DIY Probate for this estate: Yes or No
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DJBenson
Posts: 445 Forumite
My grandfather passed away last Saturday and I (his grandson) am executor along with a non-family member. The other executor is happy for me to lead on proceedings so I am now pulling everything together I need for probate.
The forms look relatively easy (too easy) so I wanted to run the basics of the estate by the forum to see if it's as easy as I'm thinking;
My grandfather inherited my grandmothers assets when she passed a couple of years ago, but re-married since.
There is a very clear will detailing who gets what, including his new wife/widow.
From the documentation I've gathered (bank books, investments etc) there is about £250k in cash floating around. There may be more, may be less but thats my gut feel for now.
I'm led to believe there is a hefty sum of Lloyds shares too but I've found nothing to support that other than a dividend cheque for less than a fiver so I'll be chasing that up with Lloyds tomorrow.
The family home was signed over to my brother and I years ago (much longer than the 7 years so is excluded I believe). That's a separate headache I need to resolve... ;(
There are some complications around distributing funds, namely that some has to go into trust for my brother, but that's not relevant to the probate process I believe.
That's pretty much it, my questions at this point are;
The forms look relatively easy (too easy) so I wanted to run the basics of the estate by the forum to see if it's as easy as I'm thinking;
My grandfather inherited my grandmothers assets when she passed a couple of years ago, but re-married since.
There is a very clear will detailing who gets what, including his new wife/widow.
From the documentation I've gathered (bank books, investments etc) there is about £250k in cash floating around. There may be more, may be less but thats my gut feel for now.
I'm led to believe there is a hefty sum of Lloyds shares too but I've found nothing to support that other than a dividend cheque for less than a fiver so I'll be chasing that up with Lloyds tomorrow.
The family home was signed over to my brother and I years ago (much longer than the 7 years so is excluded I believe). That's a separate headache I need to resolve... ;(
There are some complications around distributing funds, namely that some has to go into trust for my brother, but that's not relevant to the probate process I believe.
That's pretty much it, my questions at this point are;
- Based on the above, DIY probate or not?
- Can my paternal grandmothers IHT limit be incorporated into my grandfathers limit (effectively doubling the limit in simple terms)? I'm sure I read the allowance from a spouse who died before the newly deceased can be accessed if the relevant form is filled in.
- What's the minimum documentation the banks will need to start extracting account and balance info which is required for the probate process?
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Was the this detailed will made before or after he remarried?
This is very important, because if it was made before he remarried, unless it includes the phrase "made in preparation of marriage" it will be completely invalid.
If this is the case, you cannot go for probate because he will be considered to have died intestate.0 -
*~Zephyr~* wrote: »Was the this detailed will made before or after he remarried?
This is very important, because if it was made before he remarried, unless it includes the phrase "made in preparation of marriage" it will be completely invalid.
If this is the case, you cannot go for probate because he will be considered to have died intestate.
After. His new wife/widow is a recipient of some of the estate.0 -
Yes, up until 3 years ago when he moved in with his wife to be.
So almost certainly a gift with reservation, then. Which may or may not matter depending on its value.
If the Lloyds cheque is recent (post 2008) then dividends since then have been between 0.5p and 1.7p per share, so a fiver's worth would be at most 1000 shares. So less than £700 at current valuations.0 -
securityguy wrote: »So almost certainly a gift with reservation, then. Which may or may not matter depending on its value.
If the Lloyds cheque is recent (post 2008) then dividends since then have been between 0.5p and 1.7p per share, so a fiver's worth would be at most 1000 shares. So less than £700 at current valuations.
The market value of the house will be minimal now seeing as it's current tenant (my brother) has trashed it. I think possibly 40k at most :mad:
By "matter" do you mean I should take the market value of the house into consideration when calculating the estate value - I think we are under the 325k by quite some way.
I've spoken to Lloyds and they confirm a single holding of around 500 shares so worth just over 300.00 - the way the will was written seemed to indicate a larger holding but Lloyds themselves are sure they only have the one pot.0 -
The market value of the house will be minimal now seeing as it's current tenant (my brother) has trashed it. I think possibly 40k at most :mad:
By "matter" do you mean I should take the market value of the house into consideration when calculating the estate value - I think we are under the 325k by quite some way.
I've spoken to Lloyds and they confirm a single holding of around 500 shares so worth just over 300.00 - the way the will was written seemed to indicate a larger holding but Lloyds themselves are sure they only have the one pot.
Needs to be checked but it could well be the market value at the time the gift with reservation ceased which will be when he moved out.
If that was before it was trashed it could well be more.
Some of this is important because you have two transferable nil rate bands going on.
your father will get whatever the first wife did not use on her death.
Then there will be surplus if any to pass on to the current wife.
This is all very DIY able so far, but not a simple case so will need a bit of research and then if you are still not sure some paid for advice.0 -
The market value of the house has been falling for some time (it was getting into a state of disrepair before he left - part of the reason for leaving as it happens) but I'd put a ceiling of 60K on it and that's being generous I think.
Research I'm OK with, I was going to get in touch with some estate agents to see if they could do a kind of "drive by" or kerbside valuation as accessing the property may be difficult right now.
So just to understand the chain of IHT, it would be as follows;
Grandma 325k
Grandad 325k plus unused balance of Grandma's allowance
New Wife 325k plus unused balance of Grandad's allowance
I have a copy of my Grandma's will so assessing the value of the estate should be fairly easy (I already know, having not worked for most of her life, that her estate was small).
All my senses are pointing to this still being relatively easy provided my IHT guestimations can be validated.0 -
Unless the total estate is getting close to the IHT threshold, say £280,000 or above you can use your own valuation for the house. If there is IHT due then a professional valuation will be needed by an RICS or similarly qualified person. In any case forget the idea of free "kerbside" valuations as nobody is going to do that for free if at all. As the house was gifted within seven years of the death the value will have to be added back to the estate value for calculating IHT.0
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