Probate and Inheritance

boswell99 · 1 December 2008 at 1:27PM

Hi,

My grandfather passed away last week and I was wondering whether anyone would be able to give me any advice as to how long probate and inheritance may take? A friend mentioned that it can take a year or more to come through which is rather worrying as my mother gave up her job three months ago to look after my grandfather and has no money coming in and no savings (I have been able to lend her a small amount but won't be able to support her for an entire year).

I'm not sure how complicated his estate is, a small lump sum has been left to me and the rest has been left to my mother. However, it has been left in a trust overseen by the executors (a solicitor and one of my mothers cousins) and we have no idea what form this trust takes or what it's for. He will have left a sizeable amount which will definitely fall into the 40% tax band as well as property worth probably around a million pounds. I have also heard that inheritance tax has to be paid before the estate is 'unfrozen' so am additionally worried about where this money is supposed to come from. He also may have some funds in Switzerland which may further complicate things.

Unfortunately my grandfather was a very secretive man when it came to money so we have little information, but any rough timeframes would be appreciated (less than a year, more than a year, three years etc).

Also, someone said that an 'emergency payment' may be able to be paid to my mother before it's all officially sorted - is this true?

Thank you.

Edited to say: I hope this is the right place for this, I wasn't sure where to put it.

debtfreein4years · 1 December 2008 at 1:53PM

it depends what type of estate your granddad has left, from what you have said it sounds fairly complicated with money possibly being in different countries.

i used to work in the probate department of a bank dealing with high net worth customers and probate could take anything from a couple of months to a couple of years depending on the nature of how the deceased had organised the accounts.

usually i would say the average time to get probate would take about 6 months and i would recommend the solicitor dealing with everything as its less hassel for all concered and then another 6 months to wind up the deceaseds accounts and distribute them to the beneficiaries.

with regards to the money in the estate and interim payment can be made, but only once probate has been granted and with the express permission of the executors - thats my understanding from dealing with my late granddads estate. however most banks will release money from the accounts to pay for funeral expenses, however the executor would need to speak to the bank in question to see if that is within their remit.

also with regards to the paying of inheritance tax, some banks will release money to pay for this, but you are usually required to sign an indemnity form and it depends on the individual policy of the bank.

hope that helps.

RobertoMoir · 1 December 2008 at 2:00PM

boswell99 wrote: »

Hi,

My grandfather passed away last week and I was wondering whether anyone would be able to give me any advice as to how long probate and inheritance may take? A friend mentioned that it can take a year or more to come through which is rather worrying as my mother gave up her job three months ago to look after my grandfather and has no money coming in and no savings (I have been able to lend her a small amount but won't be able to support her for an entire year).

I'm not sure how complicated his estate is, a small lump sum has been left to me and the rest has been left to my mother. However, it has been left in a trust overseen by the executors (a solicitor and one of my mothers cousins) and we have no idea what form this trust takes or what it's for. He will have left a sizeable amount which will definitely fall into the 40% tax band as well as property worth probably around a million pounds. I have also heard that inheritance tax has to be paid before the estate is 'unfrozen' so am additionally worried about where this money is supposed to come from. He also may have some funds in Switzerland which may further complicate things.

Unfortunately my grandfather was a very secretive man when it came to money so we have little information, but any rough timeframes would be appreciated (less than a year, more than a year, three years etc).

Also, someone said that an 'emergency payment' may be able to be paid to my mother before it's all officially sorted - is this true?

Thank you.

Edited to say: I hope this is the right place for this, I wasn't sure where to put it.

Firstly, sorry for your loss.

I've recently lost my mother and we're currently trying to get probate granted for her estate. Even though hers is a simple estate, not worth all that much, all information more or less to hand, it still looks like it's going to take 2 or 3 months at least for us to get moving, so you can be sure that a complex estate with lots going on and not a lot known about it is certainly likely to be slower than this.

dzug1 · 1 December 2008 at 2:00PM

Looking at your information, it does look complicated. My guess is around a year. Given that he was secretive it might take a while to unearth information, even for a professional, so maybe longer. It will depend on how much paperwork he left.

Inheritance tax - National Savings and most banks will pay the IHT and funeral bills from the frozen accounts. At worst they will lend it to the executors. At least for the moment you don't need to worry about this.,

sloughflint · 1 December 2008 at 5:47PM

dzug1 wrote: »

Inheritance tax - National Savings and most banks will pay the IHT and funeral bills from the frozen accounts. At worst they will lend it to the executors. At least for the moment you don't need to worry about this.,

Apparently another option is to pay the inheritance tax in instalments and might be cheaper (3%) compared to a bank loan?

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page12-6.htm#1

Can I pay by instalments?

In some cases you may pay inheritance tax by instalments. However, you may have to pay interest on any tax paid this way. More on interest on instalments.
You may pay inheritance tax by instalments on certain types of assets. These are
land and buildings

certain shares and securities

the net value of a business or an interest in a business, including a profession or vocation, carried on for gain (this does not include individual assets of a business, which are distinct from the business as a whole)

timber

The most common asset on which tax may be paid by instalments is the deceased’s house.

sloughflint · 1 December 2008 at 6:52PM

boswell99 wrote: »

I'm not sure how complicated his estate is, a small lump sum has been left to me and the rest has been left to my mother. However, it has been left in a trust overseen by the executors (a solicitor and one of my mothers cousins) and we have no idea what form this trust takes or what it's for. He will have left a sizeable amount which will definitely fall into the 40% tax band as well as property worth probably around a million pounds. I have also heard that inheritance tax has to be paid before the estate is 'unfrozen' so am additionally worried about where this money is supposed to come from. He also may have some funds in Switzerland which may further complicate things.

I don't wish to alarm you but seeing that a solicitor is one of the executors and the restrictions this can create, it immediately reminded me of this thread:

Solicitor slow over probate

I hope your mother's cousin doesn't encounter similar difficulties but be aware of STEP in case.

Mikeyorks · 1 December 2008 at 8:46PM

boswell99 wrote: »

I have also heard that inheritance tax has to be paid before the estate is 'unfrozen' so am additionally worried about where this money is supposed to come from.

More accurately ..... IHT has to be 'paid' before Probate is granted. If the Estate is asset rich but cash poor ..... paying the IHT initially by instalment is the practical proposition (the balance is immediately due if/when the assets giving rise to the IHT charge are sold) ..... and sloughflint has helpfully posted you a link to that.

It's for the Executors to worry about the cashflow .. but if there's a Solicitor involved .... your Mother would sensibly be in the Executors ears on a regular basis. It's just another job for them and passing time (and repeatedly picking up the file) simply adds to the remuneration despite the basic charge probably being fixed on the Estate value. But if your grandfather appointed them ... too late to undo it now.

I recently got Probate for my Mother's estate in 6 weeks .... but had everything to hand. No IHT .. but there is a property to be sold and, as you will find, it is not a good time for that. No matter how realistic your price. So I would suggest you're looking at the best part of a year to complete. But if there's net cash .... then an interim distribution should be made rather than allowing funds to sit in a poorly paying Exor account.

boswell99 · 1 December 2008 at 10:44PM

Hi everyone,

Thanks for taking the time to reply, it helps to get a rough timeframe to plan around. And especially thanks for the links to paying inheritance tax by installment, I wasn't aware you could do that. If an interim payment could be made after 6 months that would be an OK situation, so lets hope that's the case. I've had a browse of the thread about the solicitor dragging his feet so will definitely make sure we stay on top of him.

Thanks again,

Ami

elementalgrace · 3 December 2008 at 3:41PM

I am sorry for your loss. We've been going through something similar with my Father's estate, which has taken 18 months to grant a certificate of probate. The insurance companies that held the life insurance policies would not pay out without a certificate of probate and even post certificate, things are still going on that may take up to another year to resolve due to the incompetencies of my late father's accountant.

I hope your situation resolves itself faster than ours has. I wish you the best of luck.

ukmaggie45 · 4 December 2008 at 2:02PM

boswell99 wrote: »

I've had a browse of the thread about the solicitor dragging his feet so will definitely make sure we stay on top of him.

Hi Ami, I'm the unfortunate person with the slow solicitor...

First, sorry to hear of you and your Mum's loss.

It's well over a year now (July and Sep 2007) since my parents died and we still have to pay out some of the pecuniary benefits. Both my daughters have had half of their inheritance. I have had the named amount left in mother's will (I am residual beneficiary). My cousin and parents' 2 GPs have had small amounts, but my husband is still waiting for his inheritance.

We have no idea what money is in the pot (so to speak), but touch wood

we have an interested buyer for the flat. I never thought it would take so long to sort - both parents left valid wills, and they had an accountant who did their tax returns, so it really should have been easy enough to get probate and sort the estate out.

Since my husband is one of the Executors, it would have been possible for him to do the work on Probate. But we were naive and thought it would be too difficult for us to manage. In fact I suspect we'd have got things done a lot faster. However, we would never then have realised that by doing a Deed of Variation there was the possibility to save around £120,000 on IHT. Shame the solicitor who is co-executor didn't spot that (even when asked a direct question!) so we now have another solicitor finishing off.

We're still waiting on the Revenue to find out if they have accepted our Deed of Variation.

Good luck with it all!

Best wishes

TeresaO · 4 December 2008 at 2:56PM

Hi,

My mums estate is quite straight forward and we achieved probate within 2 months. However, due to advertising in the Gazette we have to wait 2 months and 1 day to give creditors an opportunity to lay a claim on the estate - we didn't know all my mothers finances. We also have a house to sell, in this climate, great. So I anticipate that we could take up to a year before we can distribute this relatively simple estate.

I wish you well.

T

Probate and Inheritance

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free