It is a Bank Holiday in England today. I don't always respect them. The habits of 40 years of self-employment encourage such indifference. But today I might do little here because of other demands on my time.
Tomorrow I will be at the funeral of my late (and only) uncle, and will then be meeting the lawyer acting on the estate of another relative where I have been asked to act as executor because all those nominated in the will are either dead or too old to act. That requires me to spend time on what I might call ‘sadmin' today.
Our demise is an inevitable part of life. It does, however, seem to leave a great deal to do. I might put my head above the parapet occasionally, and there is a video out this morning, but in the main my mind will be elsewhere today, and tomorrow. I do, however, have three requests.
First, if you have not got one, please write a will.
Second, make sure the executors agree to act and that at least one has a good actuarial chance of surviving you.
Third, ensure they have the right to employ a lawyer with funds provided by the estate.
You will save a lot of hassle for someone if you do.
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My late parents did wills and probate for a living.
It gave me a rather wierd sense of humour.
BUt may I add to your excellent advice – and offer my condolences to you
1. A proper solicitor will do a will quite cheaply – but DONT appoint a Solicitor as Executor, just give your executors powers to use one.
2. There is also a ‘Charity’ will writing,
3. You need to cover every basis, dont just assume that you will outlive your parents, or your children will outlive you – I heard plenty of stories about what happened when these sorts of things were not considered – well, it kept the family………
4. Set up Trust arrangements for anyone who is a minor at the time of writing so they just dont get it all at 18
All correct
Good advice.
Difficult to face up to our own mortality.
Doing the sadmin will no doubt bring memories good and less good.
May I suggest a Power Of Attorney be added to that list.
Agreed
Condolences over your Uncle’s death.
Good luck with your Sadmin – what a great descriptive word for it.
We had immense problems with my parents’ wills. The wills were fine, except they nominated their solicitor as well as my OK as Executors. Said solicitor refused to allow OH to see the wills!
Eventually we had to get another solicitor involved, my parents’ accountant very kindly suggested that we needed to, and also suggested someone who did a grand job for us, though it dragged on over 10 years in the end. At least Solicitor 2 managed to get most of the money for us pretty quickly, the last bits were not her fault at all.
Oh, Sol 1’s partner got struck off some months after this – can’t remember the details now, but I’ve always thought it should have been Sol 1 who was struck off. Think it was over them not attending to the will of an old lady who lived alone, and that wasn’t the only case like that.
We’ve both had wills drawn up by Sol 2. Though now we’ve got Grandkids we should probably re-visit them.
They do need revisiting every five years, at least, I think
Sorry, in 3rd para that should read OH as executor, not OK! Should have checked for typos!
I should do the same, often!
The law in Scotland is different, so you need a solicitor in Scotland or one who is conversant with Scottish Law.
While it’s possible to handle someone’s will as a lay person if it’s relatively straightforward it can pay to have a solicitor to do most of the work which is what I did with my mother’s will, though it pays to do some research as I found the solicitor dealing with her affairs made several mistakes.
One other point. Because government has abdicated responsibility for spending money to create a decent caring society which looks after all its people and nature, perhaps consider leaving something to charity if possible.
I assue you, I will be engaging help
But there is still a lot to do
I think you miss the point. If a solicitor is appointed as the executor they do not have a client who can object to the time and cost incurred in executing the will. The solicitor is their own client.
Appoint a ‘person’ who can then instruct a solicitor.
By ‘person’ I mean someone who is not a solicitor.
I agree
If the will is even a little complex its worth writing a letter to the executor saying where the assets are, how to get them and, sometimes, what you really meant. Also useful, if you can, is to give the executor access to cash for expenses before they get the letters if administration.