Has anyone been executor for an overseas estate?
Discussion
In the past few days, I have been informed that a close relative of mine has passed away. She has lived in Canada for over 50 years and I'm her next of kin.
While she has written a will, she was in the process of trying to decide on an executor when she passed away. So we know her wishes, but there is no-one officially assigned to complete those tasks. I've spoken to a couple of her friends in Canada, but no-one is putting their hand up to take this on.
Obviously there is the case of selling her assets, but then there is arranging the funeral, getting the death certificate, closing bank accounts, contacting utility companies, retrieving some of her items from the police (which i suppose one of her friends could do), etc etc.
Not knowing how these things work over there, is it feasible that i could act as executor remotely from the UK? Do i need to get myself over there to figure things out? Or am i best trying to employ a professional in Canada to do it?
Any tips or suggestions would be gratefully received!
While she has written a will, she was in the process of trying to decide on an executor when she passed away. So we know her wishes, but there is no-one officially assigned to complete those tasks. I've spoken to a couple of her friends in Canada, but no-one is putting their hand up to take this on.
Obviously there is the case of selling her assets, but then there is arranging the funeral, getting the death certificate, closing bank accounts, contacting utility companies, retrieving some of her items from the police (which i suppose one of her friends could do), etc etc.
Not knowing how these things work over there, is it feasible that i could act as executor remotely from the UK? Do i need to get myself over there to figure things out? Or am i best trying to employ a professional in Canada to do it?
Any tips or suggestions would be gratefully received!
Sorry to hear about your relative.
Having just started on my role as Executor for my Aunt here I would say trying to do it overseas would be painful to say the least.
I believe an non resident of Canada also needs to post a bond.
If it were me I’d be trying to find a solicitor or equivalent there and perhaps take it from there ?
Having just started on my role as Executor for my Aunt here I would say trying to do it overseas would be painful to say the least.
I believe an non resident of Canada also needs to post a bond.
If it were me I’d be trying to find a solicitor or equivalent there and perhaps take it from there ?
Sounds similar to here then.
When I first looked into Solicitor costs most were happy to quote a fixed price to take up to the grant of Probate with then a variable fee in dealing with estate admin afterwards.Whether I was happy with the numbers quoted is a different issue !
Fixed fees ( obviously estate size and complexity dependent ) seem to range from a low of about £2k to £4k plus.
Estate admin ( which in some cases appeared to include the grant of probate steps had an even wider range which averaged anywhere from 1% -5% !
I was " lucky " in that as LPA I had already done a huge amount of heavy lifting so was able to negotiate a hybrid service from my chosen Solicitor.
In your case given the out of Country issue I would suggest you just send an email detailing what you think is required from them and send to a few companies ( maybe 3 ?) and see what sort of response you get ?
What Province in Canada ?
When I first looked into Solicitor costs most were happy to quote a fixed price to take up to the grant of Probate with then a variable fee in dealing with estate admin afterwards.Whether I was happy with the numbers quoted is a different issue !
Fixed fees ( obviously estate size and complexity dependent ) seem to range from a low of about £2k to £4k plus.
Estate admin ( which in some cases appeared to include the grant of probate steps had an even wider range which averaged anywhere from 1% -5% !
I was " lucky " in that as LPA I had already done a huge amount of heavy lifting so was able to negotiate a hybrid service from my chosen Solicitor.
In your case given the out of Country issue I would suggest you just send an email detailing what you think is required from them and send to a few companies ( maybe 3 ?) and see what sort of response you get ?
What Province in Canada ?
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