Probate and IHT

eddyinfreehold

Can we just go back a post or two and look at what Yorkshireman99 has clearly and correctly pointed out:

"Who are the beneficiaries? if the main part of the estate goes to the spouse then there will not be any IHT. "

You haven't said so Petethesteam, but if we are right in assuming there is a will and the deceased's entire estate passes to her legally married husband then that estate is exempt from Inheritance Tax. There should be no reason to be discussing how IHT is calculated, how it will be paid, or anything else. It will still be necessary to fill in all the forms and submit them to HMRC so that they give your brother an IHT statement and a Grant of Probate can be applied for. Only then can the personal financial holdings of the deceased be managed. Until Probate is granted they are frozen once the banks, NS&I, funds etc are notified. It would not be correct (legal) for the spouse to try to manage or use those funds before Probate unless they were held jointly which, by the sound of it is unlikely. Pete, I would suggest that you engage an IHT solicitor to manage the submission if there is any uncertainty. If the will passes everything to the surviving spouse you will want every form filled in and every i dotted and t crossed. This is important because when the surviving spouse (your brother) dies, and as the law stands at present, double the exemption threshold can be gained as long as there is evidence in both Grants of Probate.

Yorkshireman99

I would add that the beneficiaries need to consider if any DOVs would be wise to avoid two lots of IHT.