legal question as an executor

[Blue Valkyrie]

If they were loans then I suspect they will need to be paid back to the estate. If they were gifts, they will need to be dealt with under IHT rules because she died within 7 years of the gift.

That sounds right.

I wonder what happens if there is no documentation or proof - would a loan or a gift be assumed ?

 

[Clive Walker]

Really sorry to read this. He sounds like a d**k. Hope it works out as it should.

 

[clapham_gull]

This will probably need solicitor but beofre jumping in, bear in mind that solicitors like to be paid. Is there enough money in the state for this? If not, are the aggrieved beneficiaries going to club together (they may have to if the issue becomes beneficiary against beneficiary)? Someone needs ot take stock of what the estate is worth, the amount of the loans. Was there a power of attorney in place, if so, someone should have a good grasp of what funds there are? Suggest strongly that the other beneficiaries/excutors agree amongst themselves what to do before one charges off and incurs costs.

I've just come out of the back of a very complicated probate as an executor. The details are private, but fortunately didn't involve arguments within our family.

No-one prepared me to be an executor under such circumstances - I had just to follow legal advice. Not exactly prompted what to do and when - but to have options placed in front of me and the implications explained to me.

Luckily for me I'm married to a solicitor and fortunately they do like to be paid. Although she was there to advise, probate isn't her specialism so we employed another one who did.

Complicated probate issues are legal issues which are best dealt with by individuals who have spent years studying the subject and have years of experience deploying it.

If we didn't need builders we would build our own houses.

If that isn't clear enough - my advice to the thread starter is speak to a solicitor. The internet and layman really don't help here. I made all sort of assumptions that proved to be wrong.

If you manage to get a good one experienced with probate their advice extends beyond the legal. They are used to dealing with messy situations all the time.

I was talking to friend of a friend who is a property solicitor a few months ago. They were dealing with what on the surface was a "routine" dispute within a family over property. What got them there was frankly off the scale.

 

[GingerBeerMan]

I might be in the minority here but I think you should see a solicitor.

 

[Wrong-Direction]

Waste even more money on a solicitor or just deck the cu*t!?

 

[PortuGull]

Sorry not to be able to offer any useful advice (other than see a probate solicitor - has anyone suggested that?), but thought I would share how a situation like this would apparently be handled in Poland.

I have been caring for my 89 yr-old mother, now late stage alzheimers, full time since 2010. There is a very nice gentleman from Poland who has been helping with odd-jobs around the house and garden on evenings and weekends for a couple of years now. As he has witnessed the rapid decline in my mother's health in the last few months, he recently asked if I planned on keeping the house after my mother has passed. I reminded him that I have two sisters, and that the house would have to be sold so that the proceeds of the estate could be shared between the three of us. He has met both my sisters, who live in the USA and Brazil, and visit here once or twice a year.

He was very surprised by this 3-way split of the estate, and explained that in Poland there would be no doubt that the sibling caring for the parent would inherit the entire estate, and that the live-away siblings would not be entitled to anything. When I asked whether this was actually enshrined in Polish law, he could not confirm this other than to say that it was a de-facto law of which he knew about many examples from personal experience.

I remain sceptical, but perhaps there are some Polish NSC'ers who could confirm or refute his understanding of Polish probate laws...

 

[Thunder Bolt]

""

Sorry not to be able to offer any useful advice (other than see a probate solicitor - has anyone suggested that?), but thought I would share how a situation like this would apparently be handled in Poland.

I have been caring for my 89 yr-old mother, now late stage alzheimers, full time since 2010. There is a very nice gentleman from Poland who has been helping with odd-jobs around the house and garden on evenings and weekends for a couple of years now. As he has witnessed the rapid decline in my mother's health in the last few months, he recently asked if I planned on keeping the house after my mother has passed. I reminded him that I have two sisters, and that the house would have to be sold so that the proceeds of the estate could be shared between the three of us. He has met both my sisters, who live in the USA and Brazil, and visit here once or twice a year.

He was very surprised by this 3-way split of the estate, and explained that in Poland there would be no doubt that the sibling caring for the parent would inherit the entire estate, and that the live-away siblings would not be entitled to anything. When I asked whether this was actually enshrined in Polish law, he could not confirm this other than to say that it was a de-facto law of which he knew about many examples from personal experience.

I remain sceptical, but perhaps there are some Polish NSC'ers who could confirm or refute his understanding of Polish probate laws...

If your mother left a will leaving it all to you, there wouldn't be a 3 way split.

We have friends in Athens, where the father died suddenly aged 46. The law there says his widow is entitled to half the estate, & the children the other half, as children would be expected to look after the remaining parent once they got older. Otherwise his widow could be homeless theoretically.