Do I have to apply for Probate?

Hodders · 25 Oct 2020 at 00:08

Did all this when my dad died.

1) Your mum as executer can assign that role to anyone, from what you say she will be happy for you to do it.

2) start getting valuations of all items in your dad's estate. Open a bank account for your dad's estate to gradually move across to, it makes the accounting easier. I used a personal account to keep things free.

3) part of probate application is filling on the inheritance tax form.

4) the grant of probate will basically let you sign stuff as your dad. That way you can manage bank accounts, transfer property etc.

5) you should probably publish notice of his death in the London gazette. This covers you for any eventualities of debtors coming to you in the future. A solicitor will be able to advise if this is necessary.

6) don't be frightened of doing lots of this yourself. Solicitors will cost a fortune and will be all to happy to do it all for you. A lot of it is simple.

Lastly, it's a difficult time for all of you. All the very best.

Pipe & Slippers · 25 Oct 2020 at 09:46

Hodders said:
5) you should probably publish notice of his death in the London gazette. This covers you for any eventualities of debtors coming to you in the future. A solicitor will be able to advise if this is necessary

Unless your dad was a sole trader/in a partnership, or the sort of character that bought stuff on credit and never paid, took out loans that were never settled, you don’t need to do this

LeeUK · 25 Oct 2020 at 11:30

We got a solicitor to apply for the probate and put property into mine and my sisters names when our mother died, as well as cash in her pension, with me named as executor. I think the bill was only something like £200 so was worth it in the end for not having to chase stuff up and deal with paperwork as there was a registered caution to chase up and remove from LR too.

Hodders · 25 Oct 2020 at 22:20

Pipe & Slippers said:
Unless your dad was a sole trader/in a partnership, or the sort of character that bought stuff on credit and never paid, took out loans that were never settled, you don’t need to do this

Fair play, he ran a limited company and had a difficult relationship with his first wife and daughter.

pp111 · 25 Oct 2020 at 22:50

In simple terms probate is about gaining the authority to act on behalf of the deceased. In the case of my brother, it was necessary to sell his house, gain access to his bank accounts and so on. The real problem is when tax is due. The government often insist you pay the tax BEFORE they grant probate, so you are in the impossible situation that you can't sell anything to get the money to pay the tax. Solicitors, if involved, also usually hang on to the money for a considerable time, to reduce their liability if there are any unforeseen problems. It is not unusual for them to avoid distribution for up to a year after probate has been granted and probate at the moment is very slow.

pinkpound · 26 Oct 2020 at 11:20

Sorry for your loss

My mother is dealing with her brothers death at the moment passed away 30/09/20. Over 3 weeks on we have still only got an interim death cert due to coroner unable to determine cause of death ,he was 71 with liver failure and and heart failure . On his will he named my mum and a solicitor as executors . We have been waiting for an appointment with solicitor for 3 weeks as well now . Excuse after excuse trying to get an appointment . Fortunately the interim death cert allowed us to cremate him .I've been able to cancel utilities etc but cannot contact his pensions till full death cert is issued.

Due to him having over £80k in savings but no property it still has to go to probate

I cannot wait to see the solicitor bills at the end of this

EvilRob · 26 Oct 2020 at 21:43

pinkpound said:
I cannot wait to see the solicitor bills at the end of this

That's rubbish, I've seen this happen a few times and once in particular the solicitor milking the estate for everything they could. It might seem like a good idea at the time but really best to just name the main beneficiary/beneficiaries as executor and let them engage a solicitor if they need help. Executors have way too much power.

SexyGreyFox · 26 Oct 2020 at 22:04

Me and my Sister had to get probate earlier this year.

pinkpound · 27 Oct 2020 at 10:37

EvilRob said:
That's rubbish, I've seen this happen a few times and once in particular the solicitor milking the estate for everything they could. It might seem like a good idea at the time but really best to just name the main beneficiary/beneficiaries as executor and let them engage a solicitor if they need help. Executors have way too much power.

We didn't know he had named the solicitor as an executor . He had changed his will 3 years ago to remove his wife who he divorced and added my mother(sister) as executor and his Brother to the will ,his previous will only had his wife as a executor we have a feeling they may have steered him to add them as executors.

Belly · 27 Oct 2020 at 17:39

You might have to take some action regarding pensions. I have 4 pensions. State, Regular Army, Non Regular Permant Staff (Army), and Civil Service. I'm aware that if I pass away before my wife she will have to notify pension providers. State one will stop, the remainder will be paid to my wife at 50% but they will need to be notified.

We will probably have to nominate a solicitor as executor (we have no children). My uncle nominated a solicitor as executor for his estate. I was one of three beneficiaries. The solicitor contacted me for my bank details. When they eventually paid up they sent me the last page of the statement showing transactions for the last three months. The only transactions was the solicitor deducting just short of £1500.oo each month. Good work if you can get it!

Sorry for your loss!

Belly · 27 Oct 2020 at 17:44

EvilRob said:
That's rubbish, I've seen this happen a few times and once in particular the solicitor milking the estate for everything they could. It might seem like a good idea at the time but really best to just name the main beneficiary/beneficiaries as executor and let them engage a solicitor if they need help. Executors have way too much power.

I'm looking into this at the moment. I read that Lloyds Bank will act as executor on a percentage basis, 2.5% for the 1st million and 1% thereafter. I compared this with a local solicitor which charges £370.oo per hour! I doubt if they use stop watches and I can imagine them billing the estate half an hour for a simple phone call. Anyway I'm gonna live for ever, or die trying (Yosarian).

Belly · 27 Oct 2020 at 17:57

pp111 said:
In simple terms probate is about gaining the authority to act on behalf of the deceased. In the case of my brother, it was necessary to sell his house, gain access to his bank accounts and so on. The real problem is when tax is due. The government often insist you pay the tax BEFORE they grant probate, so you are in the impossible situation that you can't sell anything to get the money to pay the tax. Solicitors, if involved, also usually hang on to the money for a considerable time, to reduce their liability if there are any unforeseen problems. It is not unusual for them to avoid distribution for up to a year after probate has been granted and probate at the moment is very slow.

A year or so ago I was listening to a programme on the radio. A wealthy lady in a village asked another lady to act as executor for her will. The lady had left her estate to one off-spring only. The lady accepted to act as executor, however a relative contested the will but the contester couldn't turn up for the hearing throwing in a sicky but HMRC still demanded the Inheritance Tax and as such the exeutor (the kind lady) was liable. She had had to remortage her house to raise the money owed to HMRC and still owed some more. The lady was in an awful situation. The expert said that years ago there was something or other which could be done but nowadays the only option was "To speak with HMRC". The expert also said that one could refuse to act as executor but could NOT opt out if having accepted and then found it was too much for them.

EvilRob · 27 Oct 2020 at 18:50

Belly said:
Good work if you can get it!

Indeed! The majority of which is basic admin work, no doubt farmed out to paralegals on £10 an hour

pp111 · 28 Oct 2020 at 12:28

Belly said:
A year or so ago I was listening to a programme on the radio. A wealthy lady in a village asked another lady to act as executor for her will. The lady had left her estate to one off-spring only. The lady accepted to act as executor, however a relative contested the will but the contester couldn't turn up for the hearing throwing in a sicky but HMRC still demanded the Inheritance Tax and as such the exeutor (the kind lady) was liable. She had had to remortage her house to raise the money owed to HMRC and still owed some more. The lady was in an awful situation. The expert said that years ago there was something or other which could be done but nowadays the only option was "To speak with HMRC". The expert also said that one could refuse to act as executor but could NOT opt out if having accepted and then found it was too much for them.

I really don't know what is wrong with HMRC. They are really unreasonable. In the case of my brother, they wanted £65,000 in tax paid before they would grant probate. How many people have £65,000 lying around? I suppose they are afraid you are going to run away with all the money but they leave you in an impossible situation. Anyway, eventually a solicitor got involved to "negotiate" but even then HMRC refused to grant probate. The solicitor eventually arranged a temporary loan with appropriate insurance for the lender, and the bill for that came to over £7000.

pp111 · 28 Oct 2020 at 12:37

Belly said:
I'm looking into this at the moment. I read that Lloyds Bank will act as executor on a percentage basis, 2.5% for the 1st million and 1% thereafter. I compared this with a local solicitor which charges £370.oo per hour! I doubt if they use stop watches and I can imagine them billing the estate half an hour for a simple phone call. Anyway I'm gonna live for ever, or die trying (Yosarian).

If you can I would select a family member to act as executor. The reason is that official bodies will not release funds until they are absolutely certain that there are no unknown benefactors. At the moment probate is taking anything up to six months and add on top of that six to twelve months before the release, so you are talking 1-1.5 years before the benefactors get anything.