What is included in probate?

ddebski_us

Have called in most valuations of dad's assets now (not many, 2 life insurance policies, tax refund & car, really) and so this should be straightforward, but:

his bank account was a joint one with mum, which is now solely in her name. When we cancel policies (ie car insurance, subcriptions etc) and we get a refund, it'll be paid into mum's account. Does that cash need to go on probate? I know it won't be much, but for completeness?

Thanks

xDx

daska

I would say yes. On the basis that this money would otherwise have gone to him. If in doubt as to how to answer questions you can contact the Probate Service. I've found them very helpful.

back_against_the_wall

Don't agree. As the account was held jointly between your mother and your late father, your mother has complete access to all monies paid into the account. Probate is really only a matter of awarding control of the assets of the Estate to the legal executor or personal representative. Normally, unless your father left a Will instructing otherwise, all his property and assets would pass to your mother and it would not be necessary to incur unnecessary expense on formally going through Probate. Don't really understand what you are worrying about.

Mojisola

ddebski_us wrote: »

Have called in most valuations of dad's assets now (not many, 2 life insurance policies, tax refund & car, really) and so this should be straightforward, but:

his bank account was a joint one with mum, which is now solely in her name. When we cancel policies (ie car insurance, subcriptions etc) and we get a refund, it'll be paid into mum's account. Does that cash need to go on probate? I know it won't be much, but for completeness?

What's the total value of the estate? Small estates can get an exemption.

daska

back_against_the_wall wrote: »

Don't agree. As the account was held jointly between your mother and your late father, your mother has complete access to all monies paid into the account. Probate is really only a matter of awarding control of the assets of the Estate to the legal executor or personal representative. Normally, unless your father left a Will instructing otherwise, all his property and assets would pass to your mother and it would not be necessary to incur unnecessary expense on formally going through Probate. Don't really understand what you are worrying about.

OP states a/c already in his mum's name so I took the question to refer to the other monies. The refunds from the car insurance policies etc weren't in the a/c on the date he passed and so form part of the estate. And the OP doesn't give an indication of the value of the estate or say who the named beneficiaries are on the insurance so we can't assume that they don't form part of it. The OP says "not many" rather than "not much" so we can't assume low value. And we don't know that none of the life insurance policies haven't demanded sight of probate in order to release the funds.

ddebski_us

daska wrote: »

OP states a/c already in his mum's name so I took the question to refer to the other monies. The refunds from the car insurance policies etc weren't in the a/c on the date he passed and so form part of the estate. And the OP doesn't give an indication of the value of the estate or say who the named beneficiaries are on the insurance so we can't assume that they don't form part of it. The OP says "not many" rather than "not much" so we can't assume low value. And we don't know that none of the life insurance policies haven't demanded sight of probate in order to release the funds.

Thanks Daska

His estate is roughly £50k I guess. Most of the assets were jointly held/in my mum's name (i.e. house, savings etc). So, just life insurance x 2, car, bits of household goods and refunds due (car insurance, income tax etc). So, don't I need probate as the estate is more than £5k? (That's my understanding anyway). And one life insurance policy (so far) requires probate.

Sorry if I have asked a stupid question; just trying the complete the valuation of assets correctly.

xDx

ddebski_us

Sorry, just reading through form IHT205, it seems although the house is jointly owned, I still need to value it for the form?

Do I need to have an estate agent value the house or can I make an educated guess from information on rightmove etc?

Thanks

xDx

NAR

An estate agent will gladly give you a free valuation in the circumstances.

Tuesday_Tenor

NAR wrote: »

An estate agent will gladly give you a free valuation in the circumstances.

But equally, if the total estate value is nowhere near the IHT threshold, the Probate Office/HMRC are not interested in super-accuracy. An educated guess, based on similar properties currenly for sale will be fine.

You only nead super-accurate valuations if
(a) the estate will be over the IHT threshold, so that HMRC can accurately calculate the tax due
or
(b) the estate is very close to the IHT threshold, so that HMRC can be clear about the figures which cause it to be just over, or just under, the threshold.