Solicitor slow over probate

ron66

Hi my dad died two and a half years a go i have step mum, my dad left me some money and my step mum got the house and the rest as yet no moneys have been passed on to me how long should it take .:mad:

Errata

ron66 wrote: »

Hi my dad died two and a half years a go i have step mum, my dad left me some money and my step mum got the house and the rest as yet no moneys have been passed on to me how long should it take .:mad:

Ask the executors how far along they are with executing the estate and when they expect it will be finalised.

ukmaggie45

Errata wrote: »

Ask the executors how far along they are with executing the estate and when they expect it will be finalised.

Who are the Executors? Or is your Step Mum doing it? If it's a firm of solicitors it might be worth contacting the Legal Complaints people if the solicitors don't respond to any questions you ask about your inheritance in a timely fashion.

I wish you the best of luck. We're still waiting for the final accounts from my parents' Estates, and they died in 2007. But our Solicitor 2 has kept us informed of reasons for delays, and we've had the majority of the Estate paid out and shares transferred.

Mrs_Money

ron66 wrote: »

Hi my dad died two and a half years a go i have step mum, my dad left me some money and my step mum got the house and the rest as yet no moneys have been passed on to me how long should it take .:mad:

Provided there are no inheritance tax complications, probate takes a couple of weeks - we've just done it last year for a relative. We downloaded the form and instructions from HMRC website, filled them in, took them in to our nearest probate office (very helpful people) with the will and a cheque (£90 I think) to pay for it, waited a week or so for an appointment to be sent to us.
DH (an executor of the will) and the other executor (another relative), went to the appointment and had to swear they were who they said they were etc and were back out on the pavement in about 5 minutes!
2 weeks later probate was granted. It doesn't need a solicitor and it doesn't take over 2 years! it gives the executors access to bank accounts, to be able to pay bills, share out money to the beneficiaries etc.
You need to look into who is dealing with this. Have you seen a copy of the will? Delays can happen in the sharing out of monies and property to the beneficiaries (but that's after probate), and that's usually only due to the lengthy time it takes to sell a property.
If it's just a share of money. possessions etc that you're waiting for, I'd say there is something seriously wrong here.

datostar

Mrs_Money wrote: »

2 weeks later probate was granted. It doesn't need a solicitor and it doesn't take over 2 years! it gives the executors access to bank accounts, to be able to pay bills, share out money to the beneficiaries etc.

I think a lot of executors find long delays when having to deal with HMRC over Income Tax matters. My late father died on 31 May 2010 and I was executor. HMRC were advised within days. I obtained probate in July and all funds were paid over to me by the end of August. Excellent so far, but the first acknowledgement I had from HMRC was in September, telling me that a self-assessment form for 2009/10 had to reach them by 31/09/10, and enclosing another form for 2010/11. Both were returned to them before 31/09/10. Next contact from them was in December, requesting documentary evidence as to annuity payments made to him between 6 April and 31 May 2010. Duly obtained and forwarded to them in early January. Separate from that, and received in January, was a demand for underpaid tax from earlier years, pointing out that they hadn't had time to prepare a proper statement of account but requiring payment by 31 January on pain of a £100 penalty plus interest charges on the outstanding amount, and retaining the right to take another bite!
I'm still waiting for a response on 2010/11 which seems to be being handled at a different office.
I distributed most of the assets to beneficiaries in September and prepared an interim account, retaining £2000 or so until the tax is sorted out. Just as well.
The pace at which HMRC operate, I'll be surprised if the whole thing can be settled within 12 months. It seems to take 3 months for them to look at any correspondence. Obviously, deceased's affairs aren't urgent by definition, and I'm not too bothered about it, but it does mean significant delay in finally settling the estate, and it's not always the executor's fault, be he or her a solicitor or otherwise.

John_Pierpoint

Very true and very sad.
I am currently involved in my 4th family estate in 25 years.
In the past I was able to have a correspondence with a named officer (or two named officers if there was a Capital Tax element as well as an income tax element to the estate)
Now one can write a series of letters and wait for ever, or spend hours getting through to a call centre, where a semi trained operative has access to the Income Tax file from anywhere in the country, but seems to have absolutely no prior knowledge or understanding of the situation.
Expect your details to be muddled up with those of the deceased and get letters addressed to Dear Mr [Deceased person] expect to be told to use the on-line system (which you cannot). One tip I would recommend is to stick with the bloated Self Assessment system if the deceased is already signed up as there is no joined up government - If you try to do the last few months from 6th April to the date of death "informally" the Self Assessment system will get apoplectic about missing payments on account and will not automatically return the money actually over paid by the deceased.
Being conversant with the HMRC three digit codes that identify an office (ie ref: 123/xxxxxxx) is more accurate that trying recognise accents.;)

When we joined the Common Market there was a "joke" circulating titled "What is the difference between Heaven & Hell?"
If I remember correctly in those days Hell had the Italians running the Civil Service.

John_Pierpoint

Mrs_Money wrote: »

Provided there are no inheritance tax complications, probate takes a couple of weeks

I think this might depend on where you are in the country.

My experience with Lincoln was that the legal process took an elapsed 10 days to get an appointment and the longest part of the process was gaining access to the court house through the bomb check.

My experience with central London was that it took more like two months AFTER I had got clearance on the IHT front.

I think there is a message here ("we cannot get the staff").

ukmaggie45

I see it's nearly a year since I added anything to this thread!

Current situation is we're still waiting on the final accounts. Partly due to apparent mistake by S1 who should have paid my OH another £10,000, which S2 only became aware of when all papers from S1 were in and they could look at them! Eeek! S2 thinks if some shares still remaining in estate (there were problems tracing what they were and what they are now IYSWIM) are sold that this payment can be made and final accounts then drawn up.

If there isn't enough left in the estate account to pay OH after those shares sold he will choose to not accept it (or whatever the legal term is) and when we sell our old home I'll give it to him then.

Not sure how much sense any of this makes! I'm just hoping that I can make a final entry and close this thread off this year! It's been over 4 years now since my parents died. I hope that the wills OH and I have made will be easier and quicker to administer! Talking of which, need to update as we now have GrandTwins (DD2 May 2010) and a new Son in Law (wed to DD1 last May) so I guess a few codicils are in order! After all we've been through with all of this stuff I truly hope we can leave our affairs in better order. I better get on with the decluttering then!

Errata

I remember your thread and it's good to hear you can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been a very long journey.

ukmaggie45

Errata wrote: »

I remember your thread and it's good to hear you can now see the light at the end of the tunnel. It's been a very long journey.

LOL Errata, the saga still continues! :eek: :mad: :eek:

I am really losing track of it all now. But it appears the brokers employed by S1 made a mistake in that they valued a rake of shares that had already been sold. S2 is now trying to persuade them that they should pay for all of the time that has been spent trying to find out about all this. I suspect I will be dead and buried myself before this utter mess gets sorted out!

Never rely on a solicitor to write your Will! Make sure you look very carefully at the terms and conditions of them writing your Will. I must say here that S2 has been wonderful, very helpful, but is constrained by the mess S1 left behind.

I just want this saga to finish so I can dispose of my parents' ashes and get on with whatever life I have left. Still wake at night and worry about it all.

Every time we think we're getting close to the end something else comes up!