Missing money before death. Executor maximum charges.

[Macedonia]

Do professional executors have a legal duty to look into what went on with the deceased money and property before they died? What information does the family have to give to the professional executor when they have suspicions of money going missing by a family carer? Are there maximum charges that apply for professional executor fees if the will says nothing?

[Pezza54]

Hi
No not the executor's duty to investigate suspicions of the deceased's money being stolen by the carer.
The deceased may have provided the carer with bank card, pin number, asked them to buy something and then generously said "keep the change" As the carer was a family member the deceased may have said this many times. You can't disprove this now

Reasonable fees for a professional executor are between 1.5% and 2.5% of the estate. The fees should be queried and a breakdown requested if they appear unreasonable

[Macedonia]

This is very nice of you to reply Pezza54.

Missing money, the family carer had the power of attorney. We know they were collecting in rental cash 2 years before death and again after the death. We are trying to find a legal way to get the Professional Executors to investigate the carer and get their transaction records. We don’t know how to make this happen in England where the deceased lived and died.

Those charges, the Professional Executors are charging a percentage in the range you said. So that was helpful to know. We think the only issue now is that the Professional Executors have run up bills and are near the maximum they can charge by that percentage of the estate value - final total around £42k. My question should have been a bit clearer by asking, if the estate is not complete and the Professional Executors reach their maximum earnings by percentage, do they then work for nothing until the end of the estate matters? Or is there a way the Professional Executors can legally stretch the percentage and earn more than stated for finishing off the estate?

Can the Professional Executors get around them not earning any more by getting other professionals e.g. to help them and then this means the other professionals charges come under fees and disbursements?

I should add the Professional Executors have nearly reach the maximum percentage charge and have not even got Probate yet on an international estate! The fee structure one one paper says percentage of value of estate and nothing else. Then another paper says percentage plus fees plus disbursements. Nothing about VAT on either.

Your help is appreciated.

[PallasAthena]

What does the agreement appointing the executors actually say about their fees?

[Pezza54]

The attorney under LPA financial and property affairs has a duty to keep accurate records and accounts for the donor making sure they keep their personal accounts and possessions separate
You should write to the Office of Public Guardian and Court of Protection, pointing out your concerns about the handling of the donor's finances and ask them to investigate
My indication of 1.5 to 2.5% was an approximate range of fees and the 2.5% is not the maximum. You should ask for a breakdown of the fees, query it if it looks excessive, if you are unhappy with their explanation then make a complaint. If your complaint is not resolved you can refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman

[PallasAthena]

You should write to the Office of Public Guardian and Court of Protection, pointing out your concerns about the handling of the donor's finances and ask them to investigate

There was a thread here a few months ago with a similar situation where the family had tried to get the OPG to investigate what had happened before the donor's death but OPG took the firm position that they will not investigate anything after the donor has died. Only the police could get involved, if they were willing to investigate.

[Macedonia]

Thank you all.

When the Will was agreed to be done the company for some reason says they are Professional Executors.
But the dead person's signed agreements does not agreed to that specific point.
Then later one of the company's agreements says "Professional Executors. Fees 1.95% of the estate value + fees and disbursements."

The other agreement just says "Professional Executorship (1.95%) Yes"

The dead persons Will says Executors can be paid. So we have to accept they can be paid.

The carer is saying nothing

We are wondering if thr Executors will just get a solicitor to do the estate administration to get around the charges issue. Solicitor gets paid. Executors sit back because they are nearly at the maximum 1.95%