What are the duties of an executor and/or a trustee to preserve/not distribute estate or trust assets when there is a claim against the estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family & Dependants) Act 1975?
An order under the Act will normally be deemed to have taken effect from the date of death, so if the PRs distribute the estate they risk distributing to the wrong person and incurring a liability accordingly.
This is subject to s. 20 of the Act which says PRs do not incur a responsibility if they distribute assets more than six months after the grant of representation, without taking into account the possibility of a claim being brought out of time.
In practice PRs will therefore often delay distributing the estate until at least six months has elapsed from the date of the grant. Once a claim has been brought the PRs should not make any (further) distribution of assets until the claim has been settled.
Paul Davies
Clarke Willmott