Scotland- Working out Dad's estate

Annieablawstairs

Hello All.

I wonder if someone can help with some advice.
My father died very recently -this week actually. As his named executor in his will I'm about to start working on his estate with my sister to try to get some headway before she has to go back abroad.
Dad has left around £30 000 in National Savings, £20 000 in his current account £20000 in his bank's ISA account, and has a bedsit flat which I suspect will be valued at around £60000. Before he passed away he transferred around £20000 each into my sister and my accounts as well. (he knew he would be passing away soon) and a total of £3500 split with the grand children.He was never near the inheritance tax threshold.
Dad's will says everything is to be divided equally between myself and my sister.
I was quite prepared to gather up details of what he had left, fill in the form asking for confirmation, pay his debts, get a valuation on the flat etc, however a couple of things have thrown me.
1. I went into the bank on Friday to let them know he had passed away and they have asked me to come in on Monday. The manager said that at this meeting they would close his account and pay the balance of his ISA account and Current account into my bank account, and give me a statement of his closing balance. I don't know what I expected but I hadn't considered that this was how it was done- I thought I had to go to the Sheriff court and get a deed of confirmation, but the bank manager says because the amount is under £50000 then he is able to just close the account and pass the money on. He suggested that after I'd paid Dad's bills I would then divide the balance with my sister. I know what Dad's liabilities are and they are very few- his funeral, final utility bills, that's all, and Dad was thoroughly well organised so there should be nothing to be anticipated regarding claims. The suggestion, although extremely practical, has thrown me a bit because I thought that we would have to wait six months before I was allowed to do anything and that I would need to approach the Sheriff court. Is this usual? Do I need to go to the court at all?

The second thing is that my daughter is staying in my Dad's bedsit, and my Sister and my late father suggested to me that my daughter should not be disturbed until she completes her studies in 3 years time. This is not reflected in the will. Sister has proposed that we do absolutely nothing with the bedsit for now per Dad's wishes, and we revisit it in 3 years time. This is lovely, and very sweet of her, but I'm not sure how it all fits together with any duties on my part as executor. Our family get on extremely well, so there is no question of arguments etc. I just want to make sure that what is proposed is legal and how to go about it as I don't want to find out after we've worked this all out very quickly between ourselves that I should have done something else.
I'm not averse to involving a solicitor if necessary, but would appreciate some pointers so I have a clue about what I'm talking about.
Very many thanks folks. Very much appreciated in advance.

Camster

the £50,000 limit seems a very high to me.

I dealt with my mums estate after her death last year and she had just over £10,000 in a Post Office account. Their rules where that anything over £5,000 had to go through the confirmation process before the account was closed.

I dealt with Glasgow Sheriff Court and it was a very straightforward process. The link below gives you further information about it:

https://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/dealing-with-a-deceased%27s-estate-in-scotland

Keep_pedalling

Different banks have different levels, for Barclays it's £30k

Nice to have a thread where siblings are not at loggerheads over their inheritance. You will still need to get confirmation because of the house. As there seems to be more liquid assets than fixed, you and your sister could do this a couple of ways. Either split the cash and house between you, or your sister could take hers in cash with you owning the house and a small amount of cash.

The former option has the advantage that you can both use your annual CGT allowance on any gain the flat makes between now and when you come to sell it.

What ever you do make sure you both have up to date wills in place.

getmore4less

Who currently covers the factors costs on the flat.

How old is the daughter 18+?

3 years of cost need to be thought about and potential CGT.


It can simplify estate accounts to close all utilities for the estate and open new ones with the occupier if not done already.

Be_Happy

National Savings will give you the biggest hurdles. OH died recently - no confirmation certificate was required as he had very small savings and house was in joint names with a 'survivorship clause' so passed directly to me. Had it merely been in joint names, half the value would have had to be entered in his estate value. He had left a Will passing everything to me after some small bequests.

He had £9 in premium bonds and, as I was not applying for a Confirmation Certificate, I had to send NS&I an original Death Certificate and a Certified Copy of the Will. They did return the documents and pay the £9 very promptly.