If you have appointed Standard Bank as the Executors of your Estate – CHANGE NOW!

If you have appointed Standard Bank as the Executors of your Estate – CHANGE NOW! I have recently had the experience of dealing with the estates of two people very close to me. Both had appointed different executors – and the difference between the 2 companies has left me astounded and shocked by the poor level of service received by the Standard Bank. The estate of the first person, who was left a house and a few investments by her late husband who was an employee of a large Corporate, is being handled by Standard Bank (or specifically, Standard Trust Limited), a far smaller and simpler estate than the other, a business owner, entrepreneur with numerous overseas investments, various local share portfolios, property investments, trusts (overseas and local) and a business which was still a going concern at the time of his passing, which is being handled by a niche, bespoke company specialising in these matters, namely BEXs (Bespoke Executor Services). Standard Trust is still battling to finalise the simpler estate of the “corporate employee” after nearly 3 years, whereas the far more complicated estate managed by the bespoke company took a mere 6 months to complete – and at half the cost!! Please be aware of automatically and easily defaulting to your Bank when appointing an executor. They try and convince you to appoint them as executors by typically enticing you with more reward points should you appoint them. Appointing a specialist Executor is very simple and easy. You cannot believe the anger, frustration and pain that your loved ones will suffer when they are at their most emotional, vulnerable and financially insecure. Terms, concepts and processes in managing a deceased estate are foreign to most of us, so all one wants is a reliable, informative and quick service performed with empathy. This Standard Trust definitely does NOT offer. The experience was (and is still) shocking. There seems to be a lot of employee movement at Standard Trust – so the “he or she no longer works here” was a common response. Nobody seems to take responsibility and there is absolutely no urgency in finalising the estate, despite numerous interventions to do so. There seems to be no accountability or a single person to help you and guide you through the process. One has to think of your typical branch at the bank these days – there is no manager to talk to personally. This is exactly the experience you will encounter at their estate department. It is a painless task to change your will and appoint a competent executor- do it sooner rather than later! TO ADD INSULT TO INJURY, after having settled the shortfall of the estate with Standard Bank, having had the final liquidation and distribution account lie for inspection for the prescribed period AND having sold and received the proceeds the house, thinking the estate had finally reached its conclusion, the bank have now come back to the beneficiary, stating that there is a (large) amount owing to SARS, information they had provided to her over a year ago, basically asking her “if she is able to assist” them!!! They seem to have miscalculated their figures and then had the audacity to make it their client’s problem! Stay away from Standard Bank!