In my experience most reputable solicitors will renounce their role as executors if asked to do so by the beneficiaries. However in recent months we have seen a sharp increase in the number of cases where executors refuse to renounce.
The law says if a bank, solicitor or will drafter refuses to renounce their role then there is almost nothing that can be done to make them. The only option is to make an application to the high court to have them removed by such actions are highly unusual.
Final Duties was involved recently with a case in Liverpool where a firm of solicitors who were appointed as sole executors have failed to commence the administration of the estate more than a year after the death. The client went to the high court and the judge made an order to terminate their Executorship on the 19th August. Such applications however are extremely rare.
Final Duties is also involved in a ground breaking test case which will be heard in the high court in London on the 20th October. We have made an application under section 116 of the supreme court act 1981 to remove a professional executor solely on the grounds that they are over-charging the estate for probate services. We are not aware of any previous case when the act has been used in this way and if we are successful tens of thousands of people per year will gain the right to choose their own executor rather than being forced to use the person named in the will, this could save consumers tens of millions of pounds every year.