I am dealing with the estate of a lady who was previously subject to a Court of Protection Order. The solicitor deputy has requested her fees be approved so that she can deduct her fees before the funds she was holding are transferred to me as executor.
There are a number of debts on the estate, although the estate will be solvent. There is a property subject to life interest which is currently resided in by the terminally ill husband.
Am I within my right as executor to approve the costs and advise the solicitor that the funds must be transferred and I will pay her account once funds are available?
I suspect the Deputy wants her costs approved by you to avoid the need to have them assessed by the Costs Office (which would undoubtedly result in a reduction). It may be safer for you to ask for them to assessed anyway as, not to do so, may expose you to challenge by the residuary beneficiaries.
As a creditor of the estate, the Deputy is an unsecured creditor and must be treated equally with all other unsecured creditors if the estate were to prove insolvent. Again, it would be safer for you to require payment of the funds held by the Deputy and only to pay her fee once you have ascertained solvency.
When dealing with similar situations in the past, I have withheld funds until the executor has the grant, in order to take a copy and an authority from the executor to pay over the funds. My final fees were always agreed by the executor, rather than the SCCO, as the previous post mentioned.
