Do you need to apply for probate for tenants in common 27 March 2019 at 6:12PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Deaths, Funerals & Probate 9 replies 3K views

cherry76

Elderly couple own property as tenants in common. Other assets are in joint and sole accounts. Assuming they do not keep more than allowed by individual bank e.g Nationwide is £30,000, Barclays £50,000 and if they keep to that amount in their sole account, am I right to think probate is not necessary. Premiums bonds is 5k. Land registry does not need probate to update registry, the surviving spouse can do that. Have I missed anything? As probate fees are going up and funerals are not cheap I need to consider putting my financial affairs in order. Thanks

Yorkshireman99

cherry76 wrote: »

Elderly couple own property as tenants in common. Other assets are in joint and sole accounts. Assuming they do not keep more than allowed by individual bank e.g Nationwide is £30,000, Barclays £50,000 and if they keep to that amount in their sole account, am I right to think probate is not necessary. Premiums bonds is 5k. Land registry does not need probate to update registry, the surviving spouse can do that. Have I missed anything? As probate fees are going up and funerals are not cheap I need to consider putting my financial affairs in order. Thanks

Who are the heirs? Do they both have wills? Who are the executors? Will the property be sold?

Mojisola

cherry76 wrote: »

Elderly couple own property as tenants in common.

If you want each other to inherit their share of the property, wouldn't it be better to own it as joint tenants.

Do you have wills that leave their share of the house to someone other than the spouse?

cherry76

Mojisola wrote: »

If you want each other to inherit their share of the property, wouldn't it be better to own it as joint tenants.

Do you have wills that leave their share of the house to someone other than the spouse?

Yes the wills leave their share of property to the two adult children.

Yorkshireman99

cherry76 wrote: »

Yes the wills leave their share of property to the two adult children.

You really need probate. Much of the work you can do yourself get solicitor to do the tanner of the property.

Keep_pedalling

I really hope they don’t have that much cash sitting earning nothing just to avoid probate.

Tom99

You do not need probate. See here which describes your situation:
https://help.landregistry.gov.uk/app/answers/detail/a_id/125

Gers

Just be aware of NS&I's words:

We will let you know if we need a Grant of Representation (also known as a Grant of Probate or Grant of Letters of Administration)
once we receive your completed form. We may ask for this if the customer’s total NS&I savings are £5,000 or over. The Director of
Savings also reserves the right to request a Grant of Representation for a claim of any value

https://www.nsandi.com/what-do-i-do-if-nsi-customer-has-died

I have no personal experience though am keeping all this info in mind for when I need it.

getmore4less

Even within the individual institution guidelines they can still ask for a grant.

Leaving the property to adult children uses up the transferable nil rate band and puts the property at risk for the survivor.

for an estate where the fees are an issue the loss of nil rate band may be a bigger issue than the fees.

If you are giving life interest then the property is not getting left to adult children it is going into a trust.

cherry76

getmore4less wrote: »

Even within the individual institution guidelines they can still ask for a grant.

Leaving the property to adult children uses up the transferable nil rate band and puts the property at risk for the survivor.

for an estate where the fees are an issue the loss of nil rate band may be a bigger issue than the fees.

If you are giving life interest then the property is not getting left to adult children it is going into a trust.

Yes 50% of the deceased property is going into a trust with life interest for surviving spouse. I understand if the individual institutions do not ask for grant of probate then there will be no need to apply for one. Premium bond are below £5000. Updating land registry by surviving spouse death certificate and correct forms and ids are all that will be needed. On second death when the trust ends and the adult children get their 50% share each then probate is necessary. I am just getting these informations in order to help the executors. E. G one of my friend died of cancer after a short illness. He put his affairs in order and sold all his shares, cash his premium bonds to make it easy for his wife who did not have any clue what to do. The house was as joint tenant so probate was not applied. Applying for probatecan be stressful if your executors are clueless and expensive if you seek the services if a solicitor. Thanks for all your help