More Executors Do Not Necessarily Mean More Protection

A recent High Court case should make every family think carefully about who they appoint to administer their estate.

Following the death of Laura Collins in 2022, disagreements between her five children resulted in almost four years of paralysis. No grant of administration was obtained, the estate remained unresolved and, most distressingly, their mother’s body remained in storage at an undertaker.

The court ultimately appointed one sibling as sole administrator so that the funeral could proceed and the estate could finally be administered. Storage charges, together with legal costs exceeding £53,000, were ordered to be taken from the shares of the siblings considered responsible for the delay.

It is an extreme case, but the underlying problem is not unusual.

Many people assume that appointing several children as executors is the fairest and safest approach. In practice, every additional executor creates another person who may need to agree, sign documents, respond promptly and cooperate with the others.

Where relationships are strained, personalities differ or one executor becomes obstructive, the administration can slow dramatically. In the worst cases, it can stop altogether.

At iTrust121, our preferred structure is normally:

• one professional executor; and
• no more than one or two carefully selected family executors.

The professional executor provides experience, continuity and an independent voice. The family executors retain personal knowledge of the deceased and the beneficiaries. Keeping the overall number small makes decision-making clearer and the practical administration of the estate far more manageable.

This is not about excluding family members. It is about distinguishing between those who should benefit from an estate and those best equipped to administer it.

All children can be treated equally as beneficiaries without every child being appointed as an executor.

Executor appointments should therefore be made according to capability, availability, temperament and the ability to work constructively with others—not simply family seniority or a desire to give everyone a role.

A well-drafted will does more than record who receives the estate. It establishes who will take control when the family may be grieving, relationships may be under pressure and important decisions cannot be postponed.

The objective should be a calm, practical and properly governed administration—not an executor committee large enough to require its own boardroom.

James Berkeley
Senior Counsel