Change Executor

[nimrod2020]

Scenario = a person has passed away and left a valid willing, naming an organisation, in this case a well known high street bank, as their executor.

Question = can the beneficiaries named in the will ignore the wills instruction that the bank should act as the executor of the estate, and appoint somebody else, or even themselves as the new executors ?

[PallasAthena]

No you can't ignore the Will and appoint someone else. The deceased decided who they wanted to deal with their affairs and the law upholds that choice. Beneficiaries have no rights to manage the estate themselves or help themselves to the assets.

If the named executor has not yet started dealing with the estate and the beneficiaries ask the executor to stand down they might be willing to do so voluntarily if approached by all the beneficiaries jointly. They would probably only consider it though if the estate has turned out to be very small and there would be no money in it for them. Otherwise you would have to bring court proceedings to have them removed but you would need a good reason to do that and nothing you've said here indicates that you have reason that would succeed in court.

If the named (bank) executor stepped down voluntarily (called "renouncing the executorship") one or more of the residual beneficiaries could then apply for probate and be appointed executor(s).

[nimrod2020]

No you can't ignore the Will and appoint someone else. The deceased decided who they wanted to deal with their affairs and the law upholds that choice. Beneficiaries have no rights to manage the estate themselves or help themselves to the assets.

If the named executor has not yet started dealing with the estate and the beneficiaries ask the executor to stand down they might be willing to do so voluntarily if approached by all the beneficiaries jointly. They would probably only consider it though if the estate has turned out to be very small and there would be no money in it for them. Otherwise you would have to bring court proceedings to have them removed but you would need a good reason to do that and nothing you've said here indicates that you have reason that would succeed in court.

If the named (bank) executor stepped down voluntarily (called "renouncing the executorship") one or more of the residual beneficiaries could then apply for probate and be appointed executor(s).

Thank you PallasAthena:

That makes perfect sense.

Our background story to this is rather laborious so I won;t get into it for now, but I believe that one of the advantages of having named an external independent body (the bank) is that they would get on with it in a timely manner (in order to get paid sooner) and also would be more inclined to execute the last wishes of the deceased in an open and transparent manner.