Transfer of house deeds after parents died

vegasgo

Many thanks

00ec25

vegasgo wrote: »

My father died in 2011. He did not have a will and we did not obtain probate as everything passed over to my mum

vegasgo wrote: »

I've also been told via another solicitor;

For the purpose of selling the house, you do not need to transfer it
out of your father's name but you will need to obtain a grant of
representation to his estate in order to be able to sign a contract and
sale transfer. This should be straightforward and quite quick as you
already have a grant in respect of your mother's estate.

Is this correct?

You do need to clarify a few things about your father because having died intestate "everything" may not have passed to your mum given the size of the estate

you say the property was in your father's name only, therefore your mother did not actually have an interest in it so, assuming you are in England and wales (Scottish rules are different) on the death of your father:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cto/customerguide/page14-6.htm
- your mother gets the first £250k of the estate and a life interest in half of the remainder of the estate (ie a life interest in the property if it was value >250k on father's death
- half of the value of the property in excess of 250k passes to you (and any sibling in equal shares)

that is probably why the other solicitor is saying you need probate on your father because you are the person who has to act on his estate since you did not register your ownership of the property when he died so you still have to clear up your share of "his" estate

John_Pierpoint

Strictly speaking there is a difference between being an executor of a will with a grant of probate and a personal representative with letters of administration.
In the London registry they talk about "the admon" to cover both possibilities.

As just a family member trying to get letters of administration you have no official looking will to support you, so it could be a rockier road to travel.

https://uklaw.net/probate/landing_page_notes_explanation.asp
https://www.probatewizard.co.uk/guides/what-is-a-grant-of-probate.html

Don't you love solicitors' attention to legal accuracy: Principal Probate Registry in the City of London. I am almost certain that the registry is in Camden.

vegasgo

We are obtaining a grant of letters of administration for my father's estate via a.n.other solicitor so we can sell the house on his behalf without changing the names on the register. The 250k threshold is in and around the figure my mum was left so shouldn't be complications here I hope.