Auf Wiedersehen, pet

With our work, you never know what will happen from one day to the next, as a recent matter proved. It presented ?all sorts of practical difficulties and ?there were plenty of lessons learned.

Our client died suddenly, naming the firm as executors. He lived alone with his pets. There was family but no one knew how to contact any of them. He owned a property, worked, and, on the face of his will, was very organised.

But nothing is as straightforward as it seems and we performed all the below tasks for this one case.

1. Collect medical certificate and register death

Obtaining the medical certificate was straightforward. However, there were two dates of birth recorded on official systems, and no one knew which one was correct. Before the death could be registered - and the inquest set in motion as cause of death was not ?known - we needed to find out this important information.

Lesson learned
If a client appoints your firm as executors, make sure you have a note of their full name, date and place of birth, occupation, and maiden name (if applicable) stored with the will. It could save a lot of time.

2. Find homes for nine pets

This was perhaps the most important task. The RSPCA was very helpful, sending someone to collect the animals and taking them to the local centre. In this case, the pets were treated as an urgent case because of the neglect they would suffer if not removed from the deceased's property.

Lesson learned
Always ask clients whether they own animals or not. If so, they should think carefully about making provisions. Dogs Trust run a 'canine care card' scheme and the Cinnamon Trust, a charity for the elderly, can help with long-term pet care plans.

3. Organise an unusual funeral

The deceased had some particular requests about his burial and the accompanying service. He specified certain clothes to be buried in, objects ?to be buried with, what mourners ?should wear, what should be said and what type of memorial should be placed on his grave. Finding the things that the deceased wanted was in the end more difficult than arranging the funeral ?(see task four).

Lesson learned
Trust the professionals. Undoubtedly, the funeral directors will have seen it all. And remember that funeral wishes are an expression of what someone wants to happen rather than a legally binding contract.

4. Access the property, remove valuables and locate important paperwork

What could be easier? Well, the organised approach to his will didn't in fact mean that the deceased was an orderly chap at all. His property made those on BBC reality show A Life of Grime look clean and tidy. The only things surviving in there were the spiders - even the rodents had given up, as evidenced by the dead rat I trod on. Trees were growing into the kitchen and through the roof, and there was at least 25 years of accumulated 'living' on every surface.

Unfortunately, there were a number of valuable items and specific bequests we wanted to find. This had to be dealt with in stages, and someone from the office had to monitor what was being done. First in was pest control, next the men with the skips, and then the garden was cleared with the help of a large chipper.

Lesson learned
Own a box of disposable gloves. It is also important to contact beneficiaries as soon as possible to see whether they want the items left to them, and to make residuary beneficiaries aware of the cost implications of having professional executors dealing with such a task.

Sofia Tayton is a partner and head of care and capacity at Lodders Solicitors

She writes the regular in-practice article on care and capacity for Private Client Adviser