Salaried partners who carry out grants of probate could be in breach of the terms of a will, solicitors have been warned.

It follows a court ruling that where the testator has cited a firm name as executor, the grant should only be carried out by a profit-sharing partner, 'not merely a salaried partner' or a person 'held out' to be a partner.


In the Estate of Edith Lilian Rogers Deceased [2006] EWHC 753 (Ch) was hailed as a victory last week because it clarified that probate registrars should deal with law firms named as executors where they have since converted to limited liability partnerships (see [2006] Gazette, 13 April, 4).


However, Alison Meek, head of contentious trusts and probate at City firm Speechly Bircham, which acted in the case, said the ruling could have 'unexpected consequences'. She said: 'Firms need to think more carefully about the status of the person who is taking out the grant... when the testator appoints a firm, the people should be profit-sharing partners. But there are a lot of firms that don't take much notice internally of this, and many have salaried partners.


'It may mean that firms will have to redraft their partnership agreements to give salaried partners a small share of the profit, for example by introducing fixed-equity partners.'