Farming when someone passes away

duffysfarm

I have a friend who has lost his mother recently. His father passed a few years back. He has been left the farm and cattle in the will but the estate still has to go through probate etc. What can he do in the short term to continue reading I.e. if he slaughters some cattle the herd number will be in the mother's name and cheque issued to her name also. He was with the solicitor on Friday and they were vague on this - I thought they would have been the best able to advise on this. I am going to call my local bank manager and see what banks do in cases like this e.g. can they set up a bank account for the estate of the deceased or something to that effect. If this is the way it is done then he dept of agri would also have to do something. Has anyone else any experience of this?

tellmeabit

I would contact the depts inheritance unit. Very helpful. Is he set up as herd keeper?

duffysfarm

thanks - is that a seperate unit to the ocal dept office?
i will have to check and see if he is the herd keeper

tellmeabit wrote: »

I would contact the depts inheritance unit. Very helpful. Is he set up as herd keeper?

patsy_mccabe

First contact inheritance unit and apply for status of Herd Keeper. That way he will be able to do all the day to day business of buying selling cattle, registering births etc. Inform your solicitor first before you do this.
In the mean time all cheques will still come in mothers name but cannot be lodged or cashed as mothers bank account will be frozen.
A new account for the Estate can be opened but only when probate had being taken out. Ask solicitor before hand before doing anything.

anthony500_1

The solicitor can change checks in the deceased persons name, but you will pay them well for the privilege. Speaking from experience.

Dakota Dan

Isn't it great to have friends that are willing to inquire about your personal circumstances on boards.

elperello

Advise new solicitor.
Vagueness is not a good quality when it comes to law.

anthony500_1

Just to add, in a clear cut case probate should only take 6 odd months if the solicitor does there job, it should not take years, so holding on to stock an extra 6 months won't make or break any one unless your under serious pressure. One you have the will you can contact the dept about getting the herd singed over to become a keeper and then as herd owner in due coarse

duffysfarm

Dakota Dan wrote: »

Isn't it great to have friends that are willing to inquire about your personal circumstances on boards.

Yeah, brilliant. Also great the way some people can post here having no input whatso ever

Base price

patsy_mccabe wrote: »

First contact inheritance unit and apply for status of Herd Keeper. That way he will be able to do all the day to day business of buying selling cattle, registering births etc. Inform your solicitor first before you do this.
In the mean time all cheques will still come in mothers name but cannot be lodged or cashed as mothers bank account will be frozen.
A new account for the Estate can be opened but only when probate had being taken out. Ask solicitor before hand before doing anything.

I thought that an Executor account could be opened at anytime.

patsy_mccabe

Base price wrote: »

I thought that an Executor account could be opened at anytime.

Sorry, your probably right. Maybe it's a 'letter of administration '.

duffysfarm

Thanks everyone for the replies as they have been a big help. I this this will be a valuable posting for a lot of other people also as we are all going to experience something like this at some stage.

Bass Reeves

Dakota Dan wrote: »

Isn't it great to have friends that are willing to inquire about your personal circumstances on boards.

When dealing with inheritance and solicitors any advice is great and very cheap. First off I am mystified that OP's friend's solicitor could not clarify the matter.especially when you consider the charges that solicitors take for administrating estates unless you bargain with them before hand for what are fairly straight forward adminstrative duties.

Most people do not know that for instance the executors can take out probate themselves and as long as they follow the wills instructions there is no issue. Solicitors charge 7-10% of a will value to do this. it is immaterial if an estate is worth 10k, 100K or 1 million the amount of work involved in its distribution is much the same.

patsy_mccabe

The more experience I have with solicitors, the more I'm convinced they are nothing more then a bunch of scavengers.

I know of a case where a farmer died and left everything in his will to his wife. Straight forward but he billed her exactly the amount in his account, effectively taking all of their lives savings. The son who was dealing with it went ballistic and the solicitor then agreed on a sum that was far less than half the original amount provided they kept quiet on the matter.

He not only lost half the amount, but all future business from what was a big family too.

Muckit

There are chancers in every profession so I don't think you can tar all with the one brush. Maybe I'm lucky, but l have an excellent solicitor. The height of professionalism and no issue with their fees.

nhg

One of the most important things is that The Executor is responsible for the day to day running and maintenance of the farm & estate. The executor changes everything into the name of 'The Reps of .....' (i.e. Insurance etc) therefore allowing them to lodge the cattle sales cheque (made payable to The Reps of ... ) to the executor bank a/c to pay for the day to day running of the farm until Probate has been completed. The executor needs to do a set of accounts for the period of when they were in charge of the estate... The executor should also be the Herd Keeper...

The executor job is not a nice job as not paid for the work unless stipulated in the will (but if the solicitor is the executor they get paid for it)

sonnybill

nhg wrote: »

One of the most important things is that The Executor is responsible for the day to day running and maintenance of the farm & estate. The executor changes everything into the name of 'The Reps of .....' (i.e. Insurance etc) therefore allowing them to lodge the cattle sales cheque (made payable to The Reps of ... ) to the executor bank a/c to pay for the day to day running of the farm until Probate has been completed. The executor needs to do a set of accounts for the period of when they were in charge of the estate... The executor should also be the Herd Keeper...

The executor job is not a nice job as not paid for the work unless stipulated in the will (but if the solicitor is the executor they get paid for it)

Any ones I dealt with there'd be 2 executors (family members or trusted friend of the deceased) they would both have to agree to say releasing 5-10k to the son for feeding animals / upkeep of farm until estate of mr X are completed

djmc

If your sure its coming to said person and he was stuck for cash he could always ask mart manager if cheques could be made to him rather than his mother.
private sales such as done deal most lads wouldn't be bothered who they make the cheque out to.
a bridging loan form bank could be another option

BnB

duffysfarm wrote: »

thanks - is that a seperate unit to the ocal dept office?
i will have to check and see if he is the herd keeper

See the link below - Yes they are different to the local office - I have used them before and found them very very helpful. My biggest mistake was I wasted my time dealing with other solicitors/government departments before contacting them. Tell your mate to contact them as soon as possible and they will set you on the right track. They will need to contact other departments and people in time, but these guys are your starting point. They are literally exist to do exactly what your buddy needs now.

https://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/customerservice/inheritanceenquiryunit/InheritanceEnquiryUnitInformationNote161213.doc