Anyone dealt with a will after death?

mattyfez

mattyfez

mattyfez

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Hi all,
Hopefully someones been through this before, my father died last week and as his son, the only beneficiary named, so it's a straight forward thing.

The Will is held at a solicitors (I have a copy) and the solicitors are named as executors in the will. Does this mean it is they who would get probate (and no doubt charge for it) or can I do that?

I've not yet informed the solicitor as I don't yet have a death certificate, presumably they will need that when I contact them before they can act?

Thanks
 
Sorry to hear about your dad. I made the arrangements following my grandads death but this was over 10 years ago so things might have changed:

Even though they will need the death certificate I'd tell the solicitor straight away, also once you tell the bank they'll freeze his accounts but will allow a deduction for a funeral bill. Tell us once is very useful, once you collect the death certificate you'll get a reference which you can use on the government website which notifies all the government agencies in one go.

Sorry I couldn't help with probate but hope some of this helps.
 
Sorry to hear this.

Inform the Solicitor straight away. I handled my mum's will a few years back. UK gov: website was pretty helpful: https://www.gov.uk/when-someone-dies

I'm not sure about whether you are allowed to handle the probate if they are named as executors in the will. That's definitely a question for a proper lawyer.

Be prepared for it to take a while. It was getting on for a year before I'd got all my mum's stuff sorted out. Everything just takes time as its bureaucratic.
 
If his estate is straightforward, ie. the assets within it are, and you are competent at administration, you should consider telling the solicitors that you'll do most of the running around and form filling
No point in you getting the solicitor's most junior member of staff, at £XX per hour, doing stuff you could do
If you want to bump the solicitors off being an Executor, they have to agree to it, and that's unlikely since they'll be losing income
It might be worth you determining what work they anticipate doing, and dividing up the tasks between you
As above, it's bureaucratic and takes a long time, but can actually be very straightforward
I was very tempted to let the solicitors do my dad's estate because I couldn't be bothered, however, one of my friends was charged almost £9k to administer an £115k estate that was all in bank accounts
 
As already stated, it's very easy for yourself to do it all and save £££ in solicitor fees. As the solicitor is named as executor of the will, they are unlikely to give that up as they will want their £££.
 
We were in this situation with my grandmothers estate. Unless they voluntarily give it up (and they won't) or you take them to court to get control Yyu're basically [expeative denoting intercourse {past tense}]. We had months of unnessesary delays due to the solicitor. Some of the funds didn't reach my parents for up to 4 years while the solicitors checked every last little thing and charged for the privilage. It also didn't help that he was blatenly an alcoholic and seemed to surface around the same time as the average student.
 
Done it before myself, only paid solicitor for Land Registry stuff to put property in our names. Bill for that was around £200 so paying £9K you're either being conned or it was very very complex, even still with bit of con on top.
 
Thanks all, looking at the solicitors website, https://www.hartbrown.co.uk/individual/wills-and-probate/probate/ they charge a fixed fee as follows, about £4500 which would be applicable in my situation.

There's no property though, just a current and a savings account - i guess I'll have to call them and try and get a reduced package if they do the probate thing, it's really a simple estate, the money in his accounts will just end up in my account.

In this example, there would be:

  • a valid will;
  • no more than one property; not applicable to me
  • no more than one bank account; Think there are 3, barclays current, savings and credit card
  • one life policy; not applicable to me
  • an interest in another estate; Not applicable
  • one beneficiary (in this example, the surviving spouse);
  • no inheritance tax (IHT) payable; Not applicable
  • no claims against the estate; not applicable to me
  • details of the assets and liabilities provided by the executors; and
  • no requirement for us to register the death, arrange the funeral or visit the property for any valuation purposes. I can do this
We would undertake to do the following:

  • ascertain the full extent of the assets and liabilities of the estate by correspondence with the relevant organisations; I can do this
  • complete the HM Revenue & Customs return of estate information form (IHT205) and prepare the oath for the executors; I can do this
  • assist with signing and swearing the oath for the executors and signing the IHT205 and sending the application to the Probate Registry; can I do this?
  • obtain the grant of probate and register the grant with the relevant organisations and deal with the closure of the building society account;
  • place statutory advertisements;
  • pay any outstanding bills and expenses; not applicable
  • prepare a full and final set of estate accounts; and
  • obtain the executors’ approval to the estate accounts and distribute the estate according to the will.
The disbursements in this example would consist of the following:

  • probate application fee of £155 and 4 office copies at £0.50 each (£157);
  • swear fees per executor, £5 for the oath and £2.40 per exhibit including VAT at 20% (£7.40);
  • statutory advertisements, £193.90 including VAT at 20%; and
  • bankruptcy searches for a UK beneficiary, £2.40 including VAT at 20%.
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4.5K ... bloody hell ! So glad mum named me and my brother as executors.

On "assist with signing and swearing the oath for the executors and signing the IHT205 and sending the application to the Probate Registry" ... yes you can do this if you can get them to release and let you act as executor. I completed the IHT forms and sent them off and it was more complex than your father as mum had property to sell and accounts all over the place.
 
Skillmister said:
That's extortionate and there is no reason it would have cost that if it was as straight forward as you say. Most likely it wasn't.
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There were 7 beneficiaries who were all the siblings with equal entitlement, and the guy had meeting with each of them individually, at least twice. Took him 14 months
I offered to help my friend do it himself but his attitude was "It'll only cost us a grand each". £8,600 gross = approx £7,200 net. I was appalled
 
If there isn't property and no disagreements amongst the family, I see no reason why you can't do this yourself.

Savings - Get the proof of probate/death certificate to the bank, paid to you directly and you disperse or ask the bank to do it to each person. If it's over a certain amount, it's likely they will ask for a copy of a Will etc.
 
tlrBeta said:
If there isn't property and no disagreements amongst the family, I see no reason why you can't do this yourself.

Savings - Get the proof of probate/death certificate to the bank, paid to you directly and you disperse or ask the bank to do it to each person. If it's over a certain amount, it's likely they will ask for a copy of a Will etc.
Click to expand...

The executor is legally responsible for handling a person’s estate (money, property and possessions) when they die and for carrying out the instructions in their will.

The OP is not the executor.
 
Surveyor said:
The executor is legally responsible for handling a person’s estate (money, property and possessions) when they die and for carrying out the instructions in their will.

The OP is not the executor.
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Quite true.

The deceased should have taken note of what the costs were when they set up the will and made the solicitor to act as executor. I know I wouldn't want half my hard earned savings etc lining a solicitors pocket after I peg it.
 
LeeUK said:
Quite true.

The deceased should have taken note of what the costs were when they set up the will and made the solicitor to act as executor. I know I wouldn't want half my hard earned savings etc lining a solicitors pocket after I peg it.
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I would discuss it with them,

If he is the beneficiary in the Will and we aren't talking crazy amounts of money, it's likely the bank will just pay the funeral costs (on production of invoice), send him money and close the account
 
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I got both my mother and father to make me executor before they died, HSBC were going to charge the earth and as I found out while dealing with my fathers estate they are also a bunch of useless deadbeats, They lost my fathers will for around 6 weeks and it took them 3 months to admit my father had over 50k in a stocks and shares ISA, for 3 month prior they hadnt included it in info i got from them about his accounts, and it caused some issues with probate. Stocks and shares are also difficult and they will rinse you on handling fees but that's share dealing in general.

Its not hard to do and the forms are all very self explanatory, but some people are just dicks, while most are very good, a catalog company threatened me with the bailiffs over £45 for my mother, who didnt have enough funds to cover her funeral (jog on pal you have no claim against me only the estate), HSBC directly blocked me trying to find my fathers accounts and Mercer told me cause by dad died in the middle of the month i owed them half his last months pension back but we are keeping his total fund.

Most everyone else was fantastically easy to deal with.
 
mattyfez said:
Thanks all, looking at the solicitors website, https://www.hartbrown.co.uk/individual/wills-and-probate/probate/ they charge a fixed fee as follows, about £4500 which would be applicable in my situation.

There's no property though, just a current and a savings account - i guess I'll have to call them and try and get a reduced package if they do the probate thing, it's really a simple estate, the money in his accounts will just end up in my account.
Click to expand...

Credit cards aren't a bank account, savings accounts don't normally under the same classification as a current account.
 
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