Strange!! Probate

[lauraathawes]

Hi,

I have just found a Probate on Ancestry and it says that Probate was granted to Lloyds Bank Ltd, what does this mean??

Is it because they owed money to the bank or was it because they had no heirs to inherit??

Probate was granted in 1958.

Any help or ideas much appreciated.

Laura

[Allan F Sparrow]

There could be a possibility that the bank had agreed to be appointed as executor of the will. I'm no expert on such matters, but I do think I have heard of this being done.

[lauraathawes]

Ummmm... Could be. Do you think if I ordered the Will it might answer my questions?

[jac65]

Hi

The Probate Calendar only names the Executor of the will, whilst it is often a relative it could be a friend, a solicitor or in this case Lloyds Bank. You would need to see the will itself for details of benificiaries. There may be a clue as to why the deceased named Lloyds Bank as an Executor. I have seen Probates were a Bank Manager is the Executor but whether the manager was a friend, relative or it was simply a service provided by the bank to customers I don't know.
An Executor is not necessarily a benificiary of the Estate.

Andy

[lauraathawes]

This is interesting, Thanks Andy. I think I will order the will and see what it says. I'm putting my money on the fact that it was Lloyds Bank that where Executor of the will and nothing more.

[exiled brummie]

Many years ago when we drew up our first, long replaced Will, we were advised by the manager of our bank to appoint them as executor on the grounds that a named executor may die before us but the bank would outlive us, guaranteed. What he neglected to tell us was that the bank would claim a not insubstantial proportion of our estate as their fee.

[Guy Etchells]

Yes it used to be a common service, still offered, by banks.
They would retain a copy of the will in their vaults and act as executor when the subject died.
A similar service was/is offered by many solicitors.

Benefits of this were the bank or solicitor would, relatively quickly, be informed of the death of a person and they would have a record of a will and (being a "company") should outlive the subject of the will.

The disadvantage as exiled brummie wrote is they charge hefty fees for the privilege.
Cheers
Guy

[pottoka]

A few years ago, a family member died, and the executor of the will was Lloyd's Bank. The beneficiary was another family member. I have no idea what their fees were - I believe they came out of the estate - but as they took care of everything, the family had peace of mind to get on with sorting out possessions and other personal tasks, and I would say it was worth it just for that.