A dies and appoints X and Y as his Executors and Trustees and leaves a life interest of his share of the property to B. Grant of Probate has been obtained but X has died suddenly leaving Y as sole Executor and Trustee.
The property is due to be sold with B purchasing a new property with her equitable share and the plan is for the Trust funds to be invested under the terms of the Life Interest Trust.
The Will is silent on minimum number of Trustees and as such Y is currently the sole surviving trustee.
Can the property be sold by B and Y and will this be adequate to cover the Form A restriction? They are two “trustees” for the purposes of the land transaction surely?
Does Y need to appoint another Trustee for (a) the sale of the property and/or (b) going forward with the investments?
I know that practically the advice is yes Y should in the long run as it’s beneficial to have at least 2 trustees, but legally does Y need to?
The post implies that A and B owned the property as tenants in common (as A “leaves a life interest in his share of the property to B”).
If this is the case, and the legal title was held in the joint names of A and B, then upon A’s death it passed to B as the sole surviving trustee of land.
The executors (and trustees) of A have only a beneficial interest in the proceeds of sale and no interest in the legal title.
Any sale can be conducted by B on their own, subject to the appointment of a second trustee to join in the transfer of the legal title to any purchaser. B could appoint Y as the second trustee, although they could equally well appoint their next door neighbour or the conveyancer handling the sale.
Accordingly, the death of X does not have any obvious impact upon a potential sale.
Paul Saunders FCIB TEP
Independent Trust Consultant
Providing support and advice to fellow professionals