Valuing mum's "chattel"

Relbs

I have been looking into what I need to do to obtain probate (as executor of my mum's will). I can get her house valued, but I'm wondering about all the things inside it- plates, pans, clothes, TV, tons of craft stuff, etc. How on earth to I get a valuation for these? The plan is to give most away to charity, unless it's something we need (like the vacuum cleaner!).

Also, the bank will close my mum's account and transfer the money where ever I want without seeing probate. Given the money is coming to me/my children (under 18), can I do this, as long as I include it in the list of assets?

Thanks

Robin9

Lots of sentimental value but generally in terms of money a figure of £1000 is used.

Yorkshireman99

Relbs wrote: »

I have been looking into what I need to do to obtain probate (as executor of my mum's will). I can get her house valued, but I'm wondering about all the things inside it- plates, pans, clothes, TV, tons of craft stuff, etc. How on earth to I get a valuation for these? The plan is to give most away to charity, unless it's something we need (like the vacuum cleaner!).

Also, the bank will close my mum's account and transfer the money where ever I want without seeing probate. Given the money is coming to me/my children (under 18), can I do this, as long as I include it in the list of assets?

Thanks

Unless the estate is close to the IHT limit then an estimate is OK. As far as the house value is concerned what do you intended to do with it? The pitfall is if the value used is to low then CGT can be a future issue.

gettingtheresometime

Relbs wrote: »

I have been looking into what I need to do to obtain probate (as executor of my mum's will). I can get her house valued, but I'm wondering about all the things inside it- plates, pans, clothes, TV, tons of craft stuff, etc. How on earth to I get a valuation for these? The plan is to give most away to charity, unless it's something we need (like the vacuum cleaner!).

Also, the bank will close my mum's account and transfer the money where ever I want without seeing probate. Given the money is coming to me/my children (under 18), can I do this, as long as I include it in the list of assets?

Thanks

If it any help my son has just bought a house & agreed a price of £1500 for the entire contents

jackyann

We used the 'nominal' £1k for most stuff.
We got jewellery valued separately, and a couple of 'nice pieces'.

Remember that if you value 'for insurance purposes' you are talking about getting an equivalent replacement (which makes, for instance, a silver rose bowl worth say £2k) but for probate, it is what you would get if you tried to sell it (essentially scrap value)

Don't fall into the trap (which a relative of ours insisted upon!) of trying to Google stuff. People will ask all sorts of odd prices for tat, and it's no indication of what they will actually sell for /are worth.

Essentially, HMRC are only interested if you are trying to pretend that a Van Gogh was really one of your kids' doodles. They know that most household stuff is worth very little on the open market.

Relbs

Thanks everyone, that's really helpful. Her flat is tiny so £1000 should more than cover it. The selling value plus money won't take us near tax limit so all OK. Big relief I don't have to looking on ebay for how much her clothes might sell for.

Sea_Shell

Can you offset the cost of house clearance against the estate?

Owain_Moneysaver

House clearance fees would be an executor's expense, if the Will allows executors to claim expenses, and paid from the estate before any bequests are paid out.

In this case as the executor is one of the beneficiaries, it's all below IHT threshold and the amounts are fairly small, it's not worth arguing over, but it's good practice to keep an account of what comes in/goes out where.