Help please

ohlookabee

I'm not sure about how much she has received over the years as I only have minimal paperwork but on the aug 2011 I think she had state and work pensions but it says severely disabled allowance which I'm guessing is the attendance allowance which isn't included in income when working out wether she gets guaranteed pension credit. Both the work and state was below the minimum amount which is why she was entitled too the guaranteed pension credit. She also has savings credit which I'm not sure about but I think it's for people who have savings so they knew she had some.

I think that she had housing benefit/council tax help and the attentdence allowance as I have found no other benefit paperwork and the bank statements I do have only have dwp on them going in.

I really don't even know how to start trying to sort this out, she had carers in sometimes and must have had help with forms as she couldn't read or write properly.

As for the probate I will ring up my solicitor to make sure but she said last time that only need to get it if its asked by the banks as the banks are her only asset. Why would the hmrc need me to get probate? Also the London gazette need probate and if I don't need it for anything else I don't really want to apply for it just for that. As she couldn't read or write it limited what she did quite lot and anything she bought e.g. Mobility scooter was paid for in cash it's also the reason why she didn't do Internet or phone banking.

John_Pierpoint

What was the date of death?
If it was 6th April it is just possible that HMRC have got the income tax situation just about right anyway.

ohlookabee

No it was the 12th of sept

ohlookabee

Just been back to her house and found one paper from this year stating she still got guaranteed pension credit

madbadrob

HMRC need probate to make sure any outstanding tax is paid. The disabilty allowance was known as DLA and would have included a care component but you are correct this is not taken into account when working out what her income is.

As you stated that her savings only equate to about 16k then you can forget housing benefit but has I said earlier the fact she was getting the guaranteed credits suplement she would get housing and council tax benefit anyway no matter what savings she had.

The question will be whether she had declared all her savings to DWP when she received the guranteed benefits credit because the limit before deductions start for that are 10k in savings.

Not using the London Gazette to ask for all creditors to come forward would be a mistake and would also be neglecting the duties you have agreed to by taking on the executorship of the estate. One duty of an executor is to obtain all monies owed to the deceased and gather in all known debts and then pay them. By making the section 27 (I think that is the correct section) declaration you are carrying out the duty to locate all debts to the estate and therefore covering your own !!!! in the future.

Has I said earlier it is possible the banks have not asked for probate because there was more than one and the assets in each were not at the level that those banks use to insist on probate. The figure can be as low as 5k and as high as 15k at which the banks request it. If the banks have released it, there is no property and there are no funds in a trust you should be ok. If she had an insurance policy they may ask for probate before releasing the monies.

Rob

John_Pierpoint

ohlookabee wrote: »

No it was the 12th of sept

Traditionally it was the autumn that allowed someone to get a full year's tax allowance for 6 months income - I'm talking about the days when Miss Jones became Mrs Smith and got a double tax allowance for the year.

ohlookabee

Thanks for all the help but in reality I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, I didn't think she would have this amount of savings and its def over 16k.

Can someone advise me what to do next? I was thinking get hold of all the banks and get statements from 2011 till now (if that's possible) and see how much she had when she wasn't getting guaranteed pension credit. I'll ring dwp and see what they can tell me about the situation and my solicitor to ask about probate. It's only been three weeks since she died but I wanted to try and get it done as quickly as possible. I also thought the estate would have been 7k max.

ohlookabee

I've rang hmrc and they said if the banks don't ask for probate i don't need it even with the amount of money left. Solicitors on annual leave which is why I rang them.

With the london gazette is there anyway of doing it without them needing probate? Because when I had a look on their website it says I need to send in a probate form?

madbadrob

The only way I can see that you could place this ad would be to ask your solicitor to but obviously this is going to cost. There are no legal requirements to do this other than you have to bring in all the debts of the estate.

Has the death occurred recently I would slow down trying to sort all of this out. So long as the funeral is paid all creditors can wait for you to sort out the estate.

The other option is you obtain probate anyway

rob

madbadrob

Further to what I posted above I emailed the Gazette and asked a question based around your problem. I have pasted their reply below

Rob

Thank you for the email. If you could provide a letter from the bank or documentation to clarify that you are the executor of the will that would be alright. You can email all the documents to us when sending through your notice.

Shirley