I've been suckered. Again

[klondike]

Remember - for the sake of your beneficiaries. Please keep your affairs simple.

My father died in 2006. Fortunately he had had his will changed to set the executors to  my mother rather than the solicitors that drew them up. If he hadn't I reckon the solicitors would have scooped the pot.

The problem was that when all the building societies were demutualising he had put a few hundred into loads of them hoping to scoop the members bonuses many gave when they did. He scored with some for sure but not all as they either never demutualise or didn't pay. For some he got penny-ante lots of shares which he hung on to. When he died there was also still quite a bit of money scattered around although he had drained quite a few of  the accounts by then.

Anyway sorting it out took quite a while but I did it eventually as there was little chance that my mother could have.

At some time whoever controls financial stuff changed the rules and made those running dormant accounts track down beneficiaries and send them the assets no matter how small. Over the years I've been contacted over quite a few where the account had been cleared out but before the final interest was paid so the account ended up with a balance.  Usually the amount involved is pence and you get an option for them to pass it on to a charity. Sometimes they have sent cheques which weren't worth the effort of paying in.

Anyway I just had another one. They wanted birth and death dates past addresses and even an original death certificate for my mother (the deceased executor). Anybody who hasn't been through this a dozen times before like me would be rubbing their hands in anticipation of a nice little unexpected windfall.  I know better. I still dug out the necessary paperwork though. You can never be sure

[Diasi]

I did it for my wife's Will as the person she appointed couldn't do it & signed the job over to me, but I've appointed our solicitors to be executors for my will which is a very simple & straightforward one.

They quoted in the region of £1,000, but I might revisit it.

[Michael Rolls]

I was my sister's executor - nightmare. She was in debt when she died, probate took months, her house was in joint ownership between herself and a housing association who were worse than useless. She died in February 2019. I finally managed to sell her house in September 2021, and finally cleared all the bequests, settled the debts, etc. that November. In the process I sent or received around 1,000 e-mails and 200 letters! And this was a straightforward estate! When the time comes, mine will be considerably more complex - my solicitor will be my executor!

[Sheila]

Be wary if you are thinking about a trust.  My aunt and uncle had a trust and it cost my cousin thousands to get out of it.  She said that the only people who benefitted from it were the bank and the solicitor.

[GrannyMac]

I remember Mike posting about the problems selling his sister's home and all the work it entailed. 

Our children are our beneficiaries and our executors. Very simple. 

[Michael Rolls]

you have to be careful setting up trusts - especially careful with 'tax and spend' Hunt at the wheel that he doesn't go and introduce something to get his hands on as much of them as possible. When Veronica died, Niall and Victoria benefitted from the trust she had established tax free. Hopefully that will still be case when I go,  but with shower in charge, who knows? And if Labour were to get in...
Mike

[klondike]

I'm pretty much certain that your "if Labour were to get in" should more realistically be "when Labour get in". Surely nobody can be expecting the next government to be Tory?

[Michael Rolls]

sadly, you are probably right. It reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon - Lucy and Pattie are giving Charlie Brown a hard time and he responds with 'One day I'll be president and then you'll be sorry!' Doesn't have the desired effect as the girls chorus 'I'll say we will!'

[Alex]

I'm pretty much certain that your "if Labour were to get in" should more realistically be "when Labour get in". Surely nobody can be expecting the next government to be Tory?

The Tories do 

[klondike]

Certifiable.

[Scrumpy]

I don't think Labour will get in.. 
I know the Conservatives are unpopular.. but that doesn't make Labour more popular..

[JBR]

I don't think Labour will get in..
I know the Conservatives are unpopular.. but that doesn't make Labour more popular..

Needless to say, I hope neither of them get in.
My only hope is that a new centre-right party forms the next government.  Reform is the one I shall vote for.
It does seem a forlorn hope, to be honest, but I am encouraged when I read that many traditionally Conservative voters say that they, too, will be voting for Reform in 2024.

[klondike]

My rather farfetched vision through a murky crystal ball sees a continuing fall in Tory popularity as they fail to achieve any of the things their potential supporters desire. This will probably push enough votes to Reform to produce a Tory wipeout similar to that suffered by the ruling progressive Conservatives in Canada in 1993

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Canadian_federal_election

Such a defeat should kill the party. The most likely result here of a total rout of the Tories will be a Labour Party with a huge majority and they will bugger things up so badly that the next election will be open to all manner of new parties. Whether any of them are capable of doing any better though remains to be seen.

[JBR]

My rather farfetched vision through a murky crystal ball sees a continuing fall in Tory popularity as they fail to achieve any of the things their potential supporters desire. This will probably push enough votes to Reform to produce a Tory wipeout similar to that suffered by the ruling progressive Conservatives in Canada in 1993

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Canadian_federal_election

Such a defeat should kill the party. The most likely result here of a total rout of the Tories will be a Labour Party with a huge majority and they will bugger things up so badly that the next election will be open to all manner of new parties. Whether any of them are capable of doing any better though remains to be seen.

Probably so.
As it has been many years since Labour had another go at cocking up the country (and succeeded), many people have forgotten what happened and, being basically unadventurous on average, cannot see beyond the Conservative-Labour two-party politics that seems to have become a tradition.

[Raven]

A very bad tradition in my book.