Prep as Executor before Death

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David_Dublin

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Hi - I read @Padraigb Key Post https://askaboutmoney.com/threads/acting-as-executor.144608/ which is excellent.

I'm executor on my Mum's will. I haven't been executor before, so was wondering if there are things I should prepare for in advance to make the job easier when the time comes? I suppose I am looking for some gotchas that people say to themselves "if only I had done this or that".....I'd welcome any helpful suggestions.

A few things to note:
- She has a will
- I have power of attorney or whatever it is called, in case she gets sick/cant manage own affairs
- She is pretty of organised with filing, taxes etc, but I should probably go through this with her
- Assets are bank accounts, shares, home
 
Can she prepare a letter of wishes?

This doesn't have legal standing as her will does but is very helpful with things like funeral arrangements, family memorabilia, the 'good' china and so on.

Do you plan to do the probate yourself?
 
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Thanks - that's an excellent idea, thanks @Thirsty

Part of this is to see what I might do in advance to make probate as simple/frictionless as possible.

My brother in law is the solicitor. I would have some concerns about how long it might take him to do it, and also have reservations re mixing family and business. If it took ages or ended by being overly pricey it could get messy.

I also bring some baggage to this - my fathers will, which was vey straightforward, cost in the region of 55k in legal fees, I was not the executor.
 
I have put together a list of assets ie Banks, Post Office, Insurance, Credit Union and maybe a few Prize Bonds.

Also a list of items which will need attention almost immediately and on going. eg Cancel Pension, Medical Card, Car insurance, Passport, Driving licence etc.etc. and contact details for all of the above.

List is attached to a copy of my will which is available to my daughter who has agreed to be my executor
 
You will get asked your mother's date of birth, marriage, death and your own and addresses on multiple occasions. Put it in a note on your phone or laptop that you can easily get at to cut and paste into emails, messages etc.
 
How is the home going to be willed ? If to be sold and/or shared you will most likely require proof of NPPR either paid or (most likely) not due. You can get a form from your council/corpo and it will request esb bills for the house during the dates in question of when it was due. Get on to ESB and request these now. Make sure current property tax is up to date. I know it sounds morbid but in agreement with my family I withdrew 5k close to my mother's death to cover things outside of the funeral director's remit i.e. a meal at the funeral, flowers, snacks/drinks at the wake, music etc.
 
Something similar, my remaining parent gave me €20K with the instruction that when the time came I was to pay for the funeral and all associated costs. The balance was then to be used to pay household bills etc until probate granted and house sold. My siblings were told of this arrangement.

When my parent died, there was a house, a bank account, a will and no complications.

The small amount that was left from the €20K was divided between all siblings.
 
elcato said:
How is the home going to be willed ? If to be sold and/or shared you will most likely require proof of NPPR either paid or (most likely) not due. You can get a form from your council/corpo and it will request esb bills for the house during the dates in question of when it was due. Get on to ESB and request these now. Make sure current property tax is up to date. I know it sounds morbid but in agreement with my family I withdrew 5k close to my mother's death to cover things outside of the funeral director's remit i.e. a meal at the funeral, flowers, snacks/drinks at the wake, music etc.
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The Will is very straightforward - everything to be split three ways, so the home would be sold. Thanks for the heads up re NPPR, Mum would be up to date with all this but good to have this as one of the things.
 
It is great that your Mum is so organised. That will be a wonderful help, list of active accounts and insurance. My in-laws had all these insurance papers and it took forever to sort if they were still active, defunct, worthless, etc. I think they were all long finished but there was no indication in the reams of paperwork kept.

As executor you can decide yourself whether to use a solicitor or not, and you can choose who you like. If you spend money on behalf of you mothers estate, like funeral expenses, or paying house insurance etc, just keep all the receipts.

My sister in law left cash to pay for her funeral (in notes, in an envelope) - I really would not recommend this. Especially as she never said a word and it was only when searching for her reading glasses shortly before she passed away did one of my kids discover the cash. But people who are terminal worry a lot about paying for the funeral, so it is a time to be super sensitive.
 
David_Dublin said:
I also bring some baggage to this - my fathers will, which was vey straightforward, cost in the region of 55k in legal fees, I was not the executor.
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Shop around, I paid a solicitor €2k in legal fees for a very straight forward probate, most quoted around €3k, the solicitor who held the will quoted €7k.

€55k sounds wild.
 
twofor1 said:
Shop around, I paid a solicitor €2k in legal fees for a very straight forward probate, most quoted around €3k, the solicitor who held the will quoted €7k.

€55k sounds wild.
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Such an upsetting episode. You actually couldn't make it up. 5 years on and it still is deeply upsetting.
 
NPPR only applies to a non-principal private residence - it was abolished several years ago. I'm not sure how it would be relevant here?

Bank will pay for funeral directly from the deceased account to the relevant Undertaker on presentation of invoice. It's a pretty standard thing for them to do & you won't have a problem there (as long as funds are in the bank of course!).

You will have to cover the funeral breakfast separately & claim it back from the estate when Probate is done; but, in Dublin at any rate, I found that to be a fraction of the Undertakers bill.
 
Thirsty said:
NPPR only applies to a non-principal private residence - it was abolished several years ago. I'm not sure how it would be relevant here?
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In order to sell you still need a NPPR certificate of exemption from your local council to say the house was exempt between the relevant years, I think 2009 - 2013.

If the house was liable for NPPR and it was not paid, several thousand would be owed today.
 
The simplest thing would be for her to leave a bank account and the house. Our dad left shares. From the time he died, we had sorted Probate, got clearance to distribute his estate from social welfare (who investigated his pension), and solicitor engaged a company to sell the shares, they had halved in value. Not saying that's a common occurrence though.

If your mother had a joint bank account with you it would be even simpler, but that might not go down well with siblings. I had a joint account with dad for all his money going in and out. I kept a spreadsheet documenting every cent that came in and out so there'd be no queries afterwards. When he died all funds were transferred to my sole name and I split them with siblings as per his will. He had also sold the house before he died as he'd moved into a nursing home, so that was one less thing to worry about. However, that would be a step too far if your mother continues to live at home! :oops:

Do ask if she would like to gift personal items to specific people. My mother in law's friend swore that mother in law had written down what she wanted people to have - things that weren't stipulated in her will. We searched the house after she died but never found anything.
 
twofor1 said:
In order to sell you still need a NPPR certificate of exemption from your local council to say the house was exempt between the relevant years, I think 2009 - 2013.

If the house was liable for NPPR and it was not paid, several thousand would be owed today.
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We had to do this in 2016. It's a faff so would be worth doing now. Contact local county council to see what's required. We sold both parents houses then and needed confirmation of meter readings from 2009-2013 from esb, folio details and a letter from a local person confirming that the houses were PPR. Not sure if other Co councils would accept the same.
 
I think different councils have different requirements for NPPR exemption certs.

I had to apply to DLRCC last year, who I heard are one of the easier councils in this regard, they just required that I as executor fill out a Statutory Declaration confirming the house was a principal private residence for the relevant years.

I had to sign this form in the presence of a solicitor, peace commissioner or commissioner for oaths, post it off to the council and the NPPR cert arrived a few weeks later.
 
If your mother has assets located outside the state, consider selling them now - this includes property, bank accounts and shares managed by non-Irish share registrars. If you can avoid having to obtain probate outside of Ireland, its well worth doing. If there are sufficient cash assets, make sure your mother is availing of the 3k pa gift allowance to minimise their CAT liability
 
homer911 said:
If your mother has assets located outside the state, consider selling them now - this includes property, bank accounts and shares managed by non-Irish share registrars. If you can avoid having to obtain probate outside of Ireland, its well worth doing. If there are sufficient cash assets, make sure your mother is availing of the 3k pa gift allowance to minimise their CAT liability
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Is this a bit drastic? There would be a number of shares for UK? She would have shared in non-Irish companies, some would be UK companies with UK share registrars. Is there a way to simplify how shares will be sold in time? She would only hold shares in 10-12 companies, Irish, UK mostly.
 
As a by the by, my father died intestate and the house was the one, big asset. I was quoted 3000 Euros for Probate and decided to do it myself. I had to go back to the solicitor for another reason, and I had probate sorted ( involved a few trips back and forth to the Probate office and tax stamping office in Dublin Castle and around 700 Euro). The solicitor remarked I got it done quicker than he could have. No recommending this course, but just putting it out there.
 
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