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[Help] Notification to Beneficiaries of a UK Will ?



The Maharajah of Sydney

The Maharajah of Sydney

Well-known member
Jul 7, 2003
1,366
Sydney .
I'm the Executor of my Mum's Will.
Breezed through the probate procedure - got it within 2 months.
But am stuck trying to ascertain on what the requirements are to notify beneficiaries.
One of the beneficiaries is particularly transient so notification via mail isn't really possible.
Is email acceptable or is a letter demanded. I presume a text or a WhatsApp message is an abolute no-no ?
Have Googled and couldnt find anything and this morning my sister in Newhaven spoke to the CAB but they declined to offer any advice.
Grateful for any helpful replies.
 




dazzer6666

dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
52,628
Burgess Hill
The Maharajah of Sydney said:
I'm the Executor of my Mum's Will.
Breezed through the probate procedure - got it within 2 months.
But am stuck trying to ascertain on what the requirements are to notify beneficiaries.
One of the beneficiaries is particularly transient so notification via mail isn't really possible.
Is email acceptable or is a letter demanded. I presume a text or a WhatsApp message is an abolute no-no ?
Have Googled and couldnt find anything and this morning my sister in Newhaven spoke to the CAB but they declined to offer any advice.
Grateful for any helpful replies.
Click to expand...
From a brief discussion I had last year (with a solicitor) there is no requirement in terms of means or method of communication - as the Executor you have an obligation to inform the beneficiary ‘when appropriate’ (usually as soon as practicable). Better to make the contact using text/whatsapp (at least initially) than delay doing it I would think. A whatsapp message doesn’t have to have all the detail if you’re uncomfortable with that - could be anything from asking them to call you, or indicating what it’s about through to something more obvious.
 


Westdene Seagull

Westdene Seagull

aka Cap'n Carl Firecrotch
NSC Patron
Oct 27, 2003
21,072
The arse end of Hangleton
Having recently been through this I can tell you - it's up to you. No legal requirement about the communication method. Use whatever is easiest for you/them. Just keep any funds they are due aside until they respond.
 


B

Brian Fantana

Well-known member
Oct 8, 2006
7,257
In the field
dazzer6666 said:
From a brief discussion I had last year (with a solicitor) there is no requirement in terms of means or method of communication - as the Executor you have an obligation to inform the beneficiary ‘when appropriate’ (usually as soon as practicable). Better to make the contact using text/whatsapp (at least initially) than delay doing it I would think. A whatsapp message doesn’t have to have all the detail if you’re uncomfortable with that - could be anything from asking them to call you, or indicating what it’s about through to something more obvious.
Click to expand...

This.
 






Tom Hark Preston Park

Tom Hark Preston Park

Will Post For Cash
Jul 6, 2003
70,340
Westdene Seagull said:
Having recently been through this I can tell you - it's up to you. No legal requirement about the communication method. Use whatever is easiest for you/them. Just keep any funds they are due aside until they respond.
Click to expand...
Won't the funds be retained by the solicitor until the benificiary contacts them with proof of identify? Was certainly the case when my mum died and left some money to her grandkids
 


dazzer6666

dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
52,628
Burgess Hill
Tom Hark Preston Park said:
Won't the funds be retained by the solicitor until the benificiary contacts them with proof of identify? Was certainly the case when my mum died and left some money to her grandkids
Click to expand...
Only if the solicitor is the Executor - otherwise the Executors hold the funds. You don’t have to use a solicitor at all.
 


J

joydivisionovengloves

Well-known member
Aug 10, 2019
374
N/E Somerset
I'm currently dealing with stuff surrounding my fathers will.
He was Hungarian which obviously makes the whole process more challenging however in Hungary wills are held by the local authority Notary.
This means that there are no executers and the whole is dealt with effectively by a civil servant and solicitors acting for them.
In my position its made the whole thing so much easier.

Not sure the same system would work so well here considering the current state of public services but it seems like a great system for them.

Good luck with sorting your issues out.
 












P

pearl

Well-known member
May 3, 2016
12,844
Behind My Eyes
The Maharajah of Sydney said:
I'm the Executor of my Mum's Will.
Breezed through the probate procedure - got it within 2 months.
But am stuck trying to ascertain on what the requirements are to notify beneficiaries.
One of the beneficiaries is particularly transient so notification via mail isn't really possible.
Is email acceptable or is a letter demanded. I presume a text or a WhatsApp message is an abolute no-no ?
Have Googled and couldnt find anything and this morning my sister in Newhaven spoke to the CAB but they declined to offer any advice.
Grateful for any helpful replies.
Click to expand...
I'm sorry for your loss. Do the beneficiaries not know about the death?
I don't wish to sound indelicate.
 








H

Hastings gull

Well-known member
Nov 23, 2013
4,635
The Maharajah of Sydney said:
I'm the Executor of my Mum's Will.
Breezed through the probate procedure - got it within 2 months.
But am stuck trying to ascertain on what the requirements are to notify beneficiaries.
One of the beneficiaries is particularly transient so notification via mail isn't really possible.
Is email acceptable or is a letter demanded. I presume a text or a WhatsApp message is an abolute no-no ?
Have Googled and couldnt find anything and this morning my sister in Newhaven spoke to the CAB but they declined to offer any advice.
Grateful for any helpful replies.
Click to expand...
I would move heaven and earth to send a letter and get it sent Recorded Delivery, so that you could demonstrate that you have done everything above board so to speak. Obviously I don't know the situation, but when money is involved, then it is best to be as careful as possible to protect yourself as executor.
 


studio150

studio150

Well-known member
Jul 30, 2011
29,656
On the Border
Didn't all this once upon a time pop up in monochrome movies, where an announcement had to be placed in a newspaper, usually The Times, or the equivalent in some far off country in The Empire in attempt to track down the beneficiary.
 


Eeyore

Eeyore

Colonel Hee-Haw of Queen's Park
NSC Patron
Apr 5, 2014
23,652
The Maharajah of Sydney said:
@dazzer6666, @Westdene Seagull & @Brian Fantana, thanks, I'll go with that.
Click to expand...
When my father died I told the beneficiaries of pecuniary gifts as and when I got round to it. The key was just to make sure they get their money.

One of the beneficiaries I wasn't happy about. They had been in the Will for sometime and I had a bone to pick with them over their response to Dad's passing. I didn't tell them right until the estate was settled and simply rang them up for a short call to get their bank details for the transfer. All the others knew pretty much as soon as I had got my head round it all.
 


dazzer6666

dazzer6666

Well-known member
NSC Patron
Mar 27, 2013
52,628
Burgess Hill
Hastings gull said:
I would move heaven and earth to send a letter and get it sent Recorded Delivery, so that you could demonstrate that you have done everything above board so to speak. Obviously I don't know the situation, but when money is involved, then it is best to be as careful as possible to protect yourself as executor.
Click to expand...
I wouldn’t. Get a reply to a text and take it from there….
 




M

Milano

Well-known member
Aug 15, 2012
3,393
Sussex but not by the sea
Sorry for your loss. I went through the same for my Mum in 2021.
As the executor you have a legal requirement to TRY to contact the beneficiaries. I ‘think’ it is also a requirement to post the death on a government ‘paper’ I can’t remember the name of it now, it is open to the public to view but is time bound, e.g. if no one comes forward within a set timespan then it is closed, it doesn’t stop you from settling the will with beneficiaries.
I did probate myself, the only complication was with HMRC (isn’t it always) as the valuation of the estate can be complicated, especially if you need a spouse inheritance tax allowance.
My only other advice if you haven’t already is to open a dedicated probate bank account, a few high street banks do them.
 


A

A mex eyecan

Well-known member
Nov 3, 2011
3,328
There was a discussion over Christmas about not being able to trace a beneficiary of a will.

The situation was that 12 years or so ago there was an estate with a value of around 50k (nothing to do with my family at all) it had two executors and several beneficiaries with some getting minimal gifts of a few hundred pounds to several thousand. All was distributed within a couple of years except for one when one beneficiary who was due about 8k (if my recollection is correct) and could not be traced. The executors had tried last known addresses, telephone number, email addresses. I believe they had also put a notice in local newspaper in the area of LKA, all without success.

The funds were placed into a separate bank account where they still remain accruing whatever interest rate it can. The questions raised were how long it has to stay there and let’s say after 20 years what on earth is done with it?
 


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