Inheritance, Wills & Probate questions?

bery_451

Okay the property is not worth more than £325 thousand so should I worry about inheritance tax anyway?

How does one know the 2 equal homeowners are joint tenants or tenants in common?

Okay will find a solicitor, im looking on this MSE website and there is a wills section:

There's basic will, free writing wills and what other types of wills are there and which one most likely to suit my circumstances?

Shall I assume a basic will is just like 1 sentence limitation or something on 1 piece of paper only?

Are wills by co-op legal better than the free wills by unions etc?

Malthusian

bery_451 wrote: »

Okay the property is not worth more than £325 thousand so should I worry about inheritance tax anyway?

Depends on the total value of their estate.

Are wills by co-op legal better than the free wills by unions etc?

Yes. Co-op Legal are SRA-registered solicitors. Free pieces of paper from some random trade union brother may not be unless they have a deal with an SRA-registered solicitor.

bery_451

Malthusian wrote: »

Depends on the total value of their estate.

Yes. Co-op Legal are SRA-registered solicitors. Free pieces of paper from some random trade union brother may not be unless they have a deal with an SRA-registered solicitor.

Okay I come across a page on this site:

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/free-cheap-wills/

Just to clarify before I use a will service, is that on the link above the co-op will service is better by free will service by a union. I am a member of a union.

Lastly these free will services that are done online, the question is are these wills valid? I ask because I hear that for a will to be valid it needs to be signed in front of 2 witnesses physically present correct? Then how does a will done fully online become valid and legal and why these free will services being mentioned on this site in the link above?

So for a genuine valid legal will, both equal homeowners have to visit a SRA solicitor and also 2 witnesses need to be present there too? If both homeowners are elderly and find it difficult to visit a solicitor then online is the only easy option way?

Mojisola

bery_451 wrote: »

Lastly these free will services that are done online, the question is are these wills valid? I ask because I hear that for a will to be valid it needs to be signed in front of 2 witnesses physically present correct? Then how does a will done fully online become valid and legal and why these free will services being mentioned on this site in the link above?

The will writers send you the will and you find two people who can witness you signing it and sign it themselves.

So for a genuine valid legal will, both equal homeowners have to visit a SRA solicitor and also 2 witnesses need to be present there too? If both homeowners are elderly and find it difficult to visit a solicitor then online is the only easy option way?

No, most solicitors will come to the house - it will likely cost more but the option is there.

Mojisola

bery_451 wrote: »

Lastly these free will services that are done online, the question is are these wills valid? I ask because I hear that for a will to be valid it needs to be signed in front of 2 witnesses physically present correct? Then how does a will done fully online become valid and legal and why these free will services being mentioned on this site in the link above?

The will writers send you the will and you find two people who can witness you signing it and sign it themselves.

The witnesses shouldn't be beneficiaries or the spouses of beneficiaries or they won't be able to have their inheritance.

So for a genuine valid legal will, both equal homeowners have to visit a SRA solicitor and also 2 witnesses need to be present there too? If both homeowners are elderly and find it difficult to visit a solicitor then online is the only easy option way?

No, most solicitors will come to the house - it will likely cost more but the option is there.

bery_451

Okay to summarise it all up:

I go to a solicitor/will writing service costing £hundreds or free> they will do the will online or offline at the office where they do the service or come to the house and write up the will> then I will receive the finished final will from the service whether its free or paid for however will is still not legally binding because the two witnesses have not signed their names on it yet?

So a solicitor signing it count as one witness? What about the other witness, can I just grab tom/!!!!/harry from the solicitor's other office rooms to witness it too?

Mojisola

bery_451 wrote: »

So a solicitor signing it count as one witness? What about the other witness, can I just grab tom/!!!!/harry from the solicitor's other office rooms to witness it too?

You won't need to grab anyone - one of the solicitor's staff members will be expecting to act as a witness - it's what's usually done.

bery_451

Ok great, apart from witnesses, is there anything that I missed out on or need to do to make a will legally binding instead of a piece of paper?

When it comes to funeral expenses what's the process of getting money out of the deceased bank account quick enough to pay for the funeral expenses? Its best to be prepared you know what I mean. After all death is guaranteed for all of us.

Mojisola

The bank will pay the funeral director directly - just take the invoice into the bank.

Land_Registry

bery_451 wrote: »

How does one know the 2 equal homeowners are joint tenants or tenants in common?

You’d have to check a variety of information to see if their joint tenancy has been severed for any reason. Their wills for example may have changed them from JTs to TICs.

AnotherJoe has already sought to explain but I would add one thing to the mix on the info shared re the property as it’s important to clarify that there are two types if ownership here, the legal and beneficial ones. Understanding these can often help understand the impact of property on wills, inheritance and indeed probate as others have alluded to.

We register the legal ownership. That’s in their two names. When one dies the legal ownership passes to the survivor. Married it not doesn’t impact on that.
The legal ownership is essentially the whole of the bricks & mortar and land within the title. It can’t be split as you can’t have half the bricks each for example.

The beneficial ownership appears to be your focus here. That can be split as in this context the property is looked at in £s and pence as it’s the value of the property that they can split, leave say 50/50 as posted.

So if one dies and they had a will leaving their 50% share in the property value to a daughter then it’s up to the surviving owner and daughter to decide how to deal with that. There are various options but the terms of the will can impact of course as suggested, namely resolve it when property sold.

Hope that helps