Who applies for Grant of Probate?

getmore4less

It is important to find out who has the grant for the cousin, if it was the aunt who died then executor chain comes into play if there is a named executor.

You need to find out where the solicitor is with that estate.

sunsetboulevard

Before aunt died, solicitor and all organisations she had dealings with had been sending all correspondence for my aunt to my address. So aunt knew that I would check the mail first before taking it to her. No grant was ever sent to her.

Have tried to speak to solicitor again today but he is not available. Will try again tomorrow.

eddyinfreehold

Jo101

I am still dealing with the estate of my late father who also died in Feb 2016. HMRC are taking a long time to deal with taxable estates at present.

I am not clear whether you will be the exector for your Aunt's estate as well as acting for your late Cousin on her behalf. If you are to act for both, no other executors are involved, and in order to speed things up, my advice would be to employ your solicitor to complete the first and manage the second as he/she will be familiar with the chain of events. The value of the estate (in my opinion) justifies the cost of the solicitor although it would be wise to get an estimate of costs from the firm. It will take time, but in the long run it will be a lot less hassle and heartache for you while you get on with all the other things in life. I hope this helps.

sunsetboulevard

Have just spoken to solicitor. The Grant of Probate he referred to in his letter is the grant for my aunt, not my cousin. It would have been very helpful if he had stated that in in his letter. Apparently the grant for my cousin is sitting in his office! He is still waiting to hear back from HMRC to okay the amount of Inheritance Tax I paid, although solicitor says I paid the correct amount.

eddyinfreehold, yes I am executor in aunt's estate and acting now on behalf of my cousin. You're right, I think, despite the confusion with the grant of probate, I will ask the solicitor to deal with aunt's estate. There is one more executor (my father) but he's happy to just sit back and let me do everything. He will sign papers, if required, but doesn't really want to do anything else.

Additionally, aunt has had various dealings with this particular solicitor over the years so solicitor is very familiar with aunt's circumstances regarding family and finances.

Thank you for taking the time to reply and thanks to everyone else who gave me advice also.

eddyinfreehold

Have just spoken to solicitor. The Grant of Probate he referred to in his letter is the grant for my aunt, not my cousin. It would have been very helpful if he had stated that in in his letter. Apparently the grant for my cousin is sitting in his office! He is still waiting to hear back from HMRC to okay the amount of Inheritance Tax I paid, although solicitor says I paid the correct amount.

...From my understanding and experience, you have received a Grant for your cousin's estate although HMRC have not yet confirmed they agree with the IHT400 and associated forms. I am in the same position after more than a year. It took considerable chasing but eventually the reponse from HMRC was to challenge the estate's property valuation so we have had to resubmit all the documents they alleged they did not have (they did but it wasn't worth arguing the point). As you have the Grant on that estate then an interim distribution can be made to your Aunt's estate one assumes. This is where your solicitor steps in. The log jam will be with HMRC taking months and months as they do now, and your solicitor regularly telephoning them to speed things up. I have spoken to several solicitors about this problem with IHT submissions and they all say that unless HMRC are regularly (monthly) contacted, no progress is made. They are also very sensitive about property valuations and a large number of estates are sent to Compliance for the Valuation Office to reassess. It is a long and tedious process I'm afraid.