Probate and wills

Jodo63

Hi there,
Has anyone ever been in my position? Both my parents have recently passed away. I am joint executor on both wills and hold the certified copies. I am in the process of applying for probate, however I cannot obtain a copy of the original will.The solicitors holding the original copies were closed down by the Solicitors Regulation Authority in 2003. I was advised the SRA may now hold the original copies. I have been in touch with them and they did a search but found nothing.
I have been told by Probate office that I will need to apply for probate if there is no will. the will is straightforward with a 50/50 split between myself and my brother. ( no other siblings). There is a property to sell with little equity as my parents took out an Equity release scheme about 18 years ago. Perhaps £10,000 so it would not be cost effective to apply through a solicitor.
It seems unfair to have to do this when the certified copies exist.
any advice would be appreciated,
Jo.

unforeseen

Treat them as intestate estates. No need to employ a solicitor for that apart from possibly part of the house sale.

Mojisola

Jodo63 wrote: »

I have been told by Probate office that I will need to apply for probate if there is no will.

Without the original wills, you will have to apply for Letters of Administration.

You don't need a solicitor - work your way through the paperwork carefully and ask on here if you need help.

The intestate rules divide the estate the same way as was laid out in the will.

Tom99

You will need probate to sell the property so are in no different a situation.
How far apart did they died? If the 1st to die left everything to the surviving spouse you probably only need probate for the 2nd parent to die.

unforeseen

Tom99 wrote: »

You will need probate to sell the property so are in no different a situation.
How far apart did they died? If the 1st to die left everything to the surviving spouse you probably only need probate for the 2nd parent to die.

That can be done with Letters of Administration.

PasturesNew

This is a simple estate. Just go ahead and do it as intestate.

The only reason you need to find the will and do it by the book is if it's complex, or there were other requests, or there's somebody who will argue the contents with you.

Yours is straight forward. One set of parents, two children, 50/50. Just do it.

The "worry" you have is trying to get it right. It's only imperative that every i is dotted and every t crossed IF it's difficult, complex, others are involved. It's a paper trail to sort out future issues over a contested Will. That's all. It's a paper trail of "who got what".... that's all.

Flugelhorn

PasturesNew wrote: »

The only reason you need to find the will and do it by the book is if it's complex, or there were other requests, or there's somebody who will argue the contents with you.

Yours is straight forward. One set of parents, two children, 50/50. Just do it.

.

At this point you might feel most grateful to have small family who hopefully get on with each other and parents who only married once, had no very complex financial interests either in this country or abroad etc etc.

PN and others are right, it is quite straightforward to do LOA for the second parent who died