paying for their expertise.

[lomaximus1]

Set fee was £1800 from memory, I would have to double check! Thanks for the advice and knowledge! I’ll post back when it’s all over!