Beneficiary rights

Technically, you only have the legal right to see the Will once the Grant of Probate is issued and it becomes a public document. This means if you were to ask to see the Will before then, the executors could theoretically refuse.

In practice, however, this is rare – you’d usually be told straightaway about any inheritance you’d been left, and if you asked to see the Will before the Grant of Probate had been issued, it’s unlikely you wouldn’t be allowed to.

Beneficiaries will most often run into problems if the executor is not progressing things as fast as the beneficiary wants, is not paying liabilities at an early opportunity, or isn’t being clear about what’s going on.

We’ve helped beneficiaries deal with issues such as:

• Delay obtaining a Grant of Probate
• Delay administering the estate once Probate has been obtained
• Lack of information
• Failure to disclose accounts.

We can also help if you believe an executor is abusing their position and mismanaging the estate in some way. For example:

• Being dishonest or reckless with funds from the estate
• Selling property under market value
• Trying to buy property from the deceased’s estate for themselves
• Paying beneficiaries before settling outstanding debts.

If you’re worried about any of these circumstances, we can advise you on your rights and how we can help.

If you have any concerns about the way an executor is administering an estate, we’ll be able to advise you on the best course of action. This could include:

• Requesting a full inventory of the estate and/or the accounts
• Applying to remove an executor
• Replacing an executor with someone more suitable
• Applying for the estate to be restored if the executor’s actions have resulted in it losing value
• Making a claim against the executor for breach of their duties.

If the executor is in breach of their duties, we can help you make a claim to have them personally to account for any financial loss.

Find more information on our page, Challenging the Executor of a Will.

We can also help you defend your position if you’re an executor facing a challenge from a beneficiary. Our specialist Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team has extensive experience helping both beneficiaries and executors and can help you resolve any disagreements that have come up.

There’s no simple answer to this – probate can take a long time, and will depend on the individual circumstances of each estate. In most cases, you might expect it to be between one to two years before everything is settled.

Before the estate can be distributed, the executor must settle any outstanding debts and make sure all assets are available. This could involve selling property whose value is to be split between different beneficiaries, which may take time. Complex estates, especially those involving foreign assets, can add to the delay.

An executor can’t be made to distribute an estate until one year has passed from the date of death: this is called the ‘executor’s year’. Even after this date, they can’t be forced to distribute it if there’s a good reason preventing them – for example, if they’re waiting on the sale of a property.

We appreciate it can be frustrating for beneficiaries, especially if you’re not sure what’s happening or when to expect your share. If you think things are taking too long or you’d just like more information, we can help you take the appropriate steps.

There’s no set timescale for how often an executor should update beneficiaries, however it’s good practice for everyone to agree at the start on how and when they’ll keep you informed while they’re administering the estate.

Once the Grant of Probate has been issued, the executor must keep accounts and have these ready to show beneficiaries if they ask for them. If you’re concerned that you’re not getting enough information from an executor, that things are taking too long or you’re not being allowed to see the accounts, our team will be able to advise you on your options.

An executor can only change a Will (or someone’s provision under intestacy) in the following circumstances:

• The beneficiary whose share is being changed consents to it
• The beneficiary is an adult
• The beneficiary has mental capacity.

If you decide you don’t want or need the inheritance you’ve been left, you can choose to reduce your share or exclude yourself completely from the Will.

If this is the case we can help you take steps to alter the Will – find out more on our page about changing a Will after death.

If an executor doesn’t feel capable of taking up their duties, they can give up their right to administer an estate – this is called ‘renouncing’.

However, if they’ve already got the Grant of Probate and have taken steps to administer the estate, this is called ‘intermeddling’, and they are no longer allowed to renounce their duties.

If this is the case, they can only step down from their role by applying to the Court. We can help them make this application so a new executor can be appointed, or any other named executors can get on with administering the estate.

An executor isn’t allowed to get someone else to make decisions for them, though they can instruct others to carry out practical or administrative tasks on their behalf.

If there is another named executor in the Will, they can also postpone their right to administer the estate without completely stepping down from their role. This is known as ‘power reserved’.

In the case of ‘power reserved’, the other executor would take out the Grant of Probate and administer the estate. This is often done if an executor lives abroad or is too unwell or busy to carry out their duties.

If you believe an executor is not carrying out their duties properly, you can apply to the Court to remove them from their role. The Court will want to see evidence that they are not fit for the role. This may be the case if:

• They’ve been convicted of a crime since they were appointed
• They have financial difficulties, such as being made bankrupt
• They don’t have the physical or mental capacity to carry out their duties
• There’s a conflict of interest
• They’ve committed serious misconduct – such as mismanaging the estate, stealing from it, failing to keep accounting records or selling property under market value.

If you’re concerned about an executor’s actions, our dedicated Will, Trust and Estate Disputes team will be able to help you take steps to make a claim against them.

Yes, an executor of a Will can also be a beneficiary. It's very common for the main beneficiary of the estate to be an executor of that estate.

Yes, trustees can be beneficiaries of the trust they're managing. This is quite a common agreement, particularly in family trusts.

It's important to consider any possible conflicts of interests, making sure that the trustee is acting in the best interest of all beneficiaries, not just their own. Trustees who are beneficiaries must treat all other beneficiaries equally and adhere to the terms of the trust. Failing to do so can lead to conflict and possible legal disputes.

Under the law in England & Wales, there's no set time frame in which a beneficiary must be notified about a person's estate.

However, there's a general expectation that this information will be communicated as soon as possible. This helps to avoid any possible disputes with beneficiaries.

As a result, beneficiaries are normally notified within a few weeks to a few months after the death of the testator. It is unusual for there to be a “reading of the Will” meeting and most often beneficiaries are notified separately.

Certain factors can inform how long it takes to notify the beneficiaries of a Will. These include:

• Efficiency of the executor
• How complex the estate is
• Whether there's a valid Will in place.

If a beneficiary dies before the person who made the Will (testator), their gift will fail, and they won't receive anything from the estate, although Testators can make a provision in their Will that a specific beneficiary should receive a gift in the event of another beneficiary dying.

If the wording doesn’t provide for someone else to receive the gift, the deceased beneficiary’s inheritance will usually remain in the testator's residuary estate and be redistributed among other beneficiaries.

However, if the beneficiary outlives the testator but then dies before they get their inheritance, it will usually become part of their own estate. This will then be passed on according to their Will or the Rules of Intestacy.

If the beneficiary only survives the testator by a few days, this could be treated as them having died before the testator. It's common to have a survivorship clause in Wills, which states that a beneficiary usually must survive the testator by 28 days to inherit.