Can anyone translate this legal jargon for me please?

[JackieMc]

Hi,

Sorry if this seems a bit morbid!

I more or less get the idea of what this 'Clause' is about but I want to make sure it's not just worded cleverly to confuse. My mum has made me joint executor in her will along with the solicitor so as I understand it, the following just means that her executors (me and/or the solicitor) can invest any money from the will until it's all divided up between beneficiaries. It's not huge amounts and it's not a complicated will so I was wondering if this 'clause' is just standard? The solicitor will only talk to my mum on the phone and of course she's asked me to deal with it so it's a little difficult getting answers right now - all they said was they would send out an explanation in the post to my mum, which will result in her phoning me and asking me to explain it!

I'm just concerned that 'when the time comes' the solicitor doesn't have the right to 'invest' any money wherever they like and tie it up for longer than is necessary (this all sounds very mercenary, doesn't it? *L*) - I had considered asking them but then if that was what they had in mind, they wouldn't tell me, would they? As I am a joint Executor could they do this without my approval?

So here's part of the clause, just a few lines - if any legal-minded bods out there can let me know if this is standard in a will (they say it is needed) or if it could be abused - many thanks!

We draw your attention to clause 6 which gives the trustees additional powers to administer the estate.

6.1 - Enables the Trustees to invest prudently any money it has under its control during administration. This clause is needed even if money is to be invested in a building society account pending administration.

oh and one more part, this is about half of the 'estate' being shared between 3 people, but our heads spin when we try to figure out the last part of the wording....

5.2 - as to one share for such of them (the three people are named here) as survive me and if more than one then equally.

Thanks in advance!
Jackie

 

[Vetty]

oh and one more part, this is about half of the \'estate\' being shared between 3 people, but our heads spin when we try to figure out the last part of the wording....

5.2 - as to one share for such of them (the three people are named here) as survive me and if more than one then equally.

Thanks in advance!
Jackie

Hi Jackie, I can't help you with the first clause, but I get the second bit!

Basically, the estate is to be divided into 3 equal parts as long as the 3 people are all alive at the time of the division. If not (so if one of the beneficiaries has died) the estate will then be divided equally between the surviving beneficiaries. If there is only 1 surviving beneficiary they will get the whole estate.

Does that make sense?

 

[Noodle]

As Vetty as answered the second clause, I will try to help you with an explanation of the first clause:

When solicitors are dealing with the administration of an Estate on behalf of the Executors, they will collect in all the monies due and place them in a Client Deposit Account so that they earn additional interest, until such time as they are then distributed in accordance with the terms of the Will.

BTW, solicitors, under Law Society Rules, are not permitted to communicate with Executors of Wills, until such time as the Testator/Testatrix (the person who makes the Will) is deceased.

Even after a few years out of a legal office, I still can't get out of the habit of writing formally ... can you tell?!

 

[KellyT]

Not sure if i can help but my mum was recently executor for her mother's will so i might be able to shed light on the first clause.

I think it means that coz you are executors - you sort out the will - not the solicitor! So it's is the executor who informs all relevant banks, building societies, pension etc that the person in question has passed on. To do this you need to provide quite lot of copies of death certs to the relevant people - my mum found this quite expensive and I think there are further costs if it goes to probate!

I may be wrong, so I am sorry if this is rubbish advice!! But thought I would try to help!

Ok never mind - Karen got there before me - i think that sounds better!!!!!!!

 

[JDs]

jackie, Have you tried googling for any legal forums that you could post your question on?
Those sites are the ones that could answer your question better than us legally.

 

[JackieMc]

Thanks Yvette, I kind of thought it must mean that - but don't they word it in the weirdest way!!??!! :lol:

I'm beginning to wish she'd just got one of those kits from WH Smith so we could write it down in plain English!


Jayne - I hadn't thought of doing that, thanks for the suggestion, I'm off to have a look now!

Jackie

 

[JackieMc]

Oooh - lots of replies - thanks everyone!

Karen, thanks - I knew we must have a legal bod here in the forum somewhere! Ahh yes, you've explained it to me, it was kind of what I though but I as the solicitor hadn't mentioned this part when he was actually getting the info out of my mum I was just wondering if it was a clause he was trying to 'sneak in'! I have a terribly untrusting mind!

Out of interest Karen, do you happen to remember the approx % that solicitors charge when acting as executor? I've tried Googling and can't really find anything. My mum was 'talked' into taking out some kind of package (cost her £500 but initially he was trying to get her to go for the £2,000 one) which means that she won't pay more than 2.5% to the legal executor for his/her services. The solicitor had mentioned that if she didn't 'protect' her estate and 'cap' the % charge, then the % that could be charged might end up with her 'beneficiaries' having to pay around £20,000 in fees. I'm not sure if this was just a ploy to get her to sign on the dotted line or not. She doesn't have a huge amount to leave and I thought this kind of thing would only be worth doing if there was quite a bit of 'estate' to be left. Any thoughts?

Bet ya sorry you spoke now, eh? :lol:

Jackie

 

[JDs]

Thanks Yvette, I kind of thought it must mean that - but don\'t they word it in the weirdest way!!??!! :lol:

I\'m beginning to wish she\'d just got one of those kits from WH Smith so we could write it down in plain English!


Jayne - I hadn\'t thought of doing that, thanks for the suggestion, I\'m off to have a look now!

Jackie

LOL they word it that way just to make it extremely confusing for us laymen. That way they can take advantage of us and when we squawk about something that was done to our dislike, they can come back and say" well it is right there in writing and you signed it"
JK...

 

[Noodle]

Out of interest Karen, do you happen to remember the approx % that solicitors charge when acting as executor?

I think, if I recall correctly, the percentage is based on the value of the Estate, in accordance with guidelines set down by the Law Society ... I can't say I've ever heard a "package" arrangement.

 

[Kim Lawless]

Why don't you just ask your solicitor instead of us.................we're only beauty therapists?

 

[JackieMc]

Why don\'t you just ask your solicitor instead of us.................we\'re only beauty therapists?

I did mention that I was wary of the solicitor only telling me what he wanted me to know and Karen (who hasn't only worked in the beauty business - you know people here have had lives/careers other than the beauty business and have a wealth of information to share) has been very helpful, along with others.

And this is 'chit chat' after all - so what's your problem? I don't abuse this website with stupid inane posts, I don't post millions of jokes every day, I don't post asking if anyone has seen a ghost or not, so why should I not ask a perfectly normal question to people I 'know' to see if they can help me out? And if you read my first post properly, you'll see that my mum's solicitor would only speak to her, not me, but, as Karen has kindly explained, they are not allowed to speak to the executor until the person who left the will has died, and there's no way I'm paying a huge fee to another solicitor just to have a couple of sentences explained to me.

So that's why I asked the question here, although why you chose to challenge me in the first place astounds me!

 

[joe90]

Jackie would you really need a solicitor to deal with the estate when needed and I hope that isn't for a long time.

I have been executor for two wills now which both have had to go to probate and apart from a bit of faffing, it isn't difficult. You just need to remember that when you get a death certificate you get at least half a dozen at the same time as they are more expensive to get later on. You see you will need to send an original death certificate to each company ie gas, electricity, banks, buildings societies and they do take their time in replying so if you have a few it does save waiting around for them to come back to you. Hope this has made sense.

 

[Good Skin Day]

I did mention that I was wary of the solicitor only telling me what he wanted me to know and Karen (who hasn\'t only worked in the beauty business - you know people here have had lives/careers other than the beauty business and have a wealth of information to share) has been very helpful, along with others.

And this is \'chit chat\' after all - so what\'s your problem? I don\'t abuse this website with stupid inane posts, I don\'t post millions of jokes every day, I don\'t post asking if anyone has seen a ghost or not, so why should I not ask a perfectly normal question to people I \'know\' to see if they can help me out? And if you read my first post properly, you\'ll see that my mum\'s solicitor would only speak to her, not me, but, as Karen has kindly explained, they are not allowed to speak to the executor until the person who left the will has died, and there\'s no way I\'m paying a huge fee to another solicitor just to have a couple of sentences explained to me.

So that\'s why I asked the question here, although why you chose to challenge me in the first place astounds me!

Hey Jackie :hug:

I don't think Kim was challenging you, just genuinely asking, because none of us are going to have half the knowledge of a legal professional, so there's probably more guesswork involved than anything!

If you don't trust your solicitor, how about trying the Citizen's Advice Bureau? It's a free of charge service, and you can obtain their help over the phone (number of your local CAB will be in phone book). They specialise in answering the sort of questions you're asking, so will be able to give you concrete answers and definitive explanations.

Good luck hun :green:

 

[JackieMc]

Jackie would you really need a solicitor to deal with the estate when needed and I hope that isn\'t for a long time.

I have been executor for two wills now which both have had to go to probate and apart from a bit of faffing, it isn\'t difficult. You just need to remember that when you get a death certificate you get at least half a dozen at the same time as they are more expensive to get later on. You see you will need to send an original death certificate to each company ie gas, electricity, banks, buildings societies and they do take their time in replying so if you have a few it does save waiting around for them to come back to you. Hope this has made sense.

We thought about just making me the sole executor, but, there is a part of the will that could get messy, depending on how the person involved takes it, so my mum wanted to make sure I had the legal back up should I need it, and I think I might just. I know it will mean extra charges when the time comes, but my mum has certain wishes and didn't want me having to 'shop' around for someone who knew about the 'legal' side of things when 'stuff hit the fan'!!

Thanks for giving me an idea of what's involved though, I appreciate it, never had to do something like this before, and like you said, I hope it's a long time yet.

 

[JackieMc]

Thanks Amy, but have you tried getting through to CAB lately? :wink2: I did try that, thanks for the suggestion though, but just couldn't get to speak to a 'real' person in CAB and as I'm in Ireland (we don't have CAB here) I couldn't go pester them in person in the UK.

But my questions have been answered by the good people of Geekland so my shot in the dark was worth it.

Thanks to all who were helpful.
Jackie

 

[Kim Lawless]

I'm sorry that you've taken the few words that I uttered so personally. My point was simply that with such a serious legal matter, I would want sound, solid, legal advice from a professional and not rely on general unprofessional opinion....................as on here. Yes, there may be legal people on here but you need someone that's going to represent you legally if things go wrong. It's in your family's interest. I don't thingkthe judge will take much notice of "Yeah, but Buff It & Bluff It nail tech said so".

Before I go. I was only trying to help, so do me a kindness and keep your nasty and personal comments to a PM.