Recent Death and Next Steps

sterow16

First of all apologies, as i imagine this has been covered somewhere in the forum.


My Nan has recently passed away and i am the executor of the will


The estate is split 50% to her son and the remaining 50% to 3 grandchildren


Property although not valued is worth approx 300k
Savings, bonds etc worth about 80k


What are my next steps?


Do i need to apply for probate

Do i need to get a solicitor
Can the savings etc be handed out before the property is sold or do you have to until the property is sold and then split the full proceeds


Thanks for any help

MovingForwards

My condolences.

What are my next steps - Get a death certificate and start getting all assets valued eg the house, bank accounts, stocks and shares, premium bonds, any items of value in the house examples being art work / jewellery but not normally wedding rings / costume jewellery unless they have proper stones in them. You will also need cost of the funeral/wake/ debts incl credit cards/ utility bills, bank loans etc.

Do i need to apply for probate - yes, you can't sell a property or transfer it without probate.

Do i need to get a solicitor - not necessarily.

Can the savings etc be handed out before the property is sold or do you have to until the property is sold and then split the full proceeds - can't do anything until you have probate.

MovingForwards

I take it she died after her husband? You could do with a copy of his grant of probate / letters of administration. As you may need to use some of his unused IHT allowance.

Look up how much the inheritance tax bands are.

Place an advert in the law gazette and local paper. This covers you in case anyone steps forward after distribution saying they were owed money.

sterow16

Yeah he did in the 70s, i haven't been able to find any copies of his probate.


Just waiting now to pick up the death certificate /copies and then i can start the whole process.. Just all a bit daunting.



Thanks for your help

TBagpuss

If you feel you need help, you can instruct a solicitor, the cost would come out of the estate. You can either ask them to do the full job, or just seek advice for the steps where you are unsure.

Take things one step at a tim, and don't let anyone rush you.

In terms of handing out the savings etc -you wil;l have things you have to pay - funeral bill, insurance for the hpouse until it can be sold, cost of adverting in the Gazette etc, so it's not a good idea to hand out too much money too soon.

You also need to know what bills there are to pay and whether there are any debts, so you know how much is left to hand out.

That said, you can make what are called 'interim payments' when you make payments to beneficiaries on account of what they will ultimately be entitled to. So for instnace, if you have £80K in savings you might decide to distribute £40K to the beneficiaries, and hold the rest to cover bills etc

If you do that, make sure that you are keeping full records and have a clear paper trail, and that you are not favouring one beneficiary over the others.

Yorkshireman99

sterow16 wrote: »

First of all apologies, as i imagine this has been covered somewhere in the forum.


My Nan has recently passed away and i am the executor of the will


The estate is split 50% to her son and the remaining 50% to 3 grandchildren


Property although not valued is worth approx 300k
Savings, bonds etc worth about 80k


What are my next steps?


Do i need to apply for probate

Do i need to get a solicitor
Can the savings etc be handed out before the property is sold or do you have to until the property is sold and then split the full proceeds


Thanks for any help

Start by reading the stickies at the beginning of this forum. You must notify the bank of her death ASAP. Be organised and don’t distribute any money before you. Get everything else done. You can obtain a copy of her husbands probate from the probate office. You almost certainly need probate and best get a solicitor to deal with the legalities of the house sale.

Mojisola

sterow16 wrote: »

Yeah he did in the 70s, i haven't been able to find any copies of his probate.

If he left everything to your Nan, his estate may not have gone to probate.

Savvy_Sue

Are all the grandchildren over 18? I ask because it's more complicated if any or all are younger than that ...

Keep_pedalling

MovingForwards wrote: »

I take it she died after her husband? You could do with a copy of his grant of probate / letters of administration. As you may need to use some of his unused IHT allowance.

Look up how much the inheritance tax bands are.

Place an advert in the law gazette and local paper. This covers you in case anyone steps forward after distribution saying they were owed money.

The estate would appear to be well within the OPs Nans allowances so no transferable allowances should be required.

sterow16

Thanks for all your help


All grandchildren are over 18,so makes things a bit easier..



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