Professional trustees and executors: what they do and when to appoint one

Most people name a relative as their executor without giving it much thought, and for a lot of families that works out perfectly well. Sometimes it does not, and the reasons are usually predictable in advance.

This is a plain explanation of what these roles involve, when appointing a professional is worth it, and when we would tell you to save your money and name your sister.

What an executor actually does

An executor is the person who deals with your estate after you die. The job is bigger than most people imagine.

They find and value everything you owned. They identify your debts and pay them. They apply for the grant of probate. They deal with HMRC on inheritance tax if any is due. They collect in the assets, sell property if it needs selling, and distribute what is left to the people named in your will. They keep accounts and can be held personally liable if they get it wrong.

For a straightforward estate this might take six to nine months of intermittent admin. For a complicated one, with a property to sell, a business, or a family that disagrees, it can run for years.

What a trustee actually does, and how it differs

A trustee looks after assets held in trust for someone else. Where an executor's job ends once the estate is distributed, a trustee's job can run for decades.

If your will leaves money to children until they reach 21, or sets up a trust to protect a share of the house, or provides for a vulnerable beneficiary, somebody has to manage that. Trustees make investment decisions, keep records, file trust tax returns where required, register the trust with HMRC's Trust Registration Service where required, and decide how and when beneficiaries benefit if the trust gives them that discretion.

Trustees carry legal duties. They must act in the beneficiaries' interests, act even-handedly between them, take proper advice where they are not qualified to decide alone, and exercise reasonable care and skill. Getting it wrong can mean personal liability.

It is a real job, and it is not one that most people have done before.

Why people appoint a professional

Four reasons come up again and again.

Complexity. A trust that runs for twenty years, a business that has to keep trading, property abroad, or an estate large enough for inheritance tax to matter. These need someone who has done it before.

Duration. Your chosen trustee has to be alive, well and willing for the whole life of the trust. A firm does not retire or emigrate.

Impartiality. This is the one people actually mean and rarely say out loud.

Protecting the person, not just the money. Asking a grieving son to value his mother's house, chase her pension provider and referee a disagreement with his sister is a great deal to ask of someone who has just lost a parent.

The family problem nobody likes to raise

Here is the awkward version, because you deserve it straight.

The most common source of estate disputes is a family member who is both executor and beneficiary. It is not usually dishonesty. It is that every decision they make about timing, about the house, about what is a reasonable expense, can look self-interested to a sibling who sees it differently. Once trust goes, it rarely comes back, and the legal costs come out of the money you were trying to leave them.

If you have a second marriage, children from different relationships, one child who has already been helped financially, a beneficiary who is likely to contest, or siblings who do not speak, a neutral professional removes the person in the middle. Nobody has to be the one who said no.

When a professional is genuinely worth it

• A trust that will run for years, especially for children or a vulnerable beneficiary
• A blended family, or beneficiaries who do not get on
• A business, agricultural property, or assets abroad
• An estate large enough that inheritance tax planning matters, which our inheritance tax page covers
• No obvious candidate: no close family, or the only candidate is elderly or unwell
• A beneficiary on means-tested benefits, where a clumsy payment can cost them their entitlement

When it is not

We would rather tell you than sell you something.

If your estate is straightforward, you are leaving it to one or two people who get on, there is no trust, no business and no property abroad, then a capable relative is a perfectly good executor and appointing a professional is money you do not need to spend.

A good middle path is naming a relative alongside a professional, or naming a relative with a professional as substitute if they cannot or will not act. Many people do not realise that is an option.

You can also let your executor instruct professional help later rather than building it into the will. An executor is entitled to take advice and pay for it out of the estate.

What it costs

For transparency, appointing us as your professional executor or trustee starts from £895, and ongoing trust administration is £395 a year. Both including VAT. Everything is on our pricing page.

We also offer estate administration at a fixed fee. Applying for the grant of probate is a reserved legal activity that we are not authorised to carry out, so that step goes through a regulated partner firm, and we handle the rest. It is set out on our probate page, and our probate guide walks through the process step by step.

Trustee meetings, and access

Trusts involve meetings, sometimes for many years. If you or a beneficiary are Deaf or hard of hearing, our in-house BSL interpreter can join trustee meetings as well as the original will appointment, at no extra cost and with no shortened meeting to make up for it.

That continuity matters. A trust that was set up accessibly is not much use if the annual review is not. You can read more on our Deaf and BSL service page.

What to check before appointing anyone

1. Are they willing? Ask them. Being appointed without warning is not a kindness.
2. Are they likely to outlive the job, particularly for a long-running trust?
3. Do they understand what they are taking on?
4. Have you named a substitute if they cannot act?
5. If professional, what do they charge, is it fixed or hourly, and who reviews it?
6. What happens to the appointment if the firm merges or closes?

If you want to talk it through

Whether a professional trustee or executor is right for you depends almost entirely on your family rather than your money, which is why it is worth a conversation rather than a web page.

Have a look at our trusts work, see the fees, or get in touch for a free first chat. If the answer is that your brother will do the job perfectly well, we will say so.

This article is general information, not legal advice, and figures and rules can change. For guidance on your own situation, please get in touch.