Probate - Do I need it?

getmore4less

macman wrote: »

The house belongs to your mother's estate. It is not yours and will not be yours until you complete the necessary processes. If the will is valid, then who are the executors?

That is not strictly true as the beneficial interest is established independent of the process and the legal ownership.

From what has been said the OP owns the beneficial interest in the property.

it does need the legal ownership changing to be able to do anything other than benefit from the property like sell it.

getmore4less

theshoefairy wrote: »

I am the only person named in the will.

Does it make a difference to me if I am grated probate or grant of administration as to what rights I have and what I can do?

Well the thing is with her partner, she actually owns half of his house. He left his house to ruin when he moved in here about 20 odd years ago. She then forced him into doing it up to rent out. He couldn't get a loan for the repairs himself so she had to do that, on the condition that she was put on the deeds so she actually owned half of that before she died also.

Might have been useful to have mentioned this at the start.

How much are these places worth might you be heading into IHT issues.

What does it say in the will about that property?
Do you have any paperwork on this arrangement particularly how it is owned(see above post).

is it still rented
what was the arrangement for the rent.


I suspect this may take you beyond your comfort zone, just the house you live in and potentially own outright would have been relatively straightforward to get you through the process with a bit of help.

This added complication may be a step to far.

theshoefairy

Sorry, I didn't think to mention the other house when I started this. It is tenants in common. When her partner moved out he moved into that house as she died before it was fit to be rented out and also he had nowhere else to go. I imagine her share of that house would be about 50k. I am not concerned with that house though. I didn't get on with him after she died which is one of the reasons he had to move out of here, I still lived here when she passed away so he can have that as far as I'm concerned.

theshoefairy

Obviously, when anything happens to him, I would like that share of the house then.

Mojisola

theshoefairy wrote: »

Sorry, I didn't think to mention the other house when I started this. It is tenants in common. When her partner moved out he moved into that house as she died before it was fit to be rented out and also he had nowhere else to go. I imagine her share of that house would be about 50k. I am not concerned with that house though. I didn't get on with him after she died which is one of the reasons he had to move out of here, I still lived here when she passed away so he can have that as far as I'm concerned.

But you still have to deal with the ownership as part of the estate.

If you want to, you can give him your mother's share.

getmore4less

if you don't care now but want your share in the future then it may be worth looking at giving a life interest that should avoid future CGT issues.

Another option is to break the ties properly and negotiate a buyout.

What ever you do document the state of play so whoever picks it up has something to work with.

Savvy_Sue

theshoefairy wrote: »

Does it make a difference to me if I am grated probate or grant of administration as to what rights I have and what I can do?

Nope.

theshoefairy wrote: »

Well the thing is with her partner, she actually owns half of his house. He left his house to ruin when he moved in here about 20 odd years ago. She then forced him into doing it up to rent out. He couldn't get a loan for the repairs himself so she had to do that, on the condition that she was put on the deeds so she actually owned half of that before she died also.

hang on, are you saying there is a house which your mother owned in her own right, which you are now living in, AND ALSO a house which your mother had a half-share of before she died?

If you want to claim that half house, there are a whole load of other questions you'd need to answer. Starting with, is that house mentioned in the will (valid or not), and does it state how she co-owned it. You may need to check the Land Registry to see if her half passed direct to her partner, or if it now belongs to her estate.

Tuesday_Tenor

Plus, depending where these properties are in the country, the value of a house plus half a house plus any other assets could well be heading into Inheritance Tax territory.

Roughly what do you think the value of her estate was, at time of death? The inheritance tax threshold is £325k. If the estate is valued at more than this, then some inheritance tax would have been due to be paid to HMRC from the estate within 6 months of the death.

As well as the PA1 form you need to be filling in the IHT205 form as well.
U
Don't panic, this won't be the first time probate has been applied for very late. But if inheritance tax was due to be paid, and wasn't, the estate will incur interest charges or penalties. I'm a bit hazy on this, someone else will advise if it becomes clear the estate is over the IHT threshold.

Edit: sorry, I hadn't re-read thread since I first looked, only the latest posts. I see you said earlier that the estate was under IHT threshold. Is that still the case with the £50k from the half-house included?