Inheritance

sweetbubbly

Hi all,

I was left money back in 1988 by my grandmother it was to be released when I turned 25, (4 years ago) How do I go about tracking it down, my mother would normally have sorted this but she had a stroke recently and her speech has been affected. I know the name of the executor, he was a solicitor in stephens green, but he then became a judge. I'm not sure what the name of the solicitors practice though. And I've googled his name but nothing comes up except court cases he presided over. Do I just ring all the solicitors on Stephens green and ask if he worked there at some point, or do I have to track him down personally? Can anyone advise on how to go about this? Anyone with any advice is gratefully received.....

dtdmp

sweetbubbly wrote: »

Hi all,

I was left money back in 1988 by my grandmother it was to be released when I turned 25, (4 years ago) How do I go about tracking it down, my mother would normally have sorted this but she had a stroke recently and her speech has been affected. I know the name of the executor, he was a solicitor in stephens green, but he then became a judge. I'm not sure what the name of the solicitors practice though. And I've googled his name but nothing comes up except court cases he presided over. Do I just ring all the solicitors on Stephens green and ask if he worked there at some point, or do I have to track him down personally? Can anyone advise on how to go about this? Anyone with any advice is gratefully received.....

Your best bet would be to ring the solicitors around the area, most offices would keep records of things like this so if you get the right one they have it on file

sweetbubbly

Ok thanks, so if I can track down the solicitors offices, can they sort it out or will they have to get in touch with the executor? (sorry if these are stupid questions, I'm completely ignorant of legal matters)

Jo King

dtdmp wrote: »

Your best bet would be to ring the solicitors around the area, most offices would keep records of things like this so if you get the right one they have it on file

That would be silly. There are numerous solicitors in that area. Many firms have moved. Some would charge for the time in checking their records. The best thing to do is write to the judge and make and enquiry as to what has been done with his former practise.

dats_right

Jo King wrote: »

The best thing to do is write to the judge and make and enquiry as to what has been done with his former practise.

In my opinion, that would be equally silly and inapropriate. The OP can contact the Probate Office and for a nominal fee obtain a copy of their grandmother's Grant of Probate, which will contain the name of the firm of solicitors who extracted the Grant. If the firm is still in existence well then contact them directly, if not, the OP can contact the Law Society who will be able to tell him/her what became of that practice (e.g. merged, name change, closed down, etc) and what became of its files.

Jo King

dats_right wrote: »

In my opinion, that would be equally silly and inapropriate.

Far from it. An executor is appointed for life. It is the judge who is the executor and not the firm. It would be entirely wrong for anyone in the firm to assume any role in relation to the matter until instructed by the executor to do so.

dats_right

Jo King wrote: »

Far from it. An executor is appointed for life. It is the judge who is the executor and not the firm. It would be entirely wrong for anyone in the firm to assume any role in relation to the matter until instructed by the executor to do so.

1. Quite often people incorrectly state that a solicitor is the executor when in actual fact what they mean is that the solicitor is administering the Estate on behalf of the LPR. Solicitors generally don't like being appointed as executors and for these reasons it should be firmly established that the Judge is in fact the executor.

2. You are quite right in saying that appointment to the role of executor is for life, but, in circumstances where apparently the executor has been appointed to the Bench, I would have thought that the Judge would almost certainly not wish to continue to act as LPR and would seek the consent of the High Court to now rennounce his role.

3. Owing to 1 & 2 I would have thought it best for the OP to contact the firm rather than the now Judge and let the firm either contact the Judge, if indeed he is the Executor, with a view to make whatever arrangements are necessary or contact the actual LPR to arrange for payment of the monies due.

Jo King

If the judge is not the executor, ( I think that it is patronising to assume that the o/p is wrong on this point) then the o/p should track down the executor. It is up to the executor to instruct solicitors to do anything which may be required. A beneficiary cannot instruct solicitors on behalf of an estate.

stoblerone

sweetbubbly wrote: »

Hi all,

I was left money back in 1988 by my grandmother it was to be released when I turned 25, (4 years ago) How do I go about tracking it down, my mother would normally have sorted this but she had a stroke recently and her speech has been affected. I know the name of the executor, he was a solicitor in stephens green, but he then became a judge. I'm not sure what the name of the solicitors practice though. And I've googled his name but nothing comes up except court cases he presided over. Do I just ring all the solicitors on Stephens green and ask if he worked there at some point, or do I have to track him down personally? Can anyone advise on how to go about this? Anyone with any advice is gratefully received.....

This might appear to the a daft question, would I be right to say that the judge is the trustee of his inheritence?

Is this appearing to be a problem for sweetbubbly just because the person holding the key to his inheritence is now a judge?


Go easy on me:)

Sangre

Jo King wrote: »

( I think that it is patronising to assume that the o/p is wrong on this point)

Not really, the terms are often inter changed in real life even though they have very significant legal implications. I can't imagine the judge being executor unless he knew the grandmother and/or was related.

Jo King

It is far from unknown for solicitors to act as executor. In some country areas people are reluctant to appoint relatives as executor and ask the solicitor to act. Some solicitors accept the role since it ensures that they can do the legal work on the estate when the person dies. It could well have happened that in the o/ps case the solicitor who drew up the will was also appointed as executor. Later, the solicitor was appointed to the bench. Appointment to the bench would not automatically bring the executorship to an end.
The o/p has given facts. Any suggestions made to him should presume the facts given are correct or the o/p should be asked for clarification.