what are the costs an executor can claim for executing a will?
My sister and I inherited jointly my parents house and some savings and are both executors. I live abroad but have spent 2 months in England helping to sort out their things, but my sister being an accountant has dealt with most of the paperwork, banks and probate, She has asked me for £7000 to cover her costs. I think this is outrageously excessive compared to the size of the estate? I thought £200 would be fair?
Law & Ethics - 8 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
that sounds a bit cheeky to me.. but, apparently banks can still charge a percentage of the estate, and solicitors currently charge per hour at approx. £170. So I guess you could calculate the costs that way though on her work per hour. but just because she happens to be an accuntant i think its wrong. she could still do those jobs without being an accountant. i still think her charging for her work on HER INHERITENCE is a bit weird because she would have to do it for herself anyway if she inherited all of it. people can be so greedy i hate it. Surely she should claim money from the estate and not YOU. However, it looks like you will have to sort this out legally and it may be worthwhile to consult a solicitor about this. Did you do equal work that you could charge for your services of being executor? so potentially you could say your work was worth X, mine was worth Y, so you settle the difference? I dont know about you, but I would personally rather be pushing paperwork than emptying out an old house full of belongings and i think your work should be valued too if you sort it out. Otherwise, you could call a solicitor and tell them the amount of work your sister did and ask roughly how long it would take and a fair price. I still think its INCREDIBLY obnoxious since she benefited from the work and would have to do it ANYWAY or pay someone else to do it. things like this really pisses me off, people get soo greedy when people die. :-( the court also has to approve the costs she sets out but they may not really give a damn what she claims.
Answer 2 :
Maybe your sister should get something extra for the work she has done ..but 7000 pounds seems an awful lot..maybe you should ask a solicitor what they would charge to do the same work...I dealt with my mothers estate, the paper work,the probate, and all her the bank business..I didn't ask for anything from my brothers who also inherited from my mothers estate.. also try not to get into an argument over this..just ask how she came up with this figures.
Answer 3 :
If she's charging this much she must justify it to you by means of written accounts (given her profession, I'm surprised she's not done this already). We have just executed the wills of my in-laws and the costs did not even approach £7000. We charged the other beneficiaries the usual for postage, telephone, travel, and the settlement of outstanding bills. It sounds like she's charging for her salary for days off to deal with the will. Look into this before it becomes a bone of contention between you, you've lost your parents, you don't want to lose each other too. Best of luck.
Answer 4 :
Well, I do know that one Bank charges 4.5% for the first £100,000, then 3.5% for the next £400,000, then 1.5% of the balance, £300 for each beneficiary and £50 for each asset over £50. So, if the estate was only worth £200, 000 say, it would have cost over £8,000 with that Bank and I'd imagine that most would be much the same. That might give you some idea. Nonetheless, it's a lot to "charge" within the family. Doubtless she can enumerate her costs for you . . .
Answer 5 :
A executor (or in this case executrix) is usually only entitled to out of pocket expenses.Professional executors can charge their normal professional fees if the will contains a charging clause expressly authorising this.Professional executors typically charge 2 or 3 % of the estates value but may charge more or may bill their normal hourly rate for the work done.Whether £7K is reasonable or not depends on the estate value, the number of hours involved and the hourly charging rate.
Answer 6 :
Assuming you are joint beneficiaries so are jointly paying her to do it out of the estate she is basically charging you £7k! Unless the will specifically states that the executors will be paid or are professionals dealing with someone elses estate an executor can only claim expenses incurred. £7k is a lot of stamps and phone calls! Ask her for a complete breakdown of the costs.
Answer 7 :
Refers to UK What costs? Getting probate grants would be less than £200. You can dispute her charges . _____________ Executors who are not trust corporations or professional trustees may charge only if the will contains a paragraph which expressly authorises the payment. They may however, claim out of pocket expenses in any event. Ask for a breakdown of the charges, she must have an expensive phone company. She needs to produce a set of accounts itemising where the money is going. See needs to provide a complete breakdown of this bill, stating what each charge is for, it will then become apparent what to dispute, she can not charge your the price a Solicitor would as she is not a Solicitor its only out of pocket expenses, such as stamps and phone calls that would be incurred nothing for her time.
Answer 8 :
**You have not specified how large the estate is, what the assets held by the estate are, and how complicated the liquidation of assets would be. You indicated that it was about two months of work, but you had not indicated whether your sister was able to work at her profession during the time of the administration of the estate. A lot depends on the facts of the estate, and we do not have really enough information to give a good response.** In Pennsylvania, courts applying the decision in Johnson Estate, 4 Fid.Rep.2d 6, 8 (O.C. Del. Co. 1983), have generally approved executors fees based on a sliding scale, with 5% of the value of the probate estate value less than $100,000, 4% on the next $100,000 of value, 3% of the value $200,000 to $1,000,000, 2% of the value between $1,000,000 and $2,000,000, etc. There is an increasing trend in the United States to charge attorneys fees and executors fees based on an hourly basis. In that regard, meticulous time sheets (time records) are kept. The general idea is that for many estates, it is unreasonable to charge a percentage rate when there is not a lot of work to do in the estate. For instance, if all of a person's wealth were in bank accounts, there would be less work than there would be if there were a closely-held business to manage until it could be sold. In my experience, many people waive charging an executor's fee because they would have to pay income taxes on the executor's fee, while if they did not charge such fees, it might mean that the estate would not be reduced by that amount and the inheritance taxes charged on that portion of the estate would be much less than the income taxes.
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Monday, November 28, 2011
Monday, November 14, 2011
How do I help my friends business?
How do I help my friends business?
My friend has entrusted someone to look after his restaurant and build up the business , but now he is rude to the staff and he thinks he owns the place. Recently he has bought a £10k watch and a £10k car. And when recently the accountant found out the books don't tally up. Now my friend feels hurt by this. He is now looking at ways to find out if he is taking money from the business.
Small Business - 5 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
The books don't tally., That should be a clue.
Answer 2 :
Unless you want to efficiently run his place for him, there's really nothing you can do. He needs to start with a legal counselor and have him/her walk by his side when getting things straightened out. Was the 20K spent with the owners money without authorization? If so your friend needs to seek legal action against him. Your friend really should have kept a close eye on income, business expenses, gross income and employee comp, and how much his restaurant was grossing compared to how much inventory was going out.. If he would have done those things he would have quickly noticed the first thing was out of line and he should have taken action against whoever is responsible. And if the money was spent on the watch and car without permission, tell your friend to fire his a'ss immediately.
Answer 3 :
dont help them.that would be very helpful for them.*************
Answer 4 :
If your friend gets easily hurt he cant be doing business, he needs to stop being emotional about this and sort out the mess
Answer 5 :
Then you should hire a professional accountant for that matter. The financial statements being produced by the accountant will reflect how much money have been lost due to personal expenditures. Hope this helps and will resolve the problem with your friend!
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My friend has entrusted someone to look after his restaurant and build up the business , but now he is rude to the staff and he thinks he owns the place. Recently he has bought a £10k watch and a £10k car. And when recently the accountant found out the books don't tally up. Now my friend feels hurt by this. He is now looking at ways to find out if he is taking money from the business.
Small Business - 5 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
The books don't tally., That should be a clue.
Answer 2 :
Unless you want to efficiently run his place for him, there's really nothing you can do. He needs to start with a legal counselor and have him/her walk by his side when getting things straightened out. Was the 20K spent with the owners money without authorization? If so your friend needs to seek legal action against him. Your friend really should have kept a close eye on income, business expenses, gross income and employee comp, and how much his restaurant was grossing compared to how much inventory was going out.. If he would have done those things he would have quickly noticed the first thing was out of line and he should have taken action against whoever is responsible. And if the money was spent on the watch and car without permission, tell your friend to fire his a'ss immediately.
Answer 3 :
dont help them.that would be very helpful for them.*************
Answer 4 :
If your friend gets easily hurt he cant be doing business, he needs to stop being emotional about this and sort out the mess
Answer 5 :
Then you should hire a professional accountant for that matter. The financial statements being produced by the accountant will reflect how much money have been lost due to personal expenditures. Hope this helps and will resolve the problem with your friend!
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Monday, November 7, 2011
How do i account for Stock Options as a gift from a customer?
How do i account for Stock Options as a gift from a customer?
uk question. I know how they work if you are an employee. However, i'm a director and basically work for myself. One of my customers has paid me in full for the service i provided. I know i need to account for this in this tax year. However, they also gave me stock options that mature in 3 years time provided i don't provide my services to thier competitors. fair enough. So when do i account for these stock options ? I can't do it this years as they haven't matured so i don't know what money i've made. I'm likely to vest them in 3 years time as the options already have a a healthy profit. Hows that going to work as i've already accounted for the service in full. I'm wondering if they count as a new 3 year service - the "service" being to NOT talk to thier competitors. me ? Confused. I guess i'll have to talk to my accountant but thought i'd ask here to see if anyone knows. my customer is in the US but i don't think that matters....
Other - Business & Finance - 1 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
your customer has gifted you a headache. Were they given to you (individual) or your company? If your company, then Corporate Venturing Scheme rules may apply. That's the company equivalent of Enterprise Investment Scheme (NOT the means of giving shares to employees - that would be Employee Management Incentives - sorry I got myself confused). These may be difficult to classify as "approved" options, which would allow you to put them under CVS or EIS. If you can't do that, you may have to pay tax now on the value of the shares now, then pay tax later on the uplift. All of that would be taxed as income (individual) or I guess profit (company). Sucks. You DO need your accountant on this one. If you CAN put them under EIS or CVS, you're sorted.
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uk question. I know how they work if you are an employee. However, i'm a director and basically work for myself. One of my customers has paid me in full for the service i provided. I know i need to account for this in this tax year. However, they also gave me stock options that mature in 3 years time provided i don't provide my services to thier competitors. fair enough. So when do i account for these stock options ? I can't do it this years as they haven't matured so i don't know what money i've made. I'm likely to vest them in 3 years time as the options already have a a healthy profit. Hows that going to work as i've already accounted for the service in full. I'm wondering if they count as a new 3 year service - the "service" being to NOT talk to thier competitors. me ? Confused. I guess i'll have to talk to my accountant but thought i'd ask here to see if anyone knows. my customer is in the US but i don't think that matters....
Other - Business & Finance - 1 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
your customer has gifted you a headache. Were they given to you (individual) or your company? If your company, then Corporate Venturing Scheme rules may apply. That's the company equivalent of Enterprise Investment Scheme (NOT the means of giving shares to employees - that would be Employee Management Incentives - sorry I got myself confused). These may be difficult to classify as "approved" options, which would allow you to put them under CVS or EIS. If you can't do that, you may have to pay tax now on the value of the shares now, then pay tax later on the uplift. All of that would be taxed as income (individual) or I guess profit (company). Sucks. You DO need your accountant on this one. If you CAN put them under EIS or CVS, you're sorted.
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Tuesday, November 1, 2011
How do i go about filling in a tax return form?
How do i go about filling in a tax return form?
Hi guys got this short tax return form in, and i have not got a clue how to fill it in any idea,s anyone cant afford an accountant because i don't earn that much.Cheers all
United States - 4 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
you may be able to fill it in online
Answer 2 :
take your time and do it one question at a time you will be fine
Answer 3 :
If you make less than $39,000, you can go to the nearest IRS office and ask them to help you fill it in for free.
Answer 4 :
The short form is very easy. I was doing mine when I was 18. Spend the 15 minutes and read the directions.
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Hi guys got this short tax return form in, and i have not got a clue how to fill it in any idea,s anyone cant afford an accountant because i don't earn that much.Cheers all
United States - 4 Answers
People Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
Answer 1 :
you may be able to fill it in online
Answer 2 :
take your time and do it one question at a time you will be fine
Answer 3 :
If you make less than $39,000, you can go to the nearest IRS office and ask them to help you fill it in for free.
Answer 4 :
The short form is very easy. I was doing mine when I was 18. Spend the 15 minutes and read the directions.
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