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A will without an executor is still valid

Posted on Author By Colm Kelly

Appointing an executor does not add to the validity of a will.  For a will to be valid, what is required is the will to be

Firstly: the will must be in writing,

Secondly: the will must be signed by the person making the will (the testator) before two witnesses and the two witnesses sign the will in front of the testator.

Thirdly: the testator must be of sound mind and understanding when making the will; and

Fourthly: the testator cannot be pressured into making the will.

We always recommend that a person takes professional advice when making a will.  If you use a professional they will guide you in making the will and in particular they will make sure that you appoint an executor.

Sometimes a person will make a will at home.  We never recommend that someone does this.  Homemade wills tend to contain unforeseen traps or difficulties that cause hardship in the future.

However if a person makes a will without professional advice and fails to appoint an executor, it doesn’t mean that the will is invalid.  Appointing an executor is not a criteria for a valid will.  What is needed are the four essential criteria as listed above.

Hope this helps and if you have any will drafting or executor queries, please reach out to us on info@kerrywills.ie

An executor should be of a certain age

Posted on Author By Colm Kelly

An executor is the person who manages your affairs after you have passed away.  They act as the conduit between your assets and getting those assets into the hands of your beneficiaries.  When thinking about picking an executor, that person doesn’t have to have particular qualifications.  Generally, the person should be someone you know and trust.  So someone you know who will respect your wishes and carry them out.  It is generally advisable to pick an executor of a certain age.  If you are in your 30s hopefully you will live for another 50 to 60 years.  In that case it might not make sense say appointing your parent as an executor, particular if that person was in the 70s or 80s.

So when picking an executor one of the items that need to be factored into is whether or not the executor is likely to be alive at the time of your death.  If the executor passes away before you pass away, then, there is a system to deal with that, but it would be better to try and cater for this and select an executor that will survive you in the future.

Hope this helps and if you have any will drafting or estate administration queires please reach out at info@kerrywills.ie

Making reference to specific sites or plots of ground in a will

Posted on Author By Colm Kelly

When persons are making a will and particularly with respect to those made in more rural environments rather than in towns or cities, at times persons making their will will have earmarked a particular site for a son or daughter.  Oftentimes persons making their wills have land but not significant cash assets and want to try and give their children a “leg up” on the property ladder.  One way they considering doing this is by leaving a site to a child in a will.

In other cases, a person may have a range of property or various parcels of land.  These could be anything from two acres of farmland to twenty or more.  Sometimes clients will know these parcels by particular historical names or by means of pet names or names of the original owners.  When drafting wills, we lawyers like to keep matters as clear as possible.

So, sometimes, clients will say, “I give a site at the rear of the house”, or “I give “White’s field”” to so and so.  While the person making the will will be aware of these plots and know where they are, a person reading the will might not.

So in these types of cases, we try and identify the properties as best we can.  Normally we do this through preparing a map of the property using the Land Registry mapping system or through identifying properties with their Land Registry plan number or folio number.  The map prepared then gets appended to the will as part of the will process.

So in short, it is normal and perfectly acceptable for someone to look to leave a site or a piece of property to a friend or relative.   We have the expertise to re-shape this into the proper format and standard that would be normal in the will drafting context.

For more information or any help with will drafting please do not hesitate to contact us on info@kerrywills.ie.  Colm Kelly

Dealing with publicly quoted shares in an estate

Posted on Author By Colm Kelly

When a person dies they may hold a range of assets.  These are normally property, bank accounts and life policies.  Often we come across individuals who hold shares and investments as part of their assets when they die.  Culturally, holding shares in Ireland is not as common as in other jurisdictions such as the US and holding shares is relatively novel (say over the last 50 years or so).  Most people’s interaction with publicly quoted shares tend to be a relatively modest investment.  Those who have a greater interest in investing tend to have a portfolio manager and those shares are held either through the manager or other set structures.  For many retail shareholders their investments tend to be on the smaller scale.  Notwithstanding that, these are assets that must be administered as part of dealing with a person’s estate and their affairs after they die.  Normally when dealing with shares you deal with a specialist organisation whose role is to manage the registers on behalf of quoted companies.  The three main operators in Ireland of such entities are Computershare, Equiniti and Link.  These three organisations are the middleman between the person administering the estate and the listed company.  In relation to shareholdings, these shareholdings can be in Ireland but many in Ireland also invest in public companies that have their listing outside of Ireland.  In that case those are treated as non-Irish assets or foreign assets for the purpose of estate administration.  The procedures of dealing with each of the middleman share register companies tend to be cumbersome, with lots of different administrative steps to go through as part of the process.   In particular one will need to ensure that the executor’s identity and that of the persons receiving the shares are properly verified to meet the anti-money laundering obligations of these third party registrars.  If you are administering an estate you need to stick with the process and be tenacious in dealing with such bodies as there can be a good deal of to and fro in dealing with such entities.  It is the obligation of an executor to ensure that these shares are properly administered and that the wishes of the deceased are carried out.

We hope this helps and for more information go to info@kerrywills.ie.

What is an executor?

Posted on Author By Colm Kelly

Most people when thinking about their wills are very focused on what their assets are and passing on their assets to their beneficiaries.  However, there is an important role in the whole administration process, that they should also consider and that is of the executor.  The executor is the person that manages your assets after you die, and ensures that there is a smooth transition of your assets into the hands of your intended beneficiaries.  An executor steps into your shoes for a short period of time (normally a year or so) and makes sure that your wishes as set out in your will are carried out.  They deal with any solicitor appointed to manage your affairs, they communicate with your beneficiaries and they make decisions about your assets (for example if you have stipulated that an asset is to be sold).  It is very important that, when making your will, you not only consider your beneficiaries but also who is to act as your executor.

For more information please reach out to us at info@kerrywills.ie

Make your will first and avoid tax second

Posted on Author By Colm Kelly

In drafting their wills many people are concerned about the payment of tax after they pass away.  We agree with clients in that endeavour in that one can put in place some tactics or structures which avoid unnecessarily paying inheritance tax or using the genuine reliefs that are available.  However, avoiding tax should not be the number one criteria in making your will.  The first issue in making a will is to ensure that you make the will that you want.  That must be the first consideration.  So in formulating your will, think about who you want to benefit and why.  We at Kerrywills.ie can advise you on the tax consequences of your decisions.  Once you know the tax consequences you can then begin to trade off between modifying your wishes and saving tax.  However, you can only make that trade off and know how you feel about that until such a time as you understand exactly what you want to do with your assets and why.

 

Hope this helps and if you have any will drafting or tax queries please reach out to me Colm Kelly solicitor at info@kerrywills.ie

Who pays for your funeral?

Posted on Author By Colm Kelly

An area of concern that often arises for clients is whether or not they will have funds to pay for their funeral.  Alternatively what also happens on occasion is that a client will have earmarked a specific account for payment of funeral costs and will ensure that that account remains in credit to pay for a funeral.  However, there is no real need to take these steps.

This is because the law has been set up to cater for this and to ensure funeral expenses are paid.  There is a rule that states that whatever monies are in your bank account and not specifically gifted to any one person are to be used to pay for your funeral.  So, at times you will have a balance of money and a clause in your will that states “Whatever is in the balance of my estate, I give to my children in equal shares”.  We often call this the residue clause.  The rule is that whatever is in your residue is used first to pay expenses.  So this will include funeral expenses.  So your funeral expenses will be effectively paid by those beneficiaries who are getting the balance of the estate or the balance of the pot.   We call these residuary beneficiaries.

You can always amend this in your will and make different provision from what the law implies.  For example if you want your funeral expenses to be paid from a specific account or by a specific person, you can always say that in your will.

On balance you don’t have to worry about not having monies in a specific account in your will.  This will be catered for in the round.  However if you want something specific about your expenses then mention this to your solicitor.

I hope this helps and if you have any will drafting queries please reach out to info@kerrywills.ie

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