Valuing the Estate

Zandoni

I'm currently just starting out on the Probate road after the death of my father in law.


One of the questions I'm concerned about is 'have there been any gifts over £3000 in the last 7 years'.


There are bank statements going back to 2015, before that he was with another bank and I can't find statements for that period.


Will it be OK if I just ask his 5 children if they have had any gifts over the last 7 years?


Also he lived in a 2 bedroomed house and I'm concerned about the contents valuation. All of the furniture is just cheap woodchip and there is very little in the way of jewellery etc. We will probably have to pay to clear the house if it's not wanted by local charities.


I'm thinking of putting a value of £3000 on the contents, do you think that will be OK?


The value of the estate is about 300,000.


Thanks for any help anyone can give me.

getmore4less

Will it be OK if I just ask his 5 children if they have had any gifts over the last 7 years?

That's what the professionals do if they don't have access to all the detailed accounts and as the cost of trawling through 7 years is prohibitive a pragmatic approach is taken ask around if anyone knows.

A rough guess at assets around 7 years ago and DOD, if loads is missing then a deeper analysis may need to get done.

An example might be a downsize of house and the capital released is no longer around.

If there is IHT to pay then smaller differences may need justifying.

The value of the estate is about 300,000.

That's under one nil rate band, then you have a house that will add some more and if there was transferable nil rate bands from deceased spouse there will be more

if once all the nil rate bands are added up there will probably be plenty of headroom to cover gifts that may have happened unless there is an obvious large chunk missing.

MovingForwards

Why are you valuing the contents at £3k if there is nothing of value? At best it sounds like £500 as it's second hand value, electricals don't sell for much, brown furniture is given away / charity / disposed of, same with clothes etc.

Zandoni

MovingForwards wrote: »

Why are you valuing the contents at £3k if there is nothing of value? At best it sounds like £500 as it's second hand value, electricals don't sell for much, brown furniture is given away / charity / disposed of, same with clothes etc.

I thought that less than £3k seeemed a little unbelievable. You are correct though, there is no market for the contents of the house so it will all be going to charity.

Mojisola

MovingForwards wrote: »

At best it sounds like £500 as it's second hand value, electricals don't sell for much, brown furniture is given away / charity / disposed of, same with clothes etc.

Zandoni wrote: »

I thought that less than £3k seeemed a little unbelievable. You are correct though, there is no market for the contents of the house so it will all be going to charity.

Our solicitor put a nominal £500 for the contents of a four bed house - resale value of most household stuff is very low.

Zandoni

Mojisola wrote: »

Our solicitor put a nominal £500 for the contents of a four bed house - resale value of most household stuff is very low.

That's interesting, thanks for that.

lincroft1710

It will actually cost the estate if the house contents have to be cleared by a house clearance company