Uncooperative beneficiary - discharge form holding up closing estate - Scotland

[J_1977]

Hi, my name is James. I am the executor for the estate of my late stepmother and we am having issues with a beneficiary returning a ‘Discharge Form’. My stepmother passed away on May 2023 and the process with the estate seems to have taken a very long time to resolve. Currently everything is completed and was completed late April 2025. That is all assets collected, formal accounts approved by independent accountants in Edinburgh, copies of accounts issued to all beneficiaries and so on. The final step was the Discharge Form. Of the 19 beneficiaries, 18 have returned the form and 1 still has not. The forms were sent May 2025 and there still has been no response from the last beneficiary which is a charity and set to receive 1% (~5k) of the estate. They have been contacted on various occasions by the solicitors acting for the estate but are consistently either not responding or when engaged with, they issue “it will be with you early next week” etc. type statements - repeatedly. This has been going on for 3 months now and there is no movement from the last beneficiary at all.
I was asking if there are alternative strategies to deal with this as I am getting nowhere with the process.
There is also significant pressure being brought to bear by the main beneficiaries of the estate who are becoming anxious at the stalemate that is now occurring. There is a growing concern that a charitable organisation (with no complaint or challenge re the estate/accounts) with a 1% share is able to hold up the process indefinitely and stop the main beneficiaries from receiving their payment. (the same charity where also associated with previous process delays).
I am not sure if this is unreasonable to expect a response from the charity within a certain time frame?

[PallasAthena]

As this is in Scotland tagging sederunt

I know that Scottish law on wills and probate is different to England but in England I would just have paid the beneficiaries without asking for a discharge form (no such form is a legal requirement in England). Unless there were specific complications or potential challenges you haven't mentioned. I'd have sent them a copy of the Estate Accounts and given them 30 days to raise and questions and then distributed.

However as you've got forms from 18/19, again if this were in England, as Executor I'd pay out the 18 and just tell the charity that I was retaining their money untl they returned the form and I wouldn't be sending further reminders (send Signed For mail). Then either pay the 18 in full or pay 90%/95% on account in case further expenses are incurred (depends on the actual £££ involved what would be a sensible retention). (It looks like the total estate is about £500,000)

But as I say, that's England, wait for Scottish advice.

[J_1977]

Thanks for the quick response. Yes the estate is ~£500k and the charity is down for 1%. There are no issues/challenges/complications, just slow responses all the time from this beneficiary. I am being told by the solicitor that they will chase it up....but I feel that the time frames are now unreasonable and that is why I put out the post - looking for advice and checking I am not being unreasonable.

[sederunt]

Solicitors in Scotland are a bit hung up about discharges and complying with the associated rules of the Law Society of Scotland.


However, if you are the executor and the solicitor is your law agent, then one option is to instruct the solicitor in writing to pay all the beneficiaries (including the errant charity) their relevant legacy and also to instruct the solicitor to enter into no further communication with the charity. You are the executor - you are in charge!

[J_1977]

Thanks for the response. I will look to take on the advice given.

[J_1977]

Thanks for the response. I will look to take on the advice given.