BACKGROUND: Where a fractional residuary entitlement is entered, using lots of decimal places in the entitlement percentage increases the accuracy of calculations. Small value estates can get away with fewer decimal places as the rounding will be nearer to £0.01 but as the estate size grows, more decimal places are needed.
I.E. "8 and a third" as an entitlement percentage is not 8.33%, whereas using 8.333333333333% is much closer. Similarly "16 and two thirds" is not 16.66% but using 16.666666667% is much closer to the actual fraction.
Example workings:
£650,000 x 16.66 % = £108290
£650,000 x 16.666666666 % = £108333.33
Which equals a difference (the "balancing amount") of £43.33.
As Probate Plus auto-balances the residue across residuary beneficiaries, the first recorded beneficiary gains or loses the balancing amount. The more decimal places that are used, the smaller the balancing amount (ideally just £0.01).
DETAIL: So, in the case of 3 residuary beneficiaries all receiving 1/3 of the residue, make sure the beneficiary entitlements have been entered as "1/3" (and let Probate Plus work out the number of decimals needed), or that you make sure you enter lots of decimal places (E.g. 33.3333333333 rather than 33.33).
NOTE: To simplify things in the final estate accounts report, only 3 decimal places are shown even though you may have elected to use many more internally in the setup of residuary beneficiary entitlements.
