Arranging Probate/Confirmation?

whambam

Has anyone done all financial affairs on the behalf of a passed away spouse rather than use a solicitor or lawyer? The majority of them don't carry out what they are supposed to do and take 12 months to do it alot quicker without there £150 pound letters to inform you there working on it.

dreamon100

Hi, I did the probate on my fathers estate earlier this year.
There wasn't anything too difficult but his affairs were all in order and I was the the named executor and main benificiary (no other family members to complicate things).
I found several threads on here (look in Marriage/relaitionship/ probate forum) about this in general and downloaded the various forms from the Directgov site(?).
The solicitor wasn't amused when I asked for the will and informed them I would do the probate myself, but my Dad had been shocked at the cost of my stepmothers probate from them (£1500ish).
The time it took was about 5 months, but that included the time the inheritance tax forms took to be processed.
All in all, a bit research on your resonsibilities as executor and being patient when filling forms out and waiting for them to come back, will save you cash.

bylromarha

I did Probate on my mum's estate last year. Really simple - including the house sale - as the amount was under the tax threshold.

I found the Death board here on MSE really useful. Lots of great people on there who'll help you with questions large and small. With sensitivity too.

whambam

1500 for the fees! makes me want to do it myself I heard someone got charged 4000 and the decent ones take 500.

TonyMMM

It is fairly standard for a solicitor to charge their hourly rate (which could be £200+ per hour) AND a percentage of the estate (negotiable ..often 1%-2%).

In most cases it is a straightforward process, and one you can easily do yourself. You can always employ a solicitor to deal with any specific complications, as necessary.

Money_Bunny

Agree with everyone else - in most cases its not that difficult.

My husband got probate for his stepfather in 10 weeks. Would have taken a solicitor 6 months and we were quoted 1500 pounds.

And the work actually helped my husband with the grieving process - he knew his stepfather would have been pleased that he was dealing with his affairs efficiently and not incurring unneccesary cost.

Goldiegirl

I dealt with my mum's estate after she died. The forms are quite easy to complete, and as Money Bunny said, it was good to have tasks to focus on, to help keep me going.

The local probate office are very helpful too, if you need assistance.

The whole process of sorting the estate out took me about 3 months.

whambam

good to know some of you done it yourself and it was cheap and easy and only took a couple of months gives you a peace of mind than waiting 12 months for solicitor to get back to you, you can't plan anything.