Free and Cheap Wills discussion area

John_Pierpoint

beardiedog wrote: »

There doesn't appear to be a section for bequeathing UK property as a specific item.

Do you mean "land and buildings", what our American cousins more accurately call "Real Estate"?
I have a book about 3 inches thick, called something like "A Basic Introduction to Land Law", so perhaps they need you to define what it is that you are leaving and how you intend to leave it.

First question will be "Which country?" for the will and "In which country is the property?" and "Define its current legal ownership".

Care to have a go at defining what it is you are trying to achieve in every day English:

Here is an example taken from "Which?"
"I leave to my son Mark Douglas Blake free from inheritance tax my house know as The Firs"

That should do it if "The Firs" is in England and it is the normal residence of the late Mrs Blake. However perhaps "The Firs" is a farm house, perhaps its curtilage includes some of the farm buildings and access to the fields. Are some of those fields rented? Perhaps the rest of the farm is going to the daughter?
What happened to "The Firs" when Mr Blake popped his clogs.
Does the "The Firs" claim rights over some neighbours land to get the wheely bins out to the refuse cart? (or vice versa)
Some years ago dad bought an adjoining piece of land and surreptitiously turned it into a tennis court. Now the tennis court is worth £1,000,000 as a building plot. It is not on the same Land Registry certificate as "The Firs", but realistically it requires a strip of the garden of "The Firs" to gain vehicular access to the tennis court.

Please explain to the beneficiaries and to HMRC, who gets what from the estate.

beardiedog

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Do you mean "land and buildings", what our American cousins more accurately call "Real Estate"?

Yes, but there is no category in the template for Land & Buildings so I can't specifically bequeath my house to any one individual or charity.

My house is in the UK, is freehold and has no outstanding mortgage or any liens against it. But as the template stands I have to put it in the residue section and include it in the remainder of my estate which I don't want to do, I want to leave the remainder to someone else.

Which? point out that it is unsuitable for overseas property bequests but I can't see why I can't specifically bequeath UK land and buildings.

Perhaps I'd be better going with another will company or local solicitor?

John_Pierpoint

Does the 02380 857486 number get through to intelligent life?

beardiedog

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Does the 02380 857486 number get through to intelligent life?

Possibly, haven't tried it. I figure that if something so simple is missing from the template then it's not worth bothering with to be honest. I'll have a look elsewhere I think.

beardiedog

I had a look at other online will sites some of which explain that it's not advisable to bequeath property specifically as this can cause the will to fail for various reasons, so it is best to leave it in the residual section.

For some reason this is not explained on the Which? site, not that I can see anyway.

RADINATSTAR

Does anyone know of someone who can draft straightforward Isle of Man and Jersey wills at reasonable costs?

cepheus

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Probably thought he ought to be able to charge you the fees the partners get of £180 per hour - you probably overstayed your 3 minutes, as well as reminding him he has got the junior boy's job..;)

When I attended the the principle probate registry in High Holborn,
who was [STRIKE] fat [/STRIKE]ample and jolly but seemed to know less about partial intestacy than I did.

I think he was the senior partner, quite old and the same name as the firm!

John_Pierpoint

No wonder, when he came up against some one capable, he realised that the payment, even tax free, was poor compensation compared with his normal rate.
Apparently no chance of signing them up for some serious legal advice;)

cepheus

Once the bank/institution who holds an Insurance policy has received the actual Grant of probate, and the executors account instructions, how long will it take to transfer the money to the executor? They have really known about this for a month now and received the will and death certificate 3 weeks ago, but it has taken this long to get the grant.

The Halifax/ St Andrews reckon 8-10 working days, however, when I complained they said, 'but that's a maximum!' They have already told me the amount and day of valuation a week ago. What the hell do they do which hasn't been done already?

cepheus

cepheus wrote: »

Once the bank/institution who holds an Insurance policy has received the actual Grant of probate, and the executors account instructions, how long will it take to transfer the money to the executor? They have really known about this for a month now and received the will and death certificate 3 weeks ago, but it has taken this long to get the grant.

The Halifax/ St Andrews reckon 8-10 working days, however, when I complained they said, 'but that's a maximum!' They have already told me the amount and day of valuation a week ago. What the hell do they do which hasn't been done already?

To answer my own question, 4 days (or possibly 2). The letter was written on Wednesday, stating that the money would arrive in the account today, it did.

Probate finished, except for a few outstanding bills and paying it out in lots of 10k per working day (the faster payments limit)!