Transfer of ownership after death

stephendykes

My father recently passed away and as joint executor's of his estate my mother and I need a little help with the transferring of his property to my mother.

My father died leaving a will that stated everything was to pass to my mother. He was 71 and had paid off the mortgage many years ago and the ownership of the property was solely his. We have tracked down the deeds but due to the firm of solicitors holding them being shut down by the Law Society we have had to apply to get these. Will this delay transferring the ownership to my mother?

Please note that after a bad experience with using a solicitor in a previous probate situation and the relative straightforwardness of my fathers estate, we are trying to manage as much of this ourselves. This may, however, be an area we involve professional help but as you'll see, it seems straightforward enough with a little friendly guidance.

We have not used a solicitor so far for any of his affairs and it's been easy to sort out his banking, car, utilities, etc so we cannot see how solicitors can justify the ridiculous fees they charge. The only sticking point so far is how we go about getting the house transferred to my mother in accordance with the will.

We have already applied for a grant of probate which we believe will take 4-6 weeks but have been advised this shouldn't hold anything up.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

googler

It may depend on whether you're in England/Wales or Scotland, different legalities may apply, but you may want to research how the 'survivorship clause' in the deeds affects the transfer (although this may only apply if the deeds are in joint names, which it seems not from your post...)

I feel you'll need a solicitor or conveyancer, and I also feel they will need the title deeds before this can be accomplished.

CLAPTON

if the house was in your father's sole name then you can't transfer the house to your mother until probate has been obtained.
you don't actually need the deeds, you only need to contact the land regestry once probate has been obtained.

stephendykes

Clapton/Googler,

Thanks for your input which was most helpful.

Googler, if it helps, the property is located in England.

Thanks again.

muskoka

CLAPTON wrote: »

if the house was in your father's sole name then you can't transfer the house to your mother until probate has been obtained.
you don't actually need the deeds, you only need to contact the land regestry once probate has been obtained.

I'm pretty sure this poster is bang on. Contact the land registry after probate and you can probably initiate the transfer without using a solicitor.