Grant de Bonis Nom

edgarlong

Has anyone got an experience with this? My siblings and I are trying to sell our late parent's home. When my father died, my mother had probate and, since her death, we have been granted probate. We did not use a solicitor as we thought it was all pretty straightforward  - my mother was the spouse and we are their children. Having sent the deeds  to the conveyancer we are now told that we need a grant de bonis nom as the chain of inheritance has been broken - the deeds being still in my late father's name. I've spoken to a friend who works within property sales and she has never heard of this before and none of us can understand the relevance of this. After much searching online and being on hold for a long time, I did speak to someone at the Probate Office who has sent me out the application form for the grant. It turns out to be a tax form which I, in my ignorance of these matters, cannot see how this now 'seals' this broken chain.
After all that, I think my questions are: Is it really necessary? Shouldn't death certificates and grants of probate be enough? 
The conveyancer has implied that the buyer's solicitor will want this document.
Many thanks for your help.

Flugelhorn

was the house in just your father's name or both parents?  If it was both then no problem, I had this at mother's death, on sight of both parents' death certs the solicitor was able to action the sale to the new buyers. We never changed the names. If it is father only then maybe they have to transfer it mother first??

davidmcn

I'm no expert on the exact procedure, but where an executor dies before they've completed the administration of the estate they were dealing with, somebody else needs to take over (generally their own executor) in order to complete whatever needs done with the first estate. It's not that uncommon in situations like this. Probate in mum's estate won't be sufficient as it doesn't make any reference to dad's estate.

xylophone

  Grant of "bonis non administratis"? - see https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/inheritance-tax-manual/ihtm05102

https://www.simpsonmillar.co.uk/media/what-happens-to-probate-if-an-executor-of-the-will-dies/When an Executor dies before they finish administration of the Estate but after the Court has granted Probate, the first steps are to see if the Executor left a Will.

If they did leave a Will, they will have named Executors in their own Will. Their Executor then becomes responsible for completing the administration of the Estate following what is called the Chain of Representation. The new Executor may need a new Grant of Probate in their name as this will show the link between the new Executor of the Estate and the one who died.

 Something slightly similar - a friend's cousin was appointed as executor of a relation's estate - he found that the deceased relation( after many years had passed)  still held an open exor account for an estate of which he himself has been an administrator.

In the OP's particular case, the Deeds are said to be in the late father's name - I am assuming that father made a will naming his wife as beneficiary of his property.
Mother obtained probate but did not arrange to have the property transferred into her own name.
She has left a will leaving the property to her children but presumably as she is not the named proprietor on the Deeds, this is what is causing the problem.