Long Delay in Distributing To Beneficiaries after Property Sold....Is This Ok?

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2ForJoy

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I'm part beneficiary of a probate property sold in April 2023. Funds from property went to Solictor then for distribution to beneficiaries. As a beneficary assumed would receive share soon thereafter. However in May told by executors solicitor advised them to meet with a financial/tax adviser to advise before distribution of funds. Anyway here we are now 4 months since property sold - no distribution to beneficiaries as yet. I'm no legal expert but should that not have been fully sorted in the time period when house was sale agreed - sold which lasted more than 9 months probate delays etc Also I have concerns with such a large sum sitting in a solicitor /client holding account for more than 4 months. Am I being unnecessarily concerned here? is this standard practice & acceptable ....any advice welcome here thank you.
 
You need to raise this directly with the executor as you have no relationship with the Solicitor, who acts in accordance with the executor’s instructions.

The executor is probably waiting on the tax advice, the Solicitor’s bill, the preparation of the Estate Account and establishing other liabilities of the estate with a view to discharging them before the beneficiaries can be assigned their distributions.
 
I agree with the above. Delays are common but there is no way for any of us to know if the executor is very slow to make progress or if they are having issues checking if there are taxes or other liabilties due.

What exactly is your concern about the solictors client account ?
 
2ForJoy said:
I'm part beneficiary of a probate property sold in April 2023. Funds from property went to Solictor then for distribution to beneficiaries. As a beneficary assumed would receive share soon thereafter. However in May told by executors solicitor advised them to meet with a financial/tax adviser to advise before distribution of funds. Anyway here we are now 4 months since property sold - no distribution to beneficiaries as yet. I'm no legal expert but should that not have been fully sorted in the time period when house was sale agreed - sold which lasted more than 9 months probate delays etc Also I have concerns with such a large sum sitting in a solicitor /client holding account for more than 4 months. Am I being unnecessarily concerned here? is this standard practice & acceptable ....any advice welcome here thank you.
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Probably a clue here.
 
huskerdu said:
I agree with the above. Delays are common but there is no way for any of us to know if the executor is very slow to make progress or if they are having issues checking if there are taxes or other liabilties due.

What exactly is your concern about the solictors client account ?
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To answer your question above I would be concerned about large sums of money sitting in an account for that lenght of time when in my opinion ( not an expert one - obviously!) those matters should be sorted pre sold stage so that money moves to beneficiaries in a timely manner after sold stage.
 
Johnno75 said:
You need to raise this directly with the executor as you have no relationship with the Solicitor, who acts in accordance with the executor’s instructions.

The executor is probably waiting on the tax advice, the Solicitor’s bill, the preparation of the Estate Account and establishing other liabilities of the estate with a view to discharging them before the beneficiaries can be assigned their distributions.
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Ok thanks for that - will do
 
2ForJoy said:
To answer your question above I would be concerned about large sums of money sitting in an account for that lenght of time when in my opinion ( not an expert one - obviously!) those matters should be sorted pre sold stage so that money moves to beneficiaries in a timely manner after sold stage.
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What's the problem with that then? Client account monies can't be touched. And even if you had a rogue solicitor clients funds are fully protected. Also your 'large' might be tiny for the solicitor who handle vast sums.
 
2ForJoy said:
Yes appreciate that but surely it should not take months to sort out.
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If it's a complex matter, for example the quantification, agreement and settlement of tax arrears of the deceased, you'd struggle to get it resolved any sooner.
 
Going through this process at the minute as an executor, house is sale agreed, contract been exchanged and Probate granted. Revenue wrote to the solicitor this week asking me to to complete a tax return for the deceased for last year (she was a pensioner, no other income bar the widows pension so will be easy enough). Letter stated funds should not be released until the Revenue have given the ok. Why that can't have been done as part of Probate is beyond me but it seems to be the way it is.
 
thedaddyman said:
Going through this process at the minute as an executor, house is sale agreed, contract been exchanged and Probate granted. Revenue wrote to the solicitor this week asking me to to complete a tax return for the deceased for last year (she was a pensioner, no other income bar the widows pension so will be easy enough). Letter stated funds should not be released until the Revenue have given the ok. Why that can't have been done as part of Probate is beyond me but it seems to be the way it is.
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Thanks for that but ours is actually SOLD x 4 months and still no distribution of proceeds from house sale....at least yours is still I the stage between sale agreed - sold so I can understand that a little!
 
Bronte said:
What's the problem with that then? Client account monies can't be touched. And even if you had a rogue solicitor clients funds are fully protected. Also your 'large' might be tiny for the solicitor who handle vast sums.
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Fully protected by who? I'm not suggesting that the solictor would be 'rogue' but it's hardly good practice to have money sitting in a 'client' account for months ....surely these tax matters should be fully sorted in the time period between sale agreed stage & sold. Its completely irrelevant to me how much money the solictor handles & whether he views the proceeds from this house sale as tiny or large... my point is that funds from proceeds of an executor house sale should go to beneficiaries as soon as possible & delays of 3-4 months after sold - or possibly longer in our case - are not good practice.
 
My understanding is that revenue has first claim on the state, until that is sorted to their satisfaction, nothing should be distributed to the beneficiaries
 
It seems a normal amount of time to me.

Say May 1st solicitor said review tax compliance with a specialised tax advisor. Executor meets with solicitor on May 14 to answer questions. Executor searches for an appropriate tax advisor and makes contact on May 28th. He gets an appointment for June 18th. Meets tax advisor, who wants to contact solicitor for more information. Executor gives tax advisor letter on June 20th giving him permission, also gives letter to solicitor on June 24th giving him permission. Tax advisor writes to solicitor on July 1st, solicitor writes back with the info on July 14th. Tax advisor comes back from holidays on Aug 10th, and has a query and writes back to solicitor and client on Aug 15th.

You see where I am going, each professional has to do their due diligence, make appointments, gather data, raise queries. If the matter was straightforward the solicitor would not have requested extra help in sorting the tax out. The last thing an executor wants is to distribute money to 4 beneficiaries and come back to them 6 months later and say revenue says they need €8K so I need €2K back from each of you. Better off waiting until all bills are paid before distributing.

The solicitor will advise the executor on what is prudent behaviour, and most executors will comply.
 
I can understand you being frustrated , but in the absense of any information, we just dont know if there are tax issues which are slow to sort out or if the executor could have got this sorted earlier.
 
2ForJoy said:
Thanks for that but ours is actually SOLD x 4 months and still no distribution of proceeds from house sale....at least yours is still I the stage between sale agreed - sold so I can understand that a little!
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The sale of the house is irrelevant here in terms of the timeline. The letter we got came out a few days after probate was granted. It took my solicitor 3 weeks to forward it on to me as executor. Once the Form 12 was filled in, the revenue have 35 working days to respond so the timeline you need to be asking about is
  • When was probate granted?
  • When did revenue seek a tax return?
  • When did the executor get that request?
  • Have they responded and if so when?
  • Have Revenue responded back saying its ok or have they come back seeking more info?

The letter from revenue to the solicitors is quite clear, don't pay out until you get tax clearance.
 
My late mother's house sold via probate about a year ago and it took a few months to deal with CGT and other issues before the proceeds were distributed to me and my siblings.
 
thedaddyman said:
The sale of the house is irrelevant here in terms of the timeline. The letter we got came out a few days after probate was granted. It took my solicitor 3 weeks to forward it on to me as executor. Once the Form 12 was filled in, the revenue have 35 working days to respond
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In reality they can take as long as they like.
 
T McGibney said:
In reality they can take as long as they like.
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Revenue state
If no contact is received from Revenue in the defined period the representative can proceed to distribute the deceased’s estate and, provided the required due diligence has been conducted, the representative will not be personally liable for any liabilities that arise subsequently

The defined period is 35 days. Not very clear what happens if a liability subsequently arises but the executor is covered. I recall an issue my father had many years ago when he was executor on a complex estate and 20+ first cousins and no will. a few years after, another bank account was discovered and all of the beneficiaries had to sort out any tax liability themselves.
 
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