Probate questions

moneylover

My mother in law died a few weeks ago and the family are thinking of doing probate rather than handing it over to a solicitor. I did my own mother's a few years ago and very straightforward but I was only executor, only person to inherit and no house to sell.

So 3 sets of questions if anyone can answer any of them.

1 We have a copy of the will but presumably have to get the solicitor's copy from him just because of the legal position of being sure its last will and testament we have (solicitor has house deeds for the house which is unregistered) so would have to be contacted at some point. How much is it reasonable for him to charge for the will to be withdrawn? We do not want to withdraw deeds for house at this point and might well use him to do house conveyancing when time comes.

2 Is there a standard charge to get an estate agent to value a house for probate? Or do they do it for nothing if they think they eventually will get the house to sell? Presume a written valuation is needed? I dont think we could guess the value of the house from Land Registry local prices. There won't be any inheritance tax to pay - presumably therefore its better to hope for an optimistic valuation so that if the house isnt offered for sale for say 6 months or more there is scope for the house price to rise? Otherwise someone (executors?) would be liable for capital gains tax?


3 My husband and brother are named executors. Is it possible for just one person to act as executor (maybe there is a probate form for handing over to one person?) and then all paperwork goes to that person and just that person does the probate oath?

Any help very much appreciated.

monkeyspanner

1. I collected the original of my MIL's will from her solicitor and whilst there asked for a few certified copies to use as executor. I expected a charge for the copies but was not charged. If you dangle the possibility of the conveyancing they will probably co-operate.

2. I don't know of a standard charge but again if you dangle a possible sale they should give you a valuation for nothing. If your MIL's estate is likely to be less than the IHT threshold of £325000 then the Probate office will not be too concerned about absolute accuracy. Alternatively you could approach a local surveyor who will charge.

3. Yes - have a look at the probate office website for more detail.

morag1202

I am 6 weeks into being the executor of a very similar estate and intend doing probate and tax affairs myself. My experience is as follows:-

1. Solicitor did not charge me to withdraw will, but insisted on photo ID. He did want to charge me £10 for a certified copy, but the bank did that for free! (Yorkshire) You can only probate the original will.

2. I got 2 Estate Agents to value the house in writing for free. I explained the situation fully to them. They also gave tips for enhancing the value for sale purposes. I was quoted £150 +vat for an IHT valuation. As I understand it, this is only needed if the gross value at the time of death is over the current IHT threashold (£325k)

3. Yes, it is possible for only one of the 3 named executors to "activly" act, the other two remain as executors but sign something to waive their active participation. I'm the only one this time but last time I took the active role and I swore the probate oath alone, and all corries came to me.

I have found the Probate site and the Government site very useful and have also rung the helpline.

Good luck.

bilboburgler

An extra thing to look out for I have recently run into a bit of a scam which you might be interested in. I have been acting as an executor of the estate of my father. My father owned a number of shares. Once the registrars were told of his death they decided to retain any dividends until probate was granted. Fair enough you might say. Once probate is granted some registrars then pay the dividend, but charge the estate a fee of £11-£12 to cover the cost of the re-issue of the dividend.

My issue is
1) The registrar is already paid by the share company to manage this issue and it cannot be a surprise that people die
2) The dividend is not re-issued as it has never been issued
3) The Registrar has benefited by the retention of the dividend for the roughly 6 months probate takes to come through
4) Since the majority of executors are lawyers and this is just a line on the divided document very few people complain.

Now I tried to estimate the value of this behaviour. If we ignore the benefit of retaining the cash and say there are 2 Million share holders and of these say the average is holding 5 shares. Let us assume that every 40 years these estates turnover due to death. Then in the six months of a probate delay this charge is worth.
5* 11.50*2,000,000/40=~£3M every year. Not bad money for doing very little.