What happens if the executors of a Will can trace a beneficiary?
The executors could be personally responsible to a beneficiary if they administer a deceased person’s estate without giving the beneficiary what they are entitled to and so they must go to quite extreme lengths to trace a missing beneficiary. There are companies which specialise in beneficiary searches and they have a fairly high success rate. In the event that this route fails, it is possible to go to court seeking a ‘Benjamin Order’ ie an order that the estate is distributed as if the beneficiary in question is dead. However a cheaper alternative from the executors’ point of view may be to take out a single premium specialist insurance policy which insures the executors against the contingency of the disgruntled beneficiary turning up and demanding his due.
