Sole executor expenses

[Jesmar]

I intend to make a friend my next of kin and sole executor of my will. Though I anticipate she will engage a solicitor I want to make sure that she will be paid for any expenses she incurs. Do I need to explicitly state that she is entitled to any expenses in the will or is that a given if she is sole executor?

[atticus]

Be clear about this. Your solicitor can advise you when preparing your Will for you: he/she will be able to provide suitable wording.

[Jesmar]

Be clear about this. Your solicitor can advise you when preparing your Will for you: he/she will be able to provide suitable wording.

I already used a solicitor who is retiring soon to prepare the will but I am making a small change including removing another solicitor he suggested as joint executor and making my friend sole executor.

So from your answer I will infer that I do I need to explicitly state that she is entitled to any expenses in the will, and it is not a given that she is entitled to expenses if she is sole executor.

I think this is pretty clear "I wish my executor to be paid any and all expenses in pursuance of their activities in executing my will".

[atticus]

As you wish. Not being a specialist in that area, I will not comment on your wording.

[Jesmar]

As you wish. Not being a specialist in that area, I will not comment on your wording.

This is rather disingenuous - you don't need to be a specialist or a solicitor to make a clear statement and an unambiguous statement is all that is needed !

[atticus]

I know enough to know (a) that wording that one person thinks clear is not always so, particularly in specialist areas, and (b) that diy will wording can be the cause of much litigation.

If you think that is disingenuous. then so be it. I wish you good day.

[Bill e]

This is rather disingenuous - you don't need to be a specialist or a solicitor to make a clear statement and an unambiguous statement is all that is needed !

Goodness me, calling a person who gives their opinion disingenuous, that is way out of order, you should look up the meaning of the word.

[PallasAthena]

I am not a lawyer but just to share my own experiences as Executor my understanding is that Executors are automatically entitled to reimbursement of reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred in carrying out their executorship responsibilities and this does not need any specific clause in a Will. There was no clause about expenses in the (professionally drafted) Wills I dealt with as a non-professional (member of the family) executor.

An online search for 'executor expenses england' brings up dozens of solicitors' websites all of which confirm this. None of them cite a specific statuory provision for it so I assume that the entitlement to be reimbursed by the estate for reasonable expenses incurred is inherent in the role of executor. Note that they use the expression "reasonable expenses" which is rather different to your "any and all expenses" draft.

What a non-professional executor cannot receive is payment for their time.

There is a discussion about that issue here:

Can executors charge fees for administering an estate? | The Gazette

[Jesmar]

Goodness me, calling a person who gives their opinion disingenuous, that is way out of order, you should look up the meaning of the word.

Leaving aside the fact that I am well aware of the meaning of disingenuous, let me just quote the first interpretation on a google search "not candid or sincere, typically by pretending that one knows less about something than one really does." I think that just about sums up a deliberately unhelpful answer from a retired solicitor - "Not being a specialist in that area, I will not comment on your wording."

As Pallasathena has usefully mentioned, reasonable expenses are allowed by default.

[Jesmar]

I am not a lawyer but just to share my own experiences as Executor my understanding is that Executors are automatically entitled to reimbursement of reasonable out of pocket expenses incurred in carrying out their executorship responsibilities and this does not need any specific clause in a Will. There was no clause about expenses in the (professionally drafted) Wills I dealt with as a non-professional (member of the family) executor.

Can executors charge fees for administering an estate? | The Gazette

Thanks for a helpful answer. I should have remembered this from being an executor 6 years ago (an experience I have tried hard to forget).

[atticus]

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