Father passed away - transfer of assets help required!

itsjustmestephanie

Hello everyone.

I'm after some advice after recently learning of the passing of my father. I'm currently 21 and have had no contact from him since I was 9. He left no will, however I am his next of kin along with my brother (under 18). Our mum also passed away some time ago.

Basically, I have been tracked down and have been informed by the probate solicitors that he has the following assets:

1) Bank Account with Natwest
2) Savings Account with Natwest
3) Shares with Barclays
4) Shares with Hargreaves Lansdown

All accounts are solely in his name. However, the Hargreaves Lansdown account has apparently been contributed to by another involved party, who claims 50% input (and share).

The advice I am after on this forum is how to proceed in transferring his financial assets. I have been offered assistance by the probate solicitors, but the fee seems rather high, to say the least. Is there a protocol that I can go through to transfer these assets by directly contacting these companies? Any help whatsoever would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for reading this and for all your help.

Keep_pedalling

If the H&L account is in his sole name then it is owned 100% by him.

If there is no will who involved the solicitors?

getmore4less

Legal owner and beneficial ownership are separate.

Chances are the HL account is a nominee account where the legal owners are HL and are just trustees for the beneficial owners which can be more than just those named on the account.

getmore4less

I would start with going back to basics.

Is there a will.
What happened to mothers estate.
Who registered the death organised funeral etc.
Did it end on on the BV list
Who are the current interested solicitors what is their involvement.
Any house/mortgage.

Next will be collecting the state of the estate to make sure it is solvent.

How much ate the solicitors asking for?

itsjustmestephanie

First of all, thank you.

There is no will/property/mortgage/debt. Just bank accounts and shares.

Not sure what happened to my mother's estate as I was really young when she passed away and it's not something I can find out.

It was a close friend of my father who registered the death and sorted the funeral, probate etc. This is also the person who claims to have a 50% share of the HL shareholding. This is why I feel immoral by claiming that he has no stake in the shares, even though, on paper, he doesn't.

Solicitors are asking approx £1300 plus VAT. Is it possible to gain access to his estate without paying such a sum? i.e. filling out forms for the bank etc.?

Thank you x

Yorkshireman99

If the is no will then probate cannot be have been applied for. You do not have to pay the solicitor. Whoever contacted them has to pay. You should be able to do this all yourself. You need to apply for letters of administration. read the "stickies " on this forum for more information. You can download the forms and if you have any questions please ask here again.

getmore4less

itsjustmestephanie wrote: »

First of all, thank you.

There is no will/property/mortgage/debt. Just bank accounts and shares.

Not sure what happened to my mother's estate as I was really young when she passed away and it's not something I can find out.
.......

do you have an idea of the total?
if under £325k then you won't need to investigate your mothers estate, but if over then you will be looking to use the transferable nil rate band, often straight forward if needed.

konark

Who are these solicitors you speak of? What exactly is their relationship to your father? They certainly didn't write his will 'cos there isn't one, and they they haven't been named as executors 'cos there isn't a will.

If there is just the bank accounts and share it may be possible (depending on amounts) to proceed without obtaining letters of administration (probate) the bank accounts should be ok, the shares may be a problem.

. The money, after funeral costs, will then need to be distributed according to the intestacy rules.