Can executor sell shares & move money around
- Thread starter 8till8
- Start date
Not according to this thread.
Can executor pay out money to a beneficiary before probate is taken out?
Hi all, My sister and myself are the executors of my late fathers will. One of the beneficiary's (my brother) owns his own house which has sprung a few nasty leaks on the roof and he does not have the money to carry out repairs. Is it possible for the executors to sell part of his share of...
www.askaboutmoney.com
Yes I'm the exec
I should clarify any money movements would only be within the deceased own account, not any other party, so its all above board.
For example, the deceased has an online share trading platform that the exec was operating under the instruction of the deceased prior to death, and in this example they were elderly but had a half lifetime experience of share investing but didn't make the jump from phoning orders to electronic orders so the exec was helping with this.
So person dies and the share portfolio is invested across a spectrum of companies, the exec wants to retain the value of the portfolio (did I read somewhere that this is a responsibility of the exec?) by selling the shares and leaving the funds in the cash account of the stockbroker.
The exec wants to contact the stockbrokers, provide them with certified copies of death cert & will and instruct them to sell various shares.
Is this permitted?
The exceptions to the frozen status may be:
- payment of funeral expenses
- lodgement of the proceeds of insurance policies or death grants.
- death certificate
- the will and
- identification by the executors.
It may vary from bank-to-bank and may depend on whether the executors are known to staff members at the bank.
In general the short answer to OP's questions is "No" as the powers and responsibilities of the executor(s) only come into force after probate is granted.
Dealing with a deceased person’s money and property
Find out about the steps involved in taking out probate or letters of administration in Ireland.
www.citizensinformation.ie
I know in my own situation as an Executor in the past, Computershare would only sell the shares in the estate after probate had been granted and the funds had to go through the solicitor we were using who would then distribute it. I assume other brokers and Share Registers would do likewise.
Once the grant of probate issues the executor should transfer the assets of the estate (including the shares) to those entitled in the course of the orderly administration of the estate. This should be done without avoidable delay, but sometimes delay is unavoidable — e.g. if the tax or other liabilities of the estate take some time to identify and settle, or if there is a dispute over entitlements, or for a variety of other reasons.
If there is going to be a delay before distribution, does the executor have a duty to maintain the value of the estate by selling the shares and holding cash until distribution is possible? He does not (unless the will directs him to, which would be unusual). The beneficiaries are entitled to the assets in the estate. If it pleased the testator to hold volatile assets, well, the beneficiaries are entitled to the volatile assets and the executor has no duty to protect them from the volatility inherent in the assets that form the estate.
Plus, of course, if he does convert the shares to cash and the share price subsequently rises, the beneficiaries will miss out on the price rise. Some of them might be quite annoyed about that, and might feel that the executor had exceeded his responsibility in substituting the assets of the estate with cash.
Does the will direct that the shares be liquidated and the proceeds distributed or that the shares be transferred to beneficiaries?