Choose a professional executor if nobody you know is willing and able to act, or if your estate is complex. Being an executor takes time, needs care and can bring personal liability, so many people appoint a professional on their own or alongside a family member.
What does the job involve?
An executor values the estate, deals with the tax, applies for probate, sells property and makes sure every gift in the will reaches the right beneficiary. Read more in what does an executor do?
Why can it be risky for a family member?
An executor holds the estate on trust for the beneficiaries. If they get something wrong and the estate loses money, they can be personally liable. A court can excuse an executor who acted honestly and reasonably, but that is at the court's discretion (Trustee Act 1925, s.61). A professional executor must also use the higher standard of care expected of someone acting in a profession (Trustee Act 2000, s.1).
When does a professional executor make sense?
- There is nobody you know who would be willing and able to act.
- Your estate includes property, investments, a business or assets abroad.
- Your family may not get on, and a neutral executor would help.
- Your will creates a trust, for example for a child under 18.
- Your executors would rather not take on the paperwork themselves.
Why a trust corporation?
Digilegal Trustees is a trust corporation. Where a trust holds land, sale money must normally be paid to at least two trustees, but a trust corporation can give a valid receipt on its own (Trustee Act 1925, s.14). Read more in trusts, trustees and trust corporations.
Professional and family executors together
You can appoint a professional alongside a family member or friend. Your family stays involved, and the professional does the technical work. With Digilegal Trustees, our Promise means your other executor can ask us to step aside at any time.
What does it cost?
Professional executors traditionally charge a percentage of the estate or an hourly rate. Digilegal Trustees charges a fixed fee, from £450.