A friend of mine is a beneficiary of a will. The will says that the children share the estate. There are three children. I don’t know what the value of the estate is, but it’s well over 1.5 million. There’s a holiday apartment that was valued at about 250k at the date of death. She wants it and no one else does. Her brother is the executor and says that he has no choice. He has to sell it. Surely that’s wrong and he can decide that she gets the apartment as part of her share?
Executor discretion in distributing assets
- Thread starter DeeKie
- Start date
If the will says that the children inherit the property - as opposed to the proceeds from its sale - then surely it should be put into the names of the beneficiaries and, after that and completely separate from the will/probate, two of the three can buy out the third if they're agreeable to that arrangement? Isn't there a solicitor advising on the probate process?
As I understand the OP there's more than one property.
They asked about one specific property. But if there are more then shouldn't they all be transferred into joint names if the will doesn't specify that they are to be sold and the proceeds disbursed?
Seems odd that there's no solicitor advising.
If the 3 children cannot agree that, say she gets €250K and the apartment, and the others get €500K, then her next best option is to purchase the apartment from her €500K when it is put up for sale.
Sure the estate is reduced by extra cost and expenses but that’s life. People have different motivations, maybe the executor is of the belief that converting everything to cash and dividing by 3 after all costs is the cleanest and fairest way of doing things. Maybe he feels he can get more than €250K for the apartment, or that other properties may realise less than the valuation and the final division may be more like €200K plus apartment worth €300K to one sibling and €450K to the other two.
You can’t say he is being unreasonable either way. He may be saying he has no choice but to sell the apartment to deflect sibling arguments.
The easiest thing for her to do is just purchase the apartment once it goes up for sale.
Sure the estate is reduced by extra cost and expenses but that’s life. People have different motivations, maybe the executor is of the belief that converting everything to cash and dividing by 3 after all costs is the cleanest and fairest way of doing things. Maybe he feels he can get more than €250K for the apartment, or that other properties may realise less than the valuation and the final division may be more like €200K plus apartment worth €300K to one sibling and €450K to the other two.
You can’t say he is being unreasonable either way. He may be saying he has no choice but to sell the apartment to deflect sibling arguments.
The easiest thing for her to do is just purchase the apartment once it goes up for sale.
Gordon Gekko
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Yes.
Of course they do. They can decide to appoint a solicitor or not, they can decide burial or cremation, they can decide to sell a house as is or do some repairs and sell later. They have discretion in all sorts of things unless it is specifically mentioned in the will.
If a beneficiary believes they made a wrong decision then take them to court. A judge would probably find that if they did a rather then b (that a beneficiary wanted) and both options were reasonable and did not go against specific mentions in the will that the executor was entitled to act on their own discretion and pick a.
So the choice for your friend is either
a) Take it to court and let a judge decide, but with a low chance of success based on what you said here.
b) Continue to argue the point with the executor and potentially lead to the breakdown of the family relationships.
c) Just wait for the apartment to go on sale and buy it.
I would recommend c. The other options are too painful mentally and financially.
If a beneficiary believes they made a wrong decision then take them to court. A judge would probably find that if they did a rather then b (that a beneficiary wanted) and both options were reasonable and did not go against specific mentions in the will that the executor was entitled to act on their own discretion and pick a.
So the choice for your friend is either
a) Take it to court and let a judge decide, but with a low chance of success based on what you said here.
b) Continue to argue the point with the executor and potentially lead to the breakdown of the family relationships.
c) Just wait for the apartment to go on sale and buy it.
I would recommend c. The other options are too painful mentally and financially.
Yes. I’ve said that too. ThanksWith an estate of €1.5m, a few properties for sale and no solicitor, it sounds like a disaster waiting to happen. He says he has no choice but does not give her an exact reason why, which makes him sound far too confident
Might not want an argument about it; there could be taxes to be paid, there might not be enough money without selling everything, who knows.
If beneficiary really wants apartment, offer to buy it when it goes up for sale; small extra cost but in the overall scheme of things, not that big a deal.
1.5m estate might sound like a lot but not that hard to get to these days with property valued as it is.