Building society ISA - probate

CookieRose

TonyMMM wrote: »

Your father went to the trouble of making a will (many people don't) and it is perfectly normal and required that wills have to be "proved" through the probate process, I'm not sure why you expect not to have to do that ?

In reality it involves filling in a couple of forms, and the executor swearing an oath to properly execute the will (which can be done at a local probate office, or in a commissioner for oaths/solicitors office).

You can easily do it yourself - no need for a solicitor to be involved at all.

You do confuse me Tony - you are giving me helpful advice on the one hand, but seem to have totally missed the bit about me being a total novice when it comes to death, wills and probate, and yet my ignorance on the matter appears to annoy you! Cut me a little slack for my ignorance please...I know I haven't a clue, and that's why I'm here.

TonyMMM

Doesn't annoy me at all .... but probate is the legal process you need to go through, I'm just trying to point out it is a straightforward and easy process in most cases and to avoid you paying unnecessary fees to a solicitor.

CookieRose

TonyMMM wrote: »

Doesn't annoy me at all .... but probate is the legal process you need to go through, I'm just trying to point out it is a straightforward and easy process in most cases and to avoid you paying unnecessary fees to a solicitor.

That's one thing at least then

The only reason it's not clear to me (other than being a novice!) is because every other account/financial institution has not required probate - one account was £45k. This is literally the last one in a quite considerable list.

As I've already said, it's not about paying fees, it's about the amount of work and stress it will put my mum under to go through it all. But if the price to pay is to lose £30k, then I suppose she can spend some of that money on having stress counselling afterwards! I've said to her that I'm happy to work on it with her of course, but...neither of us has a clue of the process (although the probate office have been very helpful, but even they said it sounds v straightforward and doesn't necessarily require probate, OTHER than to satisfy the undocumented policy of the BS!) and I live two hours from her and am trying to hold down my own full time job at the same time.

So, hopefully I can start to fill out some forms as a starting point, but without instant access to my Dad's vast collection of files on his finances, it's going to be tricky. Needs must.

Yorkshireman99

It really should not be that difficult now. Your mum already has all the figures and the forms are not difficult to fill in. You could do it with her in one weekend visit. Take a deep breath, forget about the bureaucracy of the building society and say "I can do it!". Plenty of help here if you need it.

Savvy_Sue

One thing I haven't spotted asked / answered: who is the executor of Dad's will? That's the person who has to do it - or at least sign the forms when they are done.

If that's your mum, there's nothing to stop you / your sister filling all the forms in. You have the figures from the other accounts. If there's a house, you'll need a value for that. Dad's belongings need a value put on them (usually not much). That's pretty much job done. Mum signs, sends forms off, swears oath, proved will returned, Mum gets money.

If, however, it's a solicitor / other professional named as executor, it could take longer.

CookieRose

Savvy_Sue wrote: »

One thing I haven't spotted asked / answered: who is the executor of Dad's will? That's the person who has to do it - or at least sign the forms when they are done.

If that's your mum, there's nothing to stop you / your sister filling all the forms in. You have the figures from the other accounts. If there's a house, you'll need a value for that. Dad's belongings need a value put on them (usually not much). That's pretty much job done. Mum signs, sends forms off, swears oath, proved will returned, Mum gets money.

If, however, it's a solicitor / other professional named as executor, it could take longer.

Hi - yes, Mum is the executor. She's had the house valued (resale and probate prices are different so we are told!). His belongings is a bit of a difficult one - he wasn't the type for designer watches and the like - they reduced down to one car a few years ago, and that is in Mum's name so that's a non issue. They do, however, jointly own a little narrowboat, for another few weeks/months. Mum is in the process of putting it up for sale - it was their joint hobby for fifty years, and she doesn't feel that she'll want to do enough boating without him to make it worthwhile keeping. Is it really the business of the BS if my parents had a boating hobby and now Mum doesn't want to do it on her own?! (or perhaps they don't get to see the detail, just the piece of paper, presumably, that this process produces?)

How does one put a value on the clothes, bits and bobs, books (hundreds of), record collection (hundreds of again!) of a 73 year old man?!

Yorkshireman99

CookieRose wrote: »

Hi - yes, Mum is the executor. She's had the house valued (resale and probate prices are different so we are told!). His belongings is a bit of a difficult one - he wasn't the type for designer watches and the like - they reduced down to one car a few years ago, and that is in Mum's name so that's a non issue. They do, however, jointly own a little narrowboat, for another few weeks/months. Mum is in the process of putting it up for sale - it was their joint hobby for fifty years, and she doesn't feel that she'll want to do enough boating without him to make it worthwhile keeping. Is it really the business of the BS if my parents had a boating hobby and now Mum doesn't want to do it on her own?! (or perhaps they don't get to see the detail, just the piece of paper, presumably, that this process produces?)

How does one put a value on the clothes, bits and bobs, books (hundreds of), record collection (hundreds of again!) of a 73 year old man?!

Unless the estate is near the IHT limit you can just put in a nominal value of £500 for his belongings.

-taff

If I were you I would e-mail the CEO of the BS concerned and let them know in no uncertain terms that they are going overboard in their handling of this matter and it's causing your family more distress at a time when you would like to have everything resolved.

I have done this, it resolved itself within two days.

Yorkshireman99

By all means worth a try but if it is the policy then unless there are special circumstances, compared with other customers, I would expect this to be upheld. Requiring probate is a perfectly reasonable and normal requirement. The whole purpose of probate is to ensure that the estate's assets and liabilities are dealt with in the legally correct manner and to prevent fraud. Sadly it seems to be an almost taboo subject that people only find out about when they are already burdened with grief.

poppystar

CookieRose wrote: »

The only reason it's not clear to me (other than being a novice!) is because every other account/financial institution has not required probate - one account was £45k. This is literally the last one in a quite considerable list.

...

So, hopefully I can start to fill out some forms as a starting point, but without instant access to my Dad's vast collection of files on his finances, it's going to be tricky. Needs must.

If this is the only institution that you have needed probate for then presumably you already have the figures from everywhere else so I'm not sure what additional files there is need to access? It should be nice and simple as you will have all the final figures at closure for the accounts.:)

A notional amount for personal belongings since there are no valuables and you will need to get a valuation for the narrowboat too.