Accountants acting as executors, trustees or attorneys

Q: What regulatory obligations come with the role?

AML supervision: under regulation 12(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, acting as trustee of an express trust by way of business is a trust or company service provider activity. ICAEW's helpsheet says the firm must be supervised and appear on HMRC's TCSP register. See trust and company service providers. Customer due diligence: where a client acts through an attorney or deputy, ICAEW says CDD is needed on both the donor and the person exercising the power, and the OPG register can be searched to confirm the appointment. Trust registration: HMRC's guidance requires many express trusts to be registered on the Trust Registration Service, with a £5,000 penalty possible for failure. Client money: ICAEW's power of attorney helpsheet says its Client Money Regulations do not allow a client account to be used as a banking facility, so attorneys should operate the client's own account with safeguards. LPA formalities: the OPG reminds professionals that business partners and employees of the attorney cannot act as certificate provider, and recommends someone independent of the firm.

Accountants can act as executors, trustees and attorneys for clients, but each appointment is a personal fiduciary role with its own legal duties sitting on top of the code of ethics. The main issues are conflicts with existing client work (and outright prohibitions where the firm is the auditor), whether the will, trust deed or power of attorney actually allows you to charge, the legal services rules on probate, anti money laundering registration, and whether your professional indemnity insurance covers the role.

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Why are personal appointments different from ordinary client work?

When you prepare accounts, the client makes the decisions. As an executor, trustee or attorney, you make them, and you owe fiduciary duties to the beneficiaries or donor. ICAEW’s guidance on acting as a trustee lists the principal duties: act in good faith, do not profit from the trust, do not put yourself where duty and interest conflict, do not act for your own or a third party’s benefit without authority, be accountable and do not misuse confidential information. It notes the same principles are relevant to executors, attorneys and receivers.

The standard of care is higher for professionals. Section 1 of the Trustee Act 2000, quoted in that guidance, requires the care and skill reasonable having regard to any special knowledge you hold yourself out as having and, if acting in the course of a profession, the knowledge expected of that profession. For attorneys, the Office of the Public Guardian (OPG) cites paragraph 7.59 of the Mental Capacity Act Code of Practice: paid or professionally qualified attorneys must show a higher degree of care and skill than unpaid ones. You can also be personally liable. ICAEW warns that a trustee who acts outside their powers can be liable for breach of trust and must make good the loss personally.

What conflicts of interest arise?

Paragraph R112.2 of the ICAEW Code says an accountant must not undertake a professional activity if a circumstance or relationship unduly influences their judgement. ICAEW’s helpsheets identify typical threats:

Advocacy and self review: as a trustee or director of a client, you may approve financial information your own firm prepared.
Family dynamics: an executor who is also a beneficiary, or a family business where one relative has always been your contact. The probate helpsheet says you should act on instructions from the executors as a body, and withdraw if one executor is acting in their own interest.
Existing client creditors: you can usually still act if you remain objective, but the situation should be disclosed.
Disputes: if a probate becomes contentious, an ICAEW probate licence holder must stop acting and refer to someone licensed for contentious work.

Audit clients are the hard line. ICAEW’s probate helpsheet says that being sole executor of the owner of a business you audit creates a significant conflict, and that the FRC Ethical Standard would require immediate resignation as auditor unless you renounce the executorship. Similar concerns apply to a power of attorney over someone with an interest in an audit client (FRC Staff Guidance Note 04/2016), and the ICAEW Code (R523.3) prohibits partners or employees from serving as a director or officer of an audit client. Audit firms should require staff to notify them of attorneyships, including ones not yet in force. For the general framework, see conflicts of interest for accountants.

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Can you charge for acting?

Not automatically. The authority to charge comes from the document or from statute:

Role	Basis for fees
Trustee with a charging clause	Section 28 of the Trustee Act 2000: a professional trustee can charge under the clause even for work a lay trustee could do.
Trustee with no charging clause	Section 29: reasonable remuneration if acting in a professional capacity, provided the trustee is not a sole trustee and each other trustee agrees in writing.
Executor	Section 35 applies these rules to personal representatives, reading “trust instrument” as the will.
Attorney under an LPA	The OPG says you have no power to charge if the LPA is silent on fees.

Two practical consequences follow. First, an accountant named as sole executor or trustee cannot rely on section 29, so a charging clause is essential. ICAEW’s probate helpsheet says to refuse the nomination, or renounce after death, if the will has no suitable charging and costs clauses, unless you are willing to act without reward. Second, section 28(4) treats payments under a charging clause as remuneration rather than a gift for section 15 of the Wills Act 1837, so the clause is not lost if the professional also witnessed the will.

The OPG expects professional attorneys to agree fee rates with the donor in advance, explain that rates will rise, give examples of typical costs and decide what happens if fees become unaffordable. ICAEW’s trustee guidance says commission earned in the role may not be retained unless the trust document allows it or the beneficiaries or co trustees agree. See fees, commissions and referral payments.

Do you need a licence to deal with probate?

Preparing papers on which to found or oppose a grant of probate or letters of administration is a “probate activity” (Schedule 2, paragraph 6, Legal Services Act 2007), which is a reserved legal activity under section 12. Carrying on a reserved legal activity without entitlement is an offence under section 14. ICAEW is an approved regulator and licenses firms for non contentious probate. Its helpsheet confirms that acting in a personal capacity as an executor for no fee, gain or reward does not require legal services authorisation; acting for a fee does.

Inheritance tax work, estate accounts and the deceased’s final tax return are not themselves reserved, which is why many unlicensed firms do that work alongside a solicitor. See tax returns for someone who has died.

What regulatory obligations come with the role?

AML supervision: under regulation 12(2)(d) of the Money Laundering Regulations 2017, acting as trustee of an express trust by way of business is a trust or company service provider activity. ICAEW’s helpsheet says the firm must be supervised and appear on HMRC’s TCSP register. See trust and company service providers.
Customer due diligence: where a client acts through an attorney or deputy, ICAEW says CDD is needed on both the donor and the person exercising the power, and the OPG register can be searched to confirm the appointment.
Trust registration: HMRC’s guidance requires many express trusts to be registered on the Trust Registration Service, with a £5,000 penalty possible for failure.
Client money: ICAEW’s power of attorney helpsheet says its Client Money Regulations do not allow a client account to be used as a banking facility, so attorneys should operate the client’s own account with safeguards.
LPA formalities: the OPG reminds professionals that business partners and employees of the attorney cannot act as certificate provider, and recommends someone independent of the firm.

Is the role covered by professional indemnity insurance?

Check before accepting. ICAEW’s trustee guidance advises members in practice to confirm that the firm’s PII covers trusteeships, warns that lack of cover may breach the PII Regulations, and reminds members who keep a trusteeship after retiring to consider whether run off or personal cover still applies. Co trustees are jointly and severally liable, so the cover held by lay co trustees is also relevant.

How might this work in practice?

A long standing client asks her accountant to be sole executor and trustee of her will, which leaves shares in the family company on trust for her children, and to act as her property and financial affairs attorney. The firm prepares the company’s statutory accounts but does not audit it. Before agreeing, the accountant checks the draft will includes a professional charging clause, agrees the attorney fee basis to be written into the LPA, records the self review threat (the trust will own shares in a company whose accounts the firm prepares) and the safeguards, confirms PII cover and TCSP registration, and arranges for an independent certificate provider. As the firm has no probate licence, it will engage a solicitor for the grant.

What mistakes come up most often?

Accepting a sole appointment under a will with no charging clause.
Charging an attorney fee under an LPA that says nothing about fees.
Applying for the grant for a fee without a probate licence.
Overlooking that the estate or trust holds shares in an audit client.
Running estate or donor money through the firm’s client account.
Keeping trusteeships after retirement without checking insurance.

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Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.