Do I need probate?

peppergirl

My dad recently passed away and left a will. My mum, brother and I are executors. My dad had all his current and savings accounts in joint names with my mum so this should pass to her without needing probate.

They are named as tenants in common for the one property they own with 50% share each and my dad left his share to my mum, so she now owns it all.

The estate is below the threshold for IHT. Dad had no debts. I'm sorting out all household bills, council tax etc so these are now in mum's name.

I should contact the Land Registry to update the deeds but do I need to get probate as everything passes to mum?

Thanks

getmore4less

yes, to enable the transfer of the property.

dzug1

Even if you can get away without probate now it can make things a lot easier with Mum's eventual estate if you do get it.

Tuesday_Tenor

Yes, the executors need probate.

If dad and mum had owned the property as joint tenants, then they would both have owned all of it , and it then when dad died it would have passed automatically to your mother. There would have bern no 'estate' to administer, so no probate would have been required.


As the property was held as tenants in common, then they each owned 50%.
Your dad's half now forms his estate, to be administered as per his will, and the executors need probate to give them the right to do that.

It sounds like it will be a very simple estate to deal with, so won't tske long.

Land_Registry

As far as the registered title is concerned alone there may be no need to apply for probate, especially if your mother has inherited your late father's share.

In such cases a joint owner may simply apply to update the register using form DJP as per our online guidance
A probate would only be needed for registration purposes if the proeprty was to be transferred in some way for example if father's share had come to you and the ownership needed to be in your joint names.

On completion of the application the register would be amended to refer solely to your mother's name but the form A restriction, which I assume is registered and hence your reference to tenants in common, would remain.

It is not essential, again from a purely registration perspective, to have that restriction removed as it is only likely to come into play should your mother decide to for example sell or mortgage the property.

However sometimes families prefer to sort out all the issues surrounding the estate at such times and as such I would recommend reading our online guidance re Joint property ownership which explains in how the restriction can be removed.

I should again emphasise that the post relates solely to the registration aspects and in such circumstances we would always recommend seeking legal advice, especially as this is often being sought anyway in order to cover what may or may not happen in the future with the property and your mother's own will for example.

[Deleted User]

If you find you need Probate I can only say that I did this for my Father's estate last year and it was really easy. There's loads of help from the Probate office available - and you can literally ring them up and ask "is my answer to question 3 right ?" They're very patient. Dad's solicitor quoted £1,000 to do it and it cost us just over £100. Definitely have a go yourself.

g6jns_2

peppergirl wrote: »

My dad recently passed away and left a will. My mum, brother and I are executors. My dad had all his current and savings accounts in joint names with my mum so this should pass to her without needing probate.

They are named as tenants in common for the one property they own with 50% share each and my dad left his share to my mum, so she now owns it all.

The estate is below the threshold for IHT. Dad had no debts. I'm sorting out all household bills, council tax etc so these are now in mum's name.

I should contact the Land Registry to update the deeds but do I need to get probate as everything passes to mum?

Thanks

You still need probate. In particular the value of the share of the joint accounts and of the property have to be included in the estate. As part of obtaining probate HMR&C will require notification to confirm if there is any IHT to pay. It is not a difficult process though time consuming. Which publish an excellent book on the subject.