A very long, despairing post

honey06

I'm sorry but most of this thread makes no sense and has contradictory information.

in the original post, you've said the estate is worth approx £1 million (in property- a house and a flat)

the first inheritance tax instalment (due 30th Sept) was for £13000.
this means the estate must have been valued @ £650,000 to HMRC, which is a significantly lower sum.

I cant make sense of the figures mentioned between the house value and the flat value- in earlier posts the value of the house was not quite double the value of the flat?
so if both together were supposedly worth £1million, then the house would be worth no more than £600k.
but some renovations being undertaken by Brother 1 (the one who "has been ducking and diving, making a hand to mouth living for years. However, Brother 1 is still doing that and just surviving" and "Because he has no money, has no way of borrowing that kind of money and certainly doesn't earn the kind of money needed for a mortgage") have increased the sale price of the house by £400k??
Wow!!!

soooo, we now have a house worth close to £1million on its own...


meanwhile, as the inheritance tax still isnt paid in full, it would seem probate has yet to be granted, which will cause a few stumbling blocks with the sale of the house.....

duchy

Nowhere did the OP say the entire estate was just the property £700,000 sounds like a large chunk of a million to me !

silvercar

The plan is the one I came up with. Brother 1 has raised the value of the house by so much, that when all taxes, interest and fees are paid and the residue split two ways, the difference while not exactly negligible, is doable.

But your one-third share would be based on the value of the property at the date of death, not now....or are you assigning your brother the total value of the increase in return for the flat. Also not right because some of the increase would be house inflation in that area. I suspect that some of this amazing increase will be the difference between a low valuation obtained for probate and a high valuation obtained by the estate agent marketing the property.

Also any increase in value between date of death and date of sale would be subject to CGT.

Gingernutty

The house is being marketed for a sum considerably more than the initial valuation. Brother 1 has worked his socks off. Fair play to him.

We've agreed between ourselves that that's what we're going to do - CGT will be an issue when/if Brother 1 sells the flat but that's not going to happen any time soon.

The estate agents are experienced in dealing with probate properties - we have to prove we're marketing the property so as to gain probate and as soon as it's granted then we can sell.

Meanwhile, however - the Probate Registry has decided that it doesn't like the state of the will.

Not it's contents, but it's appearance. There are staple marks in one corner. We now have to sign an affidavit as to the state of the will.

Seriously.

The soonest I can do that is early next week. I then have to send it to Brother 1 who has to swear an affidavit, send it back to the solicitor, who then sends it back to the Probate Registry.

Just when you think it's all sorted and chugging away nicely...............

meritaten

staple marks may mean there was a codicil - and if someone removed that codicil................
I find it a bit iffy that you are swearing an affadivit and then sending that to your brother????????? surely an affidavit is YOUR sworn testimony and each person does their own? that is the way it was done when I worked for a solicitor (I may be corrected on that - but, I have never heard of a group affadivit taken individually). but it was at a solicitors office and was only sent to another solicitor.
I think you are awfully naïve hun - you refer to your brother as a 'ducker and a diver' - yet seem to believe his words as gospel.

Gingernutty

The solicitor's instructions were precisely that - I sign my part of the prepared form, get it witnessed, pass it on to Brother 1 and he gets his bit done.

We both have to find independent solicitors and not the one involved in the probate.

There was no codicil or letter of intention - we both saw the will after it was prepared, when Mum died and after Dad died - the staples were from when Mum stapled the two wills together (hers and Dads) and we had to take them apart for her probate.

Gingernutty

Gingernutty wrote: »

Meanwhile, however - the Probate Registry has decided that it doesn't like the state of the will.

Not it's contents, but it's appearance. There are staple marks in one corner. We now have to sign an affidavit as to the state of the will.

Seriously.

The soonest I can do that is early next week. I then have to send it to Brother 1 who has to swear an affidavit, send it back to the solicitor, who then sends it back to the Probate Registry.

Just when you think it's all sorted and chugging away nicely...............

After leaving a job interview, agreeing to a night shift for on the job training for a temporary position at the hospital where I work which could result in a permanent position and having a 'spot of lunch' I showed up at the solicitors' in a howling gale.

Only to find that although the solicitor guiding us through the probate had sent me a letter, a copy of the letter from the Probate Registry and a copy of the affidavit - SHE HADN'T SENT A COPY OF THE WILL. :mad: :mad: :mad:

The solicitor I'd gone to to swear the affidavit couldn't do anything without the will copy. :mad: :mad:

So, mindful of the time (looming night shift and all), I went home and couldn't find a copy of the will either. I had to cancel the swear and call our probate solicitor who wasn't in. :mad: I left a message with the assistant who was very apologetic.

The probate solicitor and I spoke on another day where she told me she had never dealt with a probate like ours where something seemed to go wrong at every stage. :eek:

So I've had to wait for a copy of the will to be sent to me, so that I can sort out another appointment with the independent solicitor and I can swear the affidavit this week.

Then I then have to send it to Brother 1 who has to swear an affidavit, send it back to the solicitor, who then sends it back to the Probate Registry.

Hopefully the probate will be sorted at some stage this year!

Gingernutty

We got an email from the solicitor today.

We have finally been granted probate!! :j

The beginning of the end is finally in sight!

Gingernutty

We've got an offer!! :j

We've got a range of attractive bids, but only one doesn't depend on a chain, overseas money or anything else. It's not the highest, but it's the one we're going with.

This might all be over before Chrimbo!! :j

BitterAndTwisted

Gingernutty: I sincerely hope that your troubles are starting to be over. Goodness knows, you've been through the mill with this and your employment situation of late.

I also hope that you'll see some money coming your way quite soon and you can start making a different life for yourself

All the best,

B&T