My grandma died today

Meadows

Firstly sorry for your loss.
Secondly well the Solicitor would say that wouldn't they as they stand to make money from handling the will and taking it through Probate when it is straightforward to do yourself.

http://www.makingawill.org.uk/text-appointing-executors-page-130.html

http://www.lawdonut.co.uk/law/personal-law/probate-executors-and-estate-administration/being-an-executor-or-administrator

http://www.netprobate.co.uk/questions-answers.html

http://www.georgedavies.co.uk/Resources/s/t/v/The%20role%20of%20an%20executor%20and%20trustee.pdf

http://www.nsandi.com/youandyourmoney/thebasics/Wills_Executors_and_Probate_2.htm

http://www.beneficentlaw.co.uk/uploads/1/0/7/5/10755464/obtaining_probate_without_a_solicitor.pdf

http://www.bereavementadvice.org/uploads/DOC49FAFD525593F.pdf

http://www.diyprobateforms.co.uk/

LutonGirl

Dan-Dan - so sorry to hear your news and I'm glad you came onto the forum to ask for help. My Dad died in July and this forum has been a god-send for information and help.

All good sound advice posted above. I did probate myself too - all forms downloadable and a real person answers the phone at the Probate Registry - most helpful.

As Mojisola says above, nothing has to be done in a rush. Take your time. It is hard enough grieving without worrying about paperwork - I can vouch for that. Sat looking at a pile of Dad's papers for best part of three weeks before I could bring myself to even look.

Do the basics to keep people informed - utilities, council tax, tell us once etc, have the funeral and then start on the stuff. I found everyone I spoke to very helpful and sympathetic, apart from Dad's energy supplier (long story, shan't bore you with it) - and they do give you time to sort yourself out.

Please keep in touch here and shout if you need help - you will certainly get what you need.

All the best.

Dan-Dan

Thanks Luton Girl , we apreciate it , ironically , it was the L&D she passed away at , we are from leighton Buzzard

RAS

Dan-Dan wrote: »

The value of the house is roughly between 250/300k , there is NO money to speak of in her bank account , literally £250 odd

Ok

The limit for IHT is £325K. so it does not look as if that is an issue.

Therefore you can afford to do the probate as an when you can. If you have to pay IHT, you need to find cash within 7 months.

Officially the estate pays the utility bills until probate is granted but if you are actually living there, then you need to speak to bro about whether to put the bills in your name or whether to leave them in grandmas name and you personally re-imburse the estate.

if the solicitors get involved, then you will need to look at things like your personally renting the house for a while from the estate and all the stuff re gas certificates and landlord's insurance.

I would recommend that the executors look at the insurance (building and contents) side of things anyway.

TonyMMM

Solicitors may also charge a % of the estate value .... another reason to do it yourself. It really is quite a simple process in most cases.

As everyone says - take your time. When you are ready, sit down and go through all the paperwork you can find - don't forget you need to check for any money owed as well as assets held.

The costs of the probate process , and funeral, normally all come from the estate. You may have to pay these costs yourself up front and recover them later when/if the house is sold, but funeral directors are quite used to the delay in payment (if you discuss it with them in advance).

When you register the death - get a few copies of the death certificate - you will probably need them.

getmore4less

Plenty of good advice so far.

give yourself time to read through the various guides.

The 2 forms you need are PA1 and IHT205 to start with and they have a handy guide with them, do a practice run filling them in it helps with questions you need to get answers for.

I would say DIY for this one, then you are better prepared for the future in case it comes up again.


Starting yesterday write everything down especialy every bit of money that goes anywhere or comes in, also document every phone call and letter(copies) keep a file. it is hard to remember things.

You can swear the oath at a solicitors which can be easier than going tot he probate office its alos very cheap often cheaper than the fuel and parking in some cities.

House valuation, just get them in for selling no ned to mention a probate sale , I always say err on the high side if no IHT payable, helps reduce the future risks of CGT if the benificiaries are not going to live there.

Note that the bills(council tax after 6months) do start coming in once you have probate, so if it is just a house you can look at delaying getting it if there is no rush.


As others have said no rush.

Dan-Dan

Hi Guys , too many replies to quote each one! , and thank you...

Firstly , just to clarify , myself and my husband (this is my husbands mse account) live here with our two kids , my bro lives elswhere with his wife and kids,not sure what that means in regards to the bills etc

What we are planning to do , is tomorrow , document all our calls to the utilitys , and CLOSE her accounts and let the companies take the final bills (or credits) to the currently OPEN current account , which means her estate is still maintaining those accounts , does that sound right ?

Buildings and contents runs out March 11th , we just happended to have found grandma a good deal with the halifax to renew (we are registered POA with the the current company as well) what do we do now , take out buildings insurance in our own names ?

the same for utilitys , we were going to start accounts in our names effective tomorrow morning , altho probate wont be granted for a while , is this the right thing to do , or should we leave them in grandmas name til probate ? problem with that is presumably the pension will stop soon and there wont be any money to pay the bills in her account ?

i have other questions re what happens when probate is granted and we have sold the house , but they can wait i guess!

thanks again all

RAS

Hi

Since grandma is dead, her debts cannot be paid from the current account. That ceased to be a valid account yesterday.

Billls need to be paid by "the estate of grandma". You can leave them in her name in the medium term, but do take your own readings. The bank should given them access to the money in the bank account on receipt of a death certificate. Bear in mind that pension already paid may be reclaimed as well.

Ditto the insurance, this needs to be paid by the estate (do ring the insurance provider about this). Also the quote is not invalid as grandma is no longer here.

Hubbie needs to talk to his brother about this. One thing he needs to understand is that legally he is two people at the moment and he has to separate them out.

1. Occupier of the house who needs to agree with the estate how bills are going to be paid.
2. Joint executor of the estate who needs to agree with his co-executor how bills are going to be paid. And whether the occupier remains in residence and if so on what terms.

He needs to get this right because otherwise it could badly affect hsi relationship with brother.

Given the very small amount of cash, it might be best to set up an account and you as a family pay in the money which is needed to cover the day to day bills of the estate, since you are benefitting from the occupation.

Dan-Dan

Thanks RAS

The current account that is in grandmas name now , we have a card for it ,its has POA on it, one thing i understand is that POA exists no more because grandam is no longer here SO what should be happening to that account now ?

if its frozen to access by anyone until probate is granted , then surley it will run overdrawn unless we close the utilitys as mentioned..?

even if we are `saving` the money to pay the estate back ?

The relationship with the brother is that we have paid £££ over time to the house (flat roof replacement for example last autumn) and he agrees that we can live here until such time an offer is accepted on the house...as we have `earnt` that right , in his eyes , due to things like the caring and the roof etc

so in a way the estate which is due to be split in half , has got both halfs who happen to be the executors , in agreement which is ...

keep the current occupiers in there until such time the house is sold...we would need the sale proceeds which are approriate to our share in the will to onward move

he also has indicated that he would be willing to renounce his role as joint executor....i beleive this would help things along ?

what is confusing is we pay for all the shopping etc etc at the moment as a joint household , so now grandma is gone , we want to pay the bills , presumably in her name is not really appropriate , if its in her ESTATE then where is the income coming from to cover the bills ? we are perfectly happy to pay money into her current account , but thats the confusing things , because as you said , that account is dead now (or at least will be once we tell the bank that runs it??)


sorry to waffle , it might be the long stressful day to be honest

RAS

Hubbie (and bro if he wants) needs to open an executors account. The money towards bills goes in and the bills go out.

For ease, you might find that it is better if you pay the value of the bills from your personal account into the executors account and hubbie sets up the DDs on the executor's account and sorts out any other bills?

Utilities are used to having to deal with executors.