I am acting for a client who’s deceased mother had dealings with Universal Wealth Management (UWM).
Mother signed a family trust in 2014 and appointed UWM as trustees. The intention of the trust was to settle her main home. However, the schedule of trust assets does not include the property and the legal title is still held in Mother’s sole name.
Mother also signed a discretionary trust will appointing daughter and friend (now deceased). Mother’s main home will form part of the will trust. On Mother’s death, daughter signed a POA to appoint a director of UWM as her attorney for the purposes of obtaining a grant and administering the estate. It is safe to say that the attorney has not fulfilled his role.
I have drawn up the necessary documents to remove UWM as trustees of the lifetime settlement but I am unsure how I go about removing the attorney as administrator? Would I follow the procedure for a cessate grant?
Did the attorney get as far as obtaining the grant? If not, then the
daughter ought to revoke the power of attorney and proceed to apply for
a grant in her own name in the usual way. She could actually just apply
for the grant because granting a power of attorney to do something does
not normally prevent the grantor doing it herself, but it would be
sensible to revoke the power of attorney in the circumstances.
In theory, even if the attorney has taken a grant, the procedure is, I
think, still simply for the daughter to take a normal grant in her own
name. It isn’t actually a cessate grant because the original grant to
the attorney would have been expressed to be limited “until further
representation be granted” anyway. Strictly speaking, as I understand
it, a cessate grant is made because the first grant has terminated. In
this case the position is reversed and the first grant terminates
because the second grant has been made. In practice it isn’t going to be
a normal application and you are likely to have to provide very similar
information to the Probate Registry as you would if you were applying
for a cessate grant. If you are lucky there may be a precedent in
Tristram & Coote, but I don’t have a copy handy this afternoon.