Working with other executors, including when you live apart

You can gather information before deciding together

One executor can request a quote through GetWill, collect documents and find out what help is available. Requesting a quote does not instruct Fifty Six Law to administer the estate.

Share the written quote, scope, exclusions and terms with the other executors. Before work begins, the firm confirms who will instruct it and obtains the necessary agreement.

The same distinction matters later. Passing on information is different from approving an additional fee or giving a substantive instruction.

Agree who will do what

It helps to settle a few practical arrangements early:

• Who will be the main contact for routine correspondence.
• Which documents each person can obtain.
• How everyone who needs to decide will receive the information.
• How instructions, costs and other significant decisions will be approved.
• How concerns or disagreements will be raised.

A main contact can help keep things organised. That role does not automatically let them decide for another executor.

Named executors do not always take the same role

Someone named in a will may apply for probate, reserve power to apply later or renounce their right to apply. These choices have different consequences.

GOV.UK explains the options for executors. Where more than one executor is named, they must agree who makes the probate application.

Do not treat a person's silence, an invitation to GetWill or their decision to help with paperwork as evidence of their legal position. Ask us through GetWill if anyone is unsure about the arrangement.

Working remotely

You can provide information and copies through GetWill and correspond by email. A call can help where something needs discussion.

Tell us where each executor lives and where the person who died lived and held assets. An executor living in Scotland does not, by itself, determine the law or probate procedure for the estate.

Fifty Six Law checks the estate's circumstances before agreeing to act. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different probate procedures from England and Wales. See GOV.UK's probate guidance.

We explain the identity checks, signatures and original documents needed. The probate application normally requires the original will; uploading a copy does not replace that requirement.

Sharing information in GetWill

Use separate accounts for each person who needs access. GetWill has invitations for sharing specified parts of an estate, with viewing or contribution permissions.

Check what the invitation allows before sharing it. Beneficiaries and people helping with documents do not necessarily need access to the whole estate.

Access lets someone see or contribute the information permitted. It does not appoint them as an executor or authorise them to instruct Fifty Six Law.

Before taking on the work, Fifty Six Law confirms who is instructing the firm and how their agreement will be recorded.

If executors disagree

Raise the issue before acting on disputed instructions. Keep the relevant correspondence and explain what decision is outstanding.

A difference of opinion does not automatically require court proceedings. The next step depends on the duties, evidence and practical effect of the disagreement.

Fifty Six Law's specialist team handles contentious probate and contentious trust disputes. The firm first checks whether it can advise, including any conflict between people it already represents.

Read about executor misconduct, trust disputes and other claims, or compare estate administration services.