“Legal Corner” is our semi-regular feature where the Technical Team pick out a small selection of recent queries to publish. This time it’s three quick-fire questions relating to executors.
Question:
My client is currently in a hospice having been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Her husband passed away 3 weeks ago. She was the sole executor of his estate. Since his death she has been unfit to take on any executor duties, so has not ‘intermeddled’ with the estate. She understandably wants to renounce her executorship and appoint her stepdaughter as her replacement. Is there a formal process for this, please?
Answer:
If the sole executor chooses to renounce then the right to apply for the grant would fall to the next person entitled under Rule 20 of the Non-Contentious Probate Rules 1987. If this is her stepdaughter then she would be entitled to apply to be appointed as an administrator.
The renouncing executor can complete Form PA15 and hand this to the person who is applying for probate (in this case the stepdaughter), for them to submit along with their own application to be appointed as an administrator.
Question:
One of my clients has recently passed away and has excluded his children from a previous relationship. One of the excluded sons contacted me yesterday to ask who the executors of his father’s Will are. Do I have to tell him and if I don’t, how should I tell him that I can’t divulge any information?
Answer:
This is a query that we commonly receive. You can obtain the son’s details and advise him that you will contact the executor. The executor can then choose to get in touch with the son.
The other option is that you can contact the executor prior to your call with the excluded son and seek their permission to pass their details onto the son.
Question:
Is it possible to draft a clause stating that the executor’s appointment ends at a certain point and someone else takes over?
Answer:
It’s not possible to direct in the will that an executor’s appointment ends at a certain point and another person’s arises. Once an executor has accepted the appointment and started administering the estate they are unable to step down as they have intermeddled.
