The Importance And Benefit Of Lay Executors

Wills have become more sophisticated (often including trust arrangements to protect assets or save tax) but they must be implemented correctly to achieve their purpose.

If there is no will, there are strict legal rules about how the estate is divided between the closest relatives of the person who has died. Most people aren’t familiar with these rules and the absence of a will may mean a dispute about the distribution of an estate is more likely.

Administering an estate involves identifying all of the assets and debts of the estate, settling all relevant tax and other liabilities and then accounting to the beneficiaries for what is due to them. This can be a time consuming and complicated task at a difficult time.

People’s financial affairs can be complicated, spread between many financial institutions. This coupled with a sharp rise in disputes over wills can make the job of efficiently administering an estate stressful and challenging.There are strict deadlines for accounting to HMRC and meeting any inheritance tax liability with potentially significant penalties if executors or administrators fail to do so in an accurate and timely fashion.

At Geldards Private Client our team of experts can help lay executors and administrators with part or all of the estate administration process. The cost of professional help is usually met from the estate and can save a lot of time and expense in the long run. Having expert input at an early stage means that any potential problems can be identified promptly with opportunities to reduce the inheritance tax burden by making sure relevant exemptions and reliefs are claimed. There may even be opportunities to rearrange the distribution of the estate via a deed of variation within two years to achieve significant tax savings for the beneficiaries now or in the future.

We are happy to tailor our services and fees to meet your requirements. Whether you are looking for advice and guidance at key stages of the estate administration process or prefer to hand everything over to our experts to take care of for you, we will keep you fully informed along the way.

We will be delighted to arrange an initial no obligation meeting with you to discuss your requirements and how we can help.

For more information please contact a member of our team below.