Being an executor is a difficult job, and when writing a will you need to think carefully about whether your chosen executors will have the time and skills necessary to administer your estate.

It is not a requirement that you must have a professional (e.g. a solicitor) administer your estate but it can be a benefit in certain circumstances. If your estate is relatively straightforward, and your executors have the capabilities to do it, there may be no need to appoint a professional. However if your estate is complex e.g. contains agricultural or business assets, significant numbers of investments, multiple properties, or assets abroad, it may significantly benefit in the administration to have a professional executor. There are several benefits to professional administration including:-

• Efficiency - professionals are well aware of their obligations and of course it is their job to deal with estates. They will know the appropriate forms and the timescales in which to file them (and if they don't do this you may have claims in negligence for which they are insured), and are not trying to fit in the admin around their own job or life;

• Saving costs (yes, really!) - with complex estates if you have lay executors (i.e. non-professionals), the chances are they will not be able to administer the estate without help. Executors are entitled to seek professional advice and will quite often delegate the task to a solicitor. In those circumstances the solicitor will need to take instructions on every point, get the executors to sign documents etc before collecting in and distributing all of the assets. Alternatively if the professional themselves was the executor a significant amount of administration time would be cut out taking instructions and sending documents for signature, which the professional themselves could simply do. In the long run this can save a significant amount of time and costs in administering the estate; and

• Prevents disputes - disputes between executors are surprisingly common. You cannot underestimate the impact of grief and emotion on people's abilities to think clearly. A professional executor will always be an independent third party. They will understand their duties and obligations, and administer your estate in accordance with your will (or the intestacy rules) and the law. For them, there is no emotion involved which can prevent a significant number of disputes down the line. Disputes are also common where some of the beneficiaries, but not others, are executors and the excluded beneficiaries take issue with this. Again, having a professional executor cuts out the risk of such issues occurring.

If you have been appointed as an executor, you may be wondering what on earth you need to do. This is particularly the case where you have difficult estates. The upcoming series of blogs will answer questions such as what does an executor do, when should you seek professional advice, what to do if you don’t want to be an executor, what to do if you don’t understand the will, dealing with disputes between executors, and dealing with difficult beneficiaries. 

For the purpose of this series, a difficult estate may be an estate with either complex or significant assets, one involving a dispute, or where the documents you are dealing with (perhaps the will or maybe trust deeds) are unclear.

If you have any issues dealing with an estate or wish to be removed as an executor please do not hesitate to contact Toby Walker by email or on 01494 893512. 

If you wish to instruct a professional to assist you with administering an estate, please contact our Wealth Management and Taxation Team on 01494 521301.