Can i cope with applying for probate on my own?

SUESMITH_2

they were very helpful in the probate office and like others have said its quite straightforward to do

Magnolia

I found the probate office and the bank very helpful when I did it.

alihud

Just want to say thank you for all of your replies,its been really helpful during such a distressing time.
I'm going to try and do it by myself but very slowly and methodically as emotionally it is hard but i am good with filling forms and finding out information.I want to do this for my mum and dad.
Thanks again guys.
Ali

EmehEm2005

As co-executor in her will I arranged probate for my mum's pretty straightforward estate and it all seemed to go pretty smoothly. However I did read up beforehand at -

http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/civil/probate/applications.htm
http://www.hmcourts-service.gov.uk/infoabout/civil/probate/helpline.htm

(Quote:
Applications made in person Just under one third of applications are made by applicants acting in person. The fee payable to the Probate Service when making a personal application is £90 (PDF 68KB), but where the estate is £5,000 or less, no charge is made)

silvasava

Hi Alihud

I was in a similar position to you & I did my mum's probate about 10 years ago when they first came on line. As everyone has said it is quite straightforward so just take it slowly and methodically. In fact my mum's solicitors who had her will advised me that I coulkd do it myself!
I dont know if the system is still the same but I had to attend an appointment with someone from the probate office at our local Crown Court - I was a bit nervous but the guy was very friendly & put me at my ease. He said it was the first online probate he'd dealt with & was asking me if I had found any difficulties doing it (no!) and it all went through OK. I felt quite proud of myself 'cos my mum would have spun if I'd spent loads on a solicitor!!

Good Luck - do let us know how you get on

John_Pierpoint

I confidently said at the first meeting I organised with my "dozen" (inc. 2 dead beneficiaries)
"This should be fairly straight forward, especially as we should qualify for the double spouse nil rate exemption from IHT".

Little did I know;) Problems started almost immediately with a duff solicitor written will.

You can most likely still find the saga by searching; using this web site's search facility or (better) Google:
“Mr Dog” site: forums.moneysavingexpert.com

The saga has not quite ended even now, fortunately I am semi retired and could attend to the minutiae of the process. I dread to think how much it would have cost if I had found and used a GOOD solicitor, charging by the hour or a percentage of the estate.

When everything is finally finished, I will try to write and post a synopsis of what I have learned.

It is not so much what you can do, as getting the organisations with which you deal to do their part of the process, correctly and promptly.

Biggles wrote: »

You will find no problem. I've had, sadly, to do it twice in the last two years and a little online research told me all I needed to know.

You'll probably need a solicitor for the house sale (but only for the conveyancing) but the rest is just straightforward and will save a fortune.

Good luck.

As you are selling and if the property is registered, all you legally require is the best possible price. Legally you are a trustee for the beneficiaries and trustees are required to sell at the best price.
I used an on-line solicitor, based in a nice cheap part of the country, my only problem was they used some sort of on-line service for money laundering. It decided I did not exist. :eek:
The fact that the property was not registered did not act as an excuse to increase the quoted modest fee.
You will be selling in the same position (only worse) than that of a mortgagee flogging off a repossession - you cannot be expected to know the intimate details of the property and the neighbours - so get you solicitor to explain what to say, when you get the questionnaire from the buyer's solicitor.

Choosing a GOOD estate agent is a much more important decision. If you find one, give them lots of support.
Avoid an agent's "sweetheart" deal with someone who makes a living doing up probate properties - as one candidly said to me "I need 50K in the deal for myself".

SUESMITH wrote: »

they were very helpful in the probate office and like others have said its quite straightforward to do

Magnolia wrote: »

I found the probate office and the bank very helpful when I did it.

I found the Central London office slow and pretty useless. (you sit there worrying that they have lost the will, I was wishing I had delivered it and the forms by hand) My late mother's will, half a dozen years ago, was proven in a matter of days at the Lincoln office, the local one for my sister & co-trustee.

wealdroam wrote: »

I used a Which guide recently.

Called "What to do when someone dies".
ISBN 978 1 84490 072 5

Available from Amazon for £6.80.

Very good comprehensive guide.

£6.08 ?

The THREE Which guides are an excellent basis for understanding the ins and outs of the situation, good value for less than £25; BUT it is vital to get the up to date versions as major changes in tax legislation occurred in 2006 & 2007. I notice there has been a change in procedure in 2010, for IHT "excepted estates" [I suppose that HMRC just did not have the resources to double check everyone claiming the "spouse and legal partner" exemption, in these days of family break up.]

Pollycat

Just after a bit of advice:

My Dad died last week.

He and Mum (who survives him) made a will years ago, which appears to have disappeared but the firm of solicitors they used are still there and have confirmed they have a copy of it and that it basically says my Dad left everything to Mum and also made her Executor.

Everything they had (current account and savings) are in joint names.

They owned no property.

The Solicitors asked me the above questions about any money/shares/property in Dad's name and I told them there wasn't and I've done a letter to them to confirm that and I'm taking the death certificate to them on Thursday to copy.
Am I entitled to ask (on Mum's behalf) for a copy of the will as we don't have one?

I've advised the Department of Work & Pensions (I was Appointee for Dad), his 2 occupational pension providers, local council, county council so far.

I've been in touch with the bank that they have their savings (fixed term bond) and they've told me to make an appointment for me & Mum and bring a number of things for ID (no mention of Probate).

After the funeral I'm going to take Mum into the bank they have their current account with (along with a copy of the death certificate) to sort things out there.

I'm going to ring the Probate Service this morning but I've been up half the night going over things in my head. I'm very organised but totally clueless over this will and what I need to do next.

Will I have to apply for Probate?

As the OP asked, is it easy to do in the circumstances I've outlined above?

Thanks.

Biggles

Pollycat wrote: »

Am I entitled to ask (on Mum's behalf) for a copy of the will as we don't have one?

The solicitors should give your Mum their copy of the will. They will have no need for it, as your Mum is the Executor, not them. If you start discussing the details of the will with them, you may get a large bill. It isn't necessary to answer their 'questions', other than to produce the death certificate and ID.

If everything was in joint names, your mother is now the owner and no probate is needed. The bank will just convert them from joint names to her name.

John_Pierpoint

If the will really is "lost", then you will have a problem trying to use some smudgy old black and white photocopy.

However my nasty cynical old mind makes me think that the solicitor may well have a "copy" that is indistinguishable from the original and is just hoping that he will get the job of sorting out everything at your expense; charging £xxx.xx per hour for his work or a percentage of your late father's wealth.

If no legitimate will exists the estate will be "intestate" - as is the case for the majority of deaths in this country. In that case the government's "intestacy" rules come into play; these are supposedly modelled on a regular analysis of what the average will says. These rules give your mother outright ownership or the use of the majority of father's personal wealth. There is a slight difference:
With a will you are now the "executor", in law your authority over the situation is equal to that of any other executor appointed by the will and superior to anyone else. Though you will have to submit an account to the state before you get a "grant of probate" unless your father's net worth is very small. It is difficult to get rid of an executor who does not agree to resign.
Without a will, you are just a "personal representative" and you will need to make an application to be recognised by the court, then you will get "letters of administration". All this usually is just bureaucracy and form filling with the same office, which will then talk about a grant of "admon" for both situations.

Sorting out an estate can have all sorts of spills and thrills along the way, but from what you say your father's estate should be simple and "excepted" from a charge for InHeritance Tax (IHT).The current exemption limit for UK residents is £325,000 of net wealth (this includes everything he owned or partly owned, less any outstanding debts - the house is usually the biggest item) No tax is payable on wealth left to the spouse (or a charity).

Some widows, where everything is in joint names (ISA investment??), or where nobody would know, just carry on as though the death had not happened (Council tax??); it is sometimes comforting to have the phone in the man's name; but this tends to lay up difficulties for their own death.

When you say your father owned "no property", I am assuming mum and dad are "renting" and you mean what the American's call Real Estate.

Jointly owned assets are usually transferred to the survivor without the need for the legal procedures of "probate"; if father held the bank account jointly with mother, that would explain why they are only too happy to see you both, ready to transfer the account into mother's name.
Land (that happens to have a house on it) can be owned jointly as "tenants in common" (it is the "Queen" that really owns it, but her ancestors decided to let people use it for free) and each share can be left in a will.

It is possible that the original of the will is stored in a safe deposit ("deed") box at the bank. (There is another organisation that will be happy to help you at these difficult times, in exchange for a (probably larger) charge of a percentage of the estate).

I would telephone the solicitor and say "I will be calling to view the will and I will need a copy of the will, as the bank want to see it before releasing any deposit box or account information to me/us". See if he is prepared to stamp & squiggle the copy as a "certified copy".

Virtually anything you will need to know is covered by one or more of the (new editions) of the "Which?" books.

One last thought: Keep accounts of everything spent on the funeral, the memorial and the wake - these count as your father's debts.

If you have problems come back here (or better the "tax saving" part of the forum) for a bit of moral support.

Pollycat

Thanks for the quick replies, guys.

From what I'd read, I'd surmised that I wouldn't need to get probate.

Re the solicitors charging:

I don't think they will try this, the woman I spoke to said something along the lines of 'we don't need to act further in this matter'.
I most certainly will not allow them to act for Mum.

John, I have the letter confirming all monies were in joint names plus the death certificate ready to go (I'm going to do it after the funeral which is tomorrow).

I will ring them and tell them I'll be asking for a copy of the will.

The original is definitely lost, I've been through every bit of paperwork they have.
I wasn't even aware they'd made a will until Dad became very ill.

I'll park your comments on intestacy until I've seen what the solicitors have.

Definitely under the Inheritance Tax threshold so no worries there.

I've already got receipts for everything I've spent, I'm paying for stuff and Mum will pay me back when she has access to the money.

The majority of the savings are in a fixed term bond so I've been paying part of the care home fees out of Dad's benefits - as his appointee his State Pension/DLA & Pension Credit have been paid into a current account in my name.

Our County Council have been funding the remainder of the fees (as the money was not accessible until end Nov 2011) and it is accruing on their ledger so I guess these will also be classed as Dad's debts and will have to be paid when funds are available.

Thanks again.