Just a word of warning....

maxmycardagain

A relatives mum died, she left a will, she had an ISA worth £25,000, youd expect the will (leaving everything to her husband) would include the ISA...

It didnt according to her bank


The widowed husband had to engage a solicitor to confirm probate


15 hours work at £200/hour duly invoiced

robbing the dead?....well.....id say so

PeacefulWaters

You don't need to employ a solicitor to get probate.

BrockStoker

Thanks for the heads up.

How would you avoid such a situation arising then?

xylophone

If her will left everything to her husband then it did include the money in the ISA.

You mean that the bank refused to release the funds until probate was obtained, probably because the amount was above a certain sum.

And you do not need a solicitor to obtain probate.

https://www.gov.uk/wills-probate-inheritance/overview

maxmycardagain

I think it was the banks rules, Santander and for ISAs over a certain amount

certainly swallowed up all the interest it earned


a £3000 bill to verify a will in effect

PeacefulWaters

maxmycardagain wrote: »

I think it was the banks rules, Santander and for ISAs over a certain amount

certainly swallowed up all the interest it earned


a £3000 bill to verify a will in effect

I sorted out probate myself for less than £100.

Edit: quite how the state has managed to more than double that to £215 in 9 years is beyond me.

maxmycardagain

Ive only just heard about this, too late to help

heath480

When my husband died I did probate myself.Very easy to do as he had made a will.The person who employed and paid a solicitor made a costly error.

alanq

Was the balance exactly £25000? If so and there were no other Santander accounts....

"A copy of the Grant of Letters of Administration (Certificate of Confirmation in Scotland) is required. Please note: this will be required in all cases where the account balances are more than £25,000 in total."

http://www.santander.co.uk/csdlvlr/ContentServer?c=SANDocument_C&pagename=WCSUKPublicaLte%2FSANDocument_C%2FSANDocumentPreview&cid=1324566150004

guitarman001

£200 an HOUR!? What's the salary of a solicitor!?

redmalc

Guitarman £200 per hour is cheap nowadays,my solicitor charges £395 per hour and I know a specialist Insolvency Lawyer in London who charges £500 per hour,!!!!!! Turpin is still living !!!!