DIY Probate

dave76

Hi,

I would like to see if this is something I can do myself to sort out my late Mother's estate. There is nothing I see as complicated and may take some professional advice at some point, but I know there's lots of knowledge here too

The estate is not complicated as far as we have discovered so far. Mum was a widow so no surviving partner, a fully owned house around 140k, 10k or so in the bank, car probably worth scrap value and then household possessions - few grand at the most. Not found any debts although bank said they can pay funeral costs from the account so I guess that goes down as a debt on the forms.

From the reading I have done so far it looks like it is just IHT205 and PA1, along with probate fee. Is it really that simple?? Somebody said you had to put notices in the papers to advertise for creditors or claims on the estate - we are fairly sure we have no long lost siblings though!

Valuing the household assets sounds a complicated issue - do you have to value every single item in the house? The HMRC docs suggest you can estimate for low values items, but how low do you actually bother to include a value for? Do I put the toaster down as a fiver? Do you put prices on beds, towels, clothes, knives, forks etc??

thanks.

bouicca21

I found it useful to chat to staff at the probate office. They were very helpful.

When I did valuation it was just a broad brush - furniture and clothing = £x. But that was some time ago and the total was nowhere near iht threshold.

Crabapple

It can be very simple to do Probate yourself, yes. If you are certain of the details then it should be straightforward, although as said the Probate Registry are very helpful.

As far as contents go, usually you would only look to value individually any items that do hold a decent value, stuff that could be sold at auction for example. If you ask an auction house to value (worth it if there are some valuables like jewellery etc) then they will lump normal household contents together and give a global value for those, with only a few things listed individually.

How much effort you need to go to really depends on how valuable items are and/or how close to the IHT threshold you are. By the sounds of things you are looking at an estate well below the IHT threshold so HMRC will not want a full inventory.

You don't have to advertise for creditors. If you are confident that there are no unknown debts then it's a fairly pointless exercise. Advertising protects the Executors from claims if they distribute money and then a debt comes to light. If you are also the beneficiary (or one of them) then the debts may still be payable from what you've received.

dave76

thanks - useful info. I may call the probate office and have a quick chat with them too then.

There are no issues between me and my sister - I am thinking it is probably more straightforward for just one of us to go through the process so both don't have to sign forms and swear the oath? And once sorted, depending what we decide to do with the house, probably easier to change the Land Registry ownership to just one of us (although thinking about it, I guess this has an impact if I took ownership but then died before selling it?)

Mattygroves2

It sounds straightforward so DIY will be fine.

In terms of debts you'll need to sort out the position with utilities as it could be a balance due either way. Don't bother getting the contents valued if you are miles below the IHT threshold - you are valuing at second hand value so not worth very much unless there are some antiques in there.

If you're going to sell the house then leave it in your Mother's name and sell as executors. Don't undervalue the house on the probate forms either as you could end up with a CGT bill when you sell or transfer to whoever inherits it.

getmore4less

Start going through the IHT205(use the notes) this will identify a list of things you might need to look up and information you need to work on getting, also worth a look at the IHT400 set of forms/notes these are more detailed on some of the things you might need to do.

The value of secondary assets like personal/houshold stuff is more critical the nearer you get to the nill rate band. if loads of headroom then an educated guess is often good enough.
General household stuff is often zero value and sometime negative if it costs to clear a place, down to how much effort people want to put in.

For property it is worth documenting how you got the value for future use especialy if keeping and a future CGT calculation will be needed, less of an issue if it is being sold relatively quickly.

Probably worth a check on the transferable nil rate band so you know how it works but looks like well under the single £325k so not worth the paperwork.

Mojisola

dave76 wrote: »

The estate is not complicated as far as we have discovered so far. Mum was a widow so no surviving partner, a fully owned house around 140k, 10k or so in the bank, car probably worth scrap value and then household possessions - few grand at the most.

Not found any debts although bank said they can pay funeral costs from the account so I guess that goes down as a debt on the forms.

Did you use the Tell Us Once service when you registered the death? Was she receiving any benefits or state pension?

From the reading I have done so far it looks like it is just IHT205 and PA1, along with probate fee. Is it really that simple?? Somebody said you had to put notices in the papers to advertise for creditors or claims on the estate - we are fairly sure we have no long lost siblings though!

If you are confident that there are no outstanding debts, you don't have to advertise in the London Gazette. If you don't and creditors turn up after you have distributed the estate, the executors will be personally responsible for settling the bill.

Valuing the household assets sounds a complicated issue - do you have to value every single item in the house?

I had help from a solicitor for my Dad's estate and he put down £500 for the complete value of the household stuff - four bedroom house but nothing very expensive.

As the estate is under the inheritance tax threshold, no-one is going to chase you about the value of individual items.

If there are expensive pieces of art or furniture or jewelery, you could get those valued separately.

dave76

Mojisola wrote: »

Did you use the Tell Us Once service when you registered the death? Was she receiving any benefits or state pension?

The death isn't registered yet - it went to the coroner who has opened an investigation as postmortem was inconclusive and we are expecting interim death certificates soon. I need to find out if we can still use the Tell Us Once service without registering the death.

She did receive normal state pension.

Mojisola

dave76 wrote: »

The death isn't registered yet - it went to the coroner who has opened an investigation as postmortem was inconclusive and we are expecting interim death certificates soon. I need to find out if we can still use the Tell Us Once service without registering the death.

She did receive normal state pension.

Mum's death was unexpected but the reason was clear from the postmortem so things went smoothly after that.

You will get a letter from the DWP once they are notified of the death - they seem to start with the assumption that everybody owes them money - don't be worried by it. There may be a bit of pension to pay back so be prepared for that.

jackyann

3 tips:

get several copies of the death certificate

do ask the Probate Office for help when unsure

there is no need to rush - if by any chance a beneficiary really needs their money, do a quick calculation and give them half as an interim payment.

Mojisola

jackyann wrote: »

3 tips:

get several copies of the death certificate

do ask the Probate Office for help when unsure

there is no need to rush - if by any chance a beneficiary really needs their money, do a quick calculation and give them half as an interim payment.

Not until after you've got probate.