Wills again! My parents…

My parents are setting up a new will and they sent some drafts to my parents and I looked them over at the weekend, but there are a couple of things I’m not sure about. My dad has given me authority to talk to them directly and I want to draft an email with some Q’s later.

• The solicitor is advising splitting the ownership of the house to tenants in common to protect against any potential care fees eating up the other spouse’s share. What they’ve done though is made it so on death of a partner the other half goes into trust managed by them (with protection for remaining spouse and ability to sell etc. should the need arise). They have equity release on the property so I’m guessing that’s why it’s been done this way.

My wife’s parents had it so on death half the property was left to the beneficiaries (my wife and her sister), but theirs was very straightforward.

Could me or my sister be added to this trust?

• Currently the solicitors are down as sole executors. Reason for this is there are some debts that were left over from a family business closure some years ago. Payments were frozen in court due to their circumstances but they’ll have to be paid on death. (Talking £30k ish).

I thought this could be very messy with probate etc., so said I rather not be executor. But should I just grow a set and have them add me so at least I have some say? I’ve just got this vision of us being locked out of the family home with no say on proceedings should the time come!

My brother is also semi-estranged so won’t be getting an equal share, and there’s bound to be some fall-out from that.

• As with any will – I’m guessing anything done in this will can be undone!

Could me or my sister be added to this trust?

Yes, Defo. We were on my parents’

As with any will – I’m guessing anything done in this will can be undone

Yes, can do a deed of variation IIRC. We did one… funnily enough to rewind exactly the scenario you are outlining. The solicitor billed us close to thirty grand for it. The ****.

Sorry to clarify, certain things can be undone if the beneficiaries agree. So me and my sister and mum agree to bin the trust and give it all to my mum. Clearly my dog’s gran wouldn’t have been allowed to change it so all the cash went to DrOetker

My mum died last year, I’m sole beneficiary.  Executors of the will are named as me and her solicitor.  Knowing my mum, she’ll have set it up this way in an attempt to alleviate any burden on me but it’s turned into the opposite.  They want several hundred quid to sign a form saying “we’re not going to do anything” or a four-figure sum to handle probate to the absolute bare minimum of effort.  I’d suggest picking one route and sticking with it, either have control granted to you or let them crack on rather than be ‘added’ to anything.

A solicitor should be acting in the benefactor’s best interests.  If you have a fear of being “locked out of the family home” (and assuming your parents wouldn’t want that) then it’s something which needs protecting, which is literally the point of having a will drawn up professionally in the first place.

A solicitor should be acting in the benefactor’s best

Nope… A solicitor acting as executor will act in the estates best interest, which kinda means the beneficiaries… But in the event of a dispute an executor has to be impartial.

You can have more than one executor so a solicitor could be one, and the other, you for example.

With my nan for example, I. And my step-uncle were both executors.

He only had a small interest in the estate, so was happy to take the back seat, so to speak and let me deal with it.

I in turn, hired a solicitor to administrate for me… He just had to confirm he was OK with that in writing to the solicitor.

So the grant of probate document read

‘executor, mattyfez, power reserved to another executor’

A solicitor as named executor will want thier fees though.. So they probably wouldn’t give it up without a fee to relenquish it to you… But if you plan to use a solicitor for the administration anyway… It’s kind of a moot point.

Thanks all.

I’m kind of inclined to cut solicitor out and make me and my sister executors to the will. Then if things do get complex call in a solicitor if needed to help with probate.

We’re not trying to avoid any inheritance tax – the estate isn’t big enough for that.

 Then if things do get complex call in a solicitor if needed to help with probate.

Experience of 3 deaths (1 parent & 2 in-laws) was that where there was property we needed the assistance.

I’m kind of inclined to cut solicitor out and make me and my sister executors to the will. Then if things do get complex call in a solicitor if needed to help with probate.

Yes, you can do this & makes a lot of sense – the circumstances with property in trust & previous debt certainly sound it. I’m the sole executor to a fairly straightforward will but complicated circumstances & am using solicitors when necessary but don’t need them to get involved with the day to day stuff as they are not the executors.

However having too many executors (as in my fil will) can throw up it’s own problems – like getting 4 proofs of ID (widow & 3 children) together to switch an ISA over to his widow. If you are worried about an executor passing away before the will maker you can also add a stand in to the will to cover such events.

What they’ve done though is made it so on death of a partner the other half goes into trust managed by them

IANAS… Changes in the rules changed the way that trusts are set up more recently. The beneficiaries of the tenants can be different, e.g. two sets of children from different relationships, % share can be different too.

AIUI the will can be remade on the death of the first partner, which doesn’t effect their wishes, but this isn’t necessary because the will doesn’t finish on the first death

(with protection for remaining spouse and ability to sell etc. should the need arise).

This allows the surviving partner to decorate, repair, etc as they see fit with their money. I think that you need to find out more about what happens in the event of downsizing, i.e. selling, and alterations that adversely effect the value of the property

The residence IHT nil rate band can also be effected by downsizing on first death, I wouldn’t worry about specifics because a decent legal-type will explain the pitfalls

They can appoint whoever they want as executors, we kept the solicitor in ours because of the trust aspect

Make sure that the will continues beyond the next generation, should you be unfortunate before your parents 🙂