Here’s a real life situation. Some years ago – maybe two years ago – I helped to write someone’s Will. The person wanted to appoint a Trust company as the executor despite being advised that a family member would probably be a better choice considering the assets he owned. A year after this Will was written, he passed away.
The Trust company was called in to discuss with the family on the administration of the estate. However, not all of the beneficiaries could be present at this meeting and among those that attended, some were not too happy after hearing about the cost of administering the estate.
Unfortunately, these were only the preliminary costs talked about at this meeting, which would include the cost of applying for the grant of Probate. And it was confirmed that there weren’t many assets anyway.
The family asked for an alternative solution and the Trust company decided to stand down as the executor, leaving the family to apply for a Distribution Order under the Small Estate (Distribution) Act as if the deceased had not written any Will. The family agreed to this solution.
The last I heard about this matter was that the family members could still not resolve the problem of distributing the estate. It wasn’t so much as the cost now but rather, the beneficiaries could not agree among themselves. Sad, but there’s nothing I or the Trust company could do to help them anymore.