Sales of assets to beneficiaries by personal representatives

Except in the very simplest cases, where the deceased has left all his property to one person who is the sole executor and where the estate is very liquid with plenty of cash to pay tax, debts, legacies and administrative expenses, it is likely that the personal representatives will have to sell some of the assets in the estate to raise cash. Even if there is plenty of cash in the estate, there may be problems in simply dividing the assets in the testator’s estate between the beneficiaries. It may be that the personal representative will have no alternative but to consider selling some of the assets. Beneficiaries might of course arrange a simple purchase of an asset by one beneficiary from another. From a tax point of view, provided the sale is effected relatively soon after the testator’s death, before the value has increased enough to cause Capital Gains Tax (CGT) problems, the tax position should be fairly straightforward.