I need some help with Probate

Mojisola

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

On the death of the mother the mother's share of the house passed to the daughter.

The house is worth in the region of £650K but how do you go about satisfying the probate people?

Next I am assuming that the father's proportion of the house is what Inheritance Tax is due on BUT if that is £325K or less is there nothing to pay? Or do you have to add up everything else he might have had? There is not a great deal more anyway to include.

They will need a price for the house when the daughter inherited her mother's share and a price now to know how much the father's share is worth.

People usually recommend a RICS surveyor to set the price.

The father's share of the house and the value of anything else he owned plus any savings will be added together to see what his estate is worth. Household items have very little resale value - our solicitor put down a token £500 for all the normal furniture, etc.

If he had any antiques or works of art, those would have to be individually valued.

I used a solicitor when Dad died because I wasn't well enough to cope with the work - it wasn't very expensive and none of the beneficiaries were worried at having a slightly smaller inheritance.

The solicitor didn't take over as executor (which would have made the whole process much longer) - I employed him to do the work.

Yorkshireman99

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

Gosh you must be very astute to glean that the executors had totally failed in their duties from such limited information. Are you available professionally by any chance?

Your spelling could do with a bit of a tune up but other than that you must be raking in the fees from your counsel - I bet you have them queuing up!!

If the executorshave not applied for probate after two years then they have failed on the basics. Executors have a year to apply for probate and distribute the estate. You gave no indication that this had been done despite being asked. You should also remember that nobody on here has a crystal ball. Also note that I said it "seems" not that they had failed. If you give a bit more information people will be much more able to help you. Just making childish insults does not help you case.

Mrs_pbradley936

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

If the executorshave not applied for probate after two years then they have failed on the basics. Executors have a year to apply for probate and distribute the estate. You gave no indication that this had been done despite being asked. You should also remember that nobody on here has a crystal ball. Also note that I said it "seems" not that they had failed. If you give a bit more information people will be much more able to help you. Just making childish insults does not help you case.

He died two weeks ago, my opening sentence asked for help/advice/information. It should be obvious that if I am asking then I am in an area whereby I lack expertise and/or proficiency.

You are just chagrined because you attempted to belittle me and I am having none of it. I have not insulted you, I have brought your bad manners to your attention is all.

Yorkshireman99

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

He died two weeks ago, my opening sentence asked for help/advice/information. It should be obvious that if I am asking then I am in an area whereby I lack expertise and/or proficiency.

You are just chagrined because you attempted to belittle me and I am having none of it. I have not insulted you, I have brought your bad manners to your attention is all.

YABTU!. I did not, and never would, try to belittle, anyone seeking advice on here, or anywhere else for that matter. Why would I do that? Sadly it seems the problem is that you did not give a full picture of the situation nor have you given answers to the questions asked. Your original post stated that the first death occurred two years ago. It seemed, from the limited information given, that there could be some problem with what had been done regarding the administration of that estate. You don't seem to understand that in order to give helpful answers full information is needed. I stand by my record on this forum because I always do my best to give an honest and helpful answer. If you genuinely want to get advice then just insulting people is not the way to do it.

paddy's_mum

Yorkshireman99 wrote: »

I stand by my record on this forum because I always do my best to give an honest and helpful answer

I have to say that my experience of YM99 shows that he is a real asset to this forum and it seems a pity that this little tiff has arisen.

Perhaps some of G_M's famous tea-and-cake remedy is called for.

Mrs_pbradley936

paddy's_mum wrote: »

I have to say that my experience of YM99 shows that he is a real asset to this forum and it seems a pity that this little tiff has arisen.

Perhaps some of G_M's famous tea-and-cake remedy is called for.

I am sure that you are right. I did not want to write reams which may have been totally irrelevant hence my brief summary.

I have found it best practice when asking or giving information that it is better to let the adviser determine what is relevant/necessary and what is superfluous. I felt as if I was being subjected to criticism and ridicule within a very few posts and if I was new to the site I might have been put off. I am not new and have expertise in other areas just not this one.

macman

OP, you have still not supplied the basic info. Did the wife leave a will, if so, who are the executors? Has probate been applied for or granted on her estate? How was the property owned?
The executors (not you) need to sort out the wife's estate before they do anything about the husband's. If IHT was due on the estate then they have 6 months to apply for probate and pay the tax due: beyond this fines and interest will be added.

Mrs_pbradley936

macman wrote: »

OP, you have still not supplied the basic info. Did the wife leave a will, if so, who are the executors? Has probate been applied for or granted on her estate? How was the property owned?
The executors (not you) need to sort out the wife's estate before they do anything about the husband's. If IHT was due on the estate then they have 6 months to apply for probate and pay the tax due: beyond this fines and interest will be added.

Thanks for your input but we are giving it to the Co-op for a fixed fee rather than sort it all out. The main reason being that I will get the job of overseeing it all and I don't want to.

Yorkshireman99

Mrs_pbradley936 wrote: »

I am sure that you are right. I did not want to write reams which may have been totally irrelevant hence my brief summary.

I have found it best practice when asking or giving information that it is better to let the adviser determine what is relevant/necessary and what is superfluous. I felt as if I was being subjected to criticism and ridicule within a very few posts and if I was new to the site I might have been put off. I am not new and have expertise in other areas just not this one.

I can only repeat that there was no intention to ridicule or criticise you by me, and as far as I can see by anybody else. The whole ethos of this forum is that people do try to help and we realise that many new posters are bereaved and confused. However, I echo Macman's post that for anyone to really help more information is needed. For myself I shall still be pleased to do so, and forget the harsh words that have been said. Helping people is, IMHO, a reward in itself.

Katihannah53

I started reading this thread as I am sole executor and beneficiary of my late husbands estate, and was hoping to find some useful information. I'm disappointed to see an argument springing up and fail to see the relevance to the original question. However, let's ignore that for now. For MrsP - what I have gleaned so far from a very nice man who works for a probate company (although I'm not entirely sure he has my best interests at heart!) is the following. You say the wife died two years ago and the daughter inherited her half of the house, so from that I am assuming that the wife's estate has been dealt with. The threshold for inheritance tax is (currently) £325000, I'm not sure if this was the case two years ago, but if the wife's estate was valued less than this then any remaining unused portion can be transferred to the husband. So for arguments sake, let's say that her estate was valued at £200000, then the remaining £125000 is transferred to the husbands estate giving him a total of £450000 before any inheritance tax is due.
Now, as I mentioned the nice man that came to see me works for a probate company and did his best to convince me that applying for probate and administering the estate is something that I shouldn't worry my pretty little head about and that his company would do it all for me for around £6500. My question to the forum is is it really such a complicated procedure? I like to think I'm quite an intelligent person, and from everything I've read about it, it really doesn't seem that difficult to me. Perhaps I'm missing something. But all the lists on the various websites that recommend when to use professional services, none if these apply to my husbands estate, it all seems fairly straightforward to me. The only reason I have to apply for probate in the first place is that he owned a property that was in his name only, not joint names, everything else was in joint names. Any advice from people with experience of applying for probate? Thanks