Handling the estate after death

wwl

The problem with talking to a solicitor about it is they have a vested interest in hiring them.
Do a little research first, look at the forms etc. it really isn't at all hard.
The probate forms themselves are trivial. The rest is just collecting a list of all the banks etc., listing the assets, and when you get the grant, sending them a copy, and then distributing the funds. Probably no more than a day or two's work total spread over a few months.
If you know someone who is organised and good with paperwork, there's no reason you couldn't hire them to do most of it, preparing correspondence etc. for you to sign - it's just admin work. .

konark

Whom did your mother make executor? You or the solicitor?

Then follow your mother's wishes.

Mojisola

konark wrote: »

Whom did your mother make executor? You or the solicitor?

Then follow your mother's wishes.

There's absolutely no reason why an executor shouldn't pay to have the work done by a professional.

Emotional blackmail has no place when someone is already grieving.

wwl

Mojisola wrote: »

There's absolutely no reason why an executor shouldn't pay to have the work done by a professional.

Clearly not true - taking longer and costing more by hiring someone else are perfectly good reasons. The executor has a duty to the beneficiaries. Incurring unnecessary expense and delay could be seen as failing in that duty.
Of course whether it's unnecessary depends on the ability and willingness of the executor(s) to do it, but they should make an informed decision based on facts and not any perceived difficulty.
There is no hurry. Take some time, do a little research and discuss it with the other people involved before diving in and making a hurried decision which you may regret later.

tommytynan123

Thank you all for the replies. We have decided to do this ourselves as the will and accounts etc are very straightforward. In fact without really thinking about it we have already:
Got Death certificate/s - informed OAP pension, Armed forces pension, HMRC - through the registrar.
Informed energy suppliers / Virgin and domestic white goods insurance. Sister is going into the bank tomorrow to freeze accounts (and try and recoup the deposit she paid for the funeral from mothers account - as mother told us to)

• I'm assuming now that I need to ask the solicitor for the will. Will they charge for that? Then start the process. Any questions and I'll be back.

Thanks

poppystar

We didn't have to pay to get the original Will and the solicitor looked surprised when I asked the question so I would guess that is the norm.

One tip for this process is take identification with you wherever you go - I got used to carrying passport and recent utility bill around. The solicitor required it and also the building society and bank that we had a face to face appointments with.

The whole process was quite straightforward and only one building society made it difficult but eventually we even got compensation from them for making it all very distressing:)

tiger305

Thankyou. I've arranged the collection of the will with my sister (joint executors) and been informed to bring ID and also that there is no charge. Couple of points arisen already.
1. Approached one charity with offer of all the house contents for free and the reply was ''If you hire a van and get it to us then we will'' !!! 2nd charity said we can't get there for 3 weeks (their shop is under 1/2 mile away) and we will only take what we want, we have decided to offer all contents as ''free if you collect'' to general public. (Family don't want any) How does that stand with the list of assets / value that I need for probate?
2. We knew how mother ran her finances and that has been evidenced now from bank statements. All utilities are in credit, nothing owed to sky, white goods insurances etc and we are 100% certain she has no debts as such. Is it still worth a LG advert or ignore and proceed.
Thanks

Mojisola

tiger305 wrote: »

we have decided to offer all contents as ''free if you collect'' to general public. (Family don't want any) How does that stand with the list of assets / value that I need for probate?

We knew how mother ran her finances and that has been evidenced now from bank statements. All utilities are in credit, nothing owed to sky, white goods insurances etc and we are 100% certain she has no debts as such. Is it still worth a LG advert or ignore and proceed.

Second hand goods have very little value. Our solicitor put a token value of £500 for Dad's household goods and possessions. Everything was given away to family, neighbours and charities and through Freegle.

We didn't take out a LG notice because I'd been managing Dad's accounts for years and knew there were no debts but if anything had emerged after the estate had been distributed, we would have paid it out of our inheritance.

Yorkshireman99

tiger305 wrote: »

Thankyou. I've arranged the collection of the will with my sister (joint executors) and been informed to bring ID and also that there is no charge. Couple of points arisen already.
1. Approached one charity with offer of all the house contents for free and the reply was ''If you hire a van and get it to us then we will'' !!! 2nd charity said we can't get there for 3 weeks (their shop is under 1/2 mile away) and we will only take what we want, we have decided to offer all contents as ''free if you collect'' to general public. (Family don't want any) How does that stand with the list of assets / value that I need for probate?
2. We knew how mother ran her finances and that has been evidenced now from bank statements. All utilities are in credit, nothing owed to sky, white goods insurances etc and we are 100% certain she has no debts as such. Is it still worth a LG advert or ignore and proceed.
Thanks

The value of house contents can vary wildly. Just make sure you check before giving it all away. It is not unknown for there to be valuable items among the dross. Any executor who does not check is negligent. Just because one person on one occasion does not mean it is OK for all to follow.

FreeBear

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

It is not unknown for there to be valuable items among the dross.

Indeed. Had a small painting that had been dismissed as an ugly bit of tat of no real calue. Just sold it for £2K after showing it to a local art dealer.