The Executors And Contesting A Will

What happens when your brother has helped your father make his Will and when he dies he makes your brother the sole Executor of the Will

. You however feel like you don't trust your brother to handle the affairs honestly and you are not on good terms with him.

When your dad dies, you are not happy at the way your brother is conducting his role as Executor. You think that he might just be acting for his own benefit. Well, you may be surprised to learn that the main reason for contesting a Will is if the Executors or Trustees of the deceased Estate are behaving improperly or unreasonably.

These individuals are 'personal representatives' or 'PRs'. The law does require that they follow a defined code of conduct. If they do cross the line of what their legal duties are this can give rise to contesting the Will itself. You are then challenging their conduct in the administration of the Estate.

Conflicts of interest can arise where an Executor is also a beneficiary of the Will, where family company shares are involved as part of the Estate or is a director of the company.

There may be tensions between the Personal Representatives or between the PRs and the beneficiaries under the Will; this can arise within families where there are already underlying frictions.

Regarding your brother you may actually think that his not being honest and is not handling the estate with the interests of the beneficiaries at heart.

Your brother could be behaving obstructively or unfairly in which case an application to the Court for an order to remove him can be made or a substitute PR or trustee is appointed. In this case you are challenging the manner in which the Estate is being managed or distributed.

It is frequently the case that Executors are not acting in the best interests of the Estate or the Beneficiaries.

You may suspect that the PR's are no distributing property correctly or are making uncessarily risky investments with the Estate funds. They might be transferring property into other names or selling property and dealing with the proceeds other than in accordance with the wishes of the beneficiaries. Steps can be taken to prevent this conduct from continuing.

Speak to a qualified lawyer who specialises in contesting a Will; this person will be calm, guide you through the process and will not get tangled up in family divisions or arguments. They will give objective, controlled and legal support.

by: Tim Bishop

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