Executor of Will uncle passed away in UK, Irish bank accounts and related questions.

[Munster365]

An Uncle of mine passed away in the UK, and I am the executor of his will. His only assets were bank accounts. I would appreciate some help on a couple of issues:

1. In respect of a bank account held in Ireland, do I need the Grant of Probate from the UK to access the funds in this or will a Death Certificate be sufficient.

2. Some of his money was already transferred to a number of family members in recent years to allow for his care, as he was unwell. This now becomes part of the distribution of his funds, although it is not in his name. This is accepted by all beneficiaries. However the main beneficiary, his brother will be over the threshold of €33,500, if he receives his portion, which is the balance after all other bequests. If the money is divided in a different way, can other beneficiaries then give gifts of €3k to the main beneficiary, or will this lead to aggregation problems?

Would appreciate any guidance.

 

[Gulliver]

1 You need to inform he bank branch of his death, and produce a death cert. You will then likely get a letter from a central "deceased customer unit" based in Dublin (or in Belfast for Ulster Bank).
When probate has been granted, you will need to supply the Grant of Probate (or a court certified copy bearing the impressed stamp of the court to that unit. My experience is that they are slow, and a number of phone calls are required to expidite them. Also, they do not return Probate documents unless you make further calls. Their systems seem to be primitive in the extreme.

2 As executor, you are obliged to perform the distribution of the estate in accordance with the wishes of the deceased as stated in the will. If you deviate from that, you are inviting personal risk. I would always try to avoid any deviations.

The will normally only refers to the estate held by the deceased at the time of death; are you saying that there is a reference in the will which relates back to funds paid over prior to death. Or is it the case that the family agrees that XXX got an extra say €50,000 while the deceased was alive, and so €50,000 should be deducted from his distribution. Such "balancing" is not part of the role of the executor, unless specifically expressed in the will.

 

[Deiseblue]

You should note that it is purely at the discretion of Irish Banks whether or not they will accept a Uk Grant of Probate to release the funds in question , if the amount held by them is significant they may insist that an Irish Grant is produced.

You should clarify this matter with the Bank initially.