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I'm sole executor of my mum's estate, though I have local solicitor as buddy to assist me with the hard stuff. It's all gone OK, couple of numerical glitches but all sorted and estate has Confirmation, so I'm in final throes of distributing to local friends some moneys she'd set aside. Which is nice but hard at same time. 95% supportive of the donations she's made and will get them out this month.
But... the cash is there to settle these small legacies. I'm not going to hold on to the cash, don't worry. ... It struck me (unless I'm wrong) that there seems to be little or no oversight on me, as executor, that the cash has gone to where it's supposed to. Have I got that wrong? Could I pocket the cash and no-one be (more than likely) none the wiser?
Anyone who believes they’d be due money could challenge. So you’d only ‘get away’ with anything if the intended recipients were totally unaware they would have been left anything.
to try and diddle it you’d need to assume / feel certain that the deceased not only didn’t tell the recipient but told no-one at all.
I'm at a similar stage to you with a relative's estate. I don't think there is any real oversight though I imagine if any beneficiary knew what was coming their way and didn't get it, they could ask questions and, ultimately, take it to the police. Even though the estate I am dealing with is all going to family, I'm making sure that I can prove I have done what the will says.
I'm not sure anyone has or had any inclination - not from the couple I've done so far. It's all really on trust - I'm the one appointed / entrusted to carry out her wishes. So I'd be bang to rights if there was any dispute.
I guess someone could be alerted that there was a legacy due to them, from the lodging of the estate (which would have the will), but it hasn't come from my mum I'm sure. Are there agencies that scour estates lodged to follow up on legacies? either charitable or personal?
Aren’t wills witnessed when they are made too. So there’ll be at least one other person aware of the content
Just about finished dealing with my dad's and as a result of the lack of apparent oversight thought I'd actually check up on my mums will - she died twenty years ago. Would on the face of it seem very easy to fiddle, but then I guess that's why one chooses executors one trusts.
True, the will was witnessed by her solicitor (now retired) and solicitor's clerk.
It was then lodged with the solicitors (local).
So they would know the contents and beneficiaries -- but it's not, I guess, their duty (though some responsibility must be there) to ensure the beneficiaries have been credited. I'll ask the estate administrator how it's checked next time I see here - that'll be interesting!
In England at least (I imagine it's similar in Scotland) the will becomes a public document when it goes to probate, so is open for anyone to view and check if they're due anything on paper, at which point they start asking questions of the executor and/or his solicitors
. I’ll ask the estate administrator how it’s checked next time I see here – that’ll be interesting!
When I settled my fathers estate I was the sole executor. There were no checks on how I distributed his estate, it was purely up to me to see it was done in accordance of his wishes. As it was everyone who was to receive something was aware they were in the will so no suprises, and the will does become a part of the public record. But you stand in the probate office and swear on oath, that hopefully should be enough.
The witness only witnesses the signature. They do not witness the contents, and are under no obligation to read them.
Do you not choose executors precisely because you trust them? Ergo, you are the checker, more than the checkee.
A big chapeau to all executors out there. Just got probate on my Dad's estate. A long, tough and emotional job digging into his affairs and dealing with so much paperwork.
Went through this with my mums estate last year. My brother and I were executors and sole beneficiary's. Her affairs were quite simple so did it all ourselves without involving any solicitors and the whole process in terms of the bureaucracy and form filling was really easy and simple...would have been alot more complicated if she had money and investments as you have to work out and demonstrate you've calculated and declared the correct inheritance tax, but since her estate fell below the inheritance tax threshold that was easy.
I'm struggling to think that if anyone was named in the will as beneficiaries other than my brother and I who was policing the process. Yes, there are witnesses but we never dealt with them and they never sought us out...probably were not even aware that my mum had died and one of the witnesses had died before her anyway. We applied for probate, got it (seemed more like a check over of inheritance tax more than anything), once we were granted probate we cracked on and executed the will. Didn't shave to declare anything to a 3rd party or confirm to anyone that we'd executed the will in accordance to my mum's wishes.
Was an odd old process...basically you're closing someones life down. All the databases and files in all the various institutions that her name and details were on were shut down and closed out one by one.