
Personal Representatives (otherwise known as Executors or Administrators) are responsible for distributing a deceased’s estate to the right beneficiaries as per the Will or Intestacy Rules.
Personal Representatives (PRs) may place a notice in The London Gazette and/or the local newspaper to invite beneficiaries to come forward. These are also known as s27 Trustee Act Notices.
Placing these notices can offer some protection to PRs and they show that an effort has been made to locate missing beneficiaries (and creditors) before distributing an estate.
However, these notices do not protect PRs, if they are aware of a beneficiary's entitlement, but simply cannot locate them. It would still be beneficial to place the notices, though further steps should be taken to safeguard PRs where there are missing beneficiaries.
How to protect against claims
To protect PRs from future claims by missing beneficiaries, they could consider the following:
• Arrange to pay the share due to the missing beneficiary into Court and distribute the remainder of the estate.
• Consider distributing the estate to the known beneficiaries and obtaining an indemnity from them in respect of the missing beneficiary.
• Apply to Court for a Benjamin Order which gives the PRs Court approval to distribute the estate based on a specific assumption set out in the order, for instance, that the missing beneficiary died prior to the deceased without any direct descendants.
• Obtain insurance cover against the risk of the missing beneficiary appearing.
• Instruct a genealogist who has experience of tracing missing beneficiaries.
• Rely on a declaration under the Presumption of Death Act 2013 which means that the High Court can determine that a missing person is deemed to have died if they are satisfied that the missing person has died or is not known to have been alive for a period of at least seven years.
In order to mitigate the risk of any claim, all efforts should be made to locate the missing beneficiary before a distribution is made.
How do I avoid all of the above?
By keeping your Will up to date when circumstances regarding you or beneficiaries change, you can avoid leaving your PRs with a potential missing beneficiary scenario.
How we can help
For further information on how to locate beneficiaries please contact me, Sara Hilliard on 01332 364436 or at s.hilliard@timms-law.com