Husband has passed away intestate - DIY or solicitor?

Blossom656

Hi.
This is my first time posting here. My husband passed away very suddenly 2 weeks ago, leaving me with 2 young children. He didn't have a will. 
I am trying to figure out whether I need to engage a solicitor or can fill in the forms myself. I don't have any experience of probate (but learning quickly!) so I'm slightly nervous of making a mistake. I've read the guides and I think his estate is fairly straightforward and there should be no inheritance tax to pay.
Assets are:
Cash - various current and savings accounts and a cash ISA
Shares - this is the bit that worries me. He has an amount of shares in his employer's business (I'm not sure how much - I think a few thousand). The company is listed in the US and the shares are held in a US account. I'm not sure what to do about these.

Other things which I don't believe are liable for IHT but I'm not sure if/ how to declare on the IHT205 form:
Our home - owned outright as joint tenants
Our joint account
His death in service benefit - I was the 100% nominee
His DC pension pots

Thanks for any help you can give me, particularly about dealing with the shares and which bits I need to declare and how.

Malthusian

Sorry for your loss. Is the value of his estate (i.e. the US shares and any cash in sole, not joint names) above £250,000? If it is your children inherit some of the money (unless they were his stepchildren not formally adopted). It doesn't sound like he had major assets other than the house, and if that is joint tenancy as you say and not tenants in common, ownership passes directly to you rather than his half going into his estate.

If his estate was under £250,000 then it all goes to you and no IHT applies on legacies to spouses.

The DC pension funds and death in service benefit should not form part of his estate. The only exception is if the trustees paid the money into his estate instead of to you directly.

You will need to contact the administrator of the US account, inform them of the death with a copy of the death certificate and find out what their requirements are, same as with the cash accounts. In my experience of trying to get money in US accounts repatriated to the UK, this is likely to be a rigmarole, but hopefully you aren't dependent on the share proceeds and can afford to take your time.

xylophone

Condolences on your loss - it must have been a terrible shock and I do hope that you have help and support at this time.
You will have advised his employer of your husband's passing - I would have thought that HR would be able to give you some indication as to how to deal with the shares he held in the company?

Blossom656

Thanks for your comments. His estate will be less than £250,000. I have managed to get contact details for the brokerage account and will ring them later once the US wakes up.

The bit that concerns me is that I believe I will have to apply for letters of administration in order to access some of his money (he had around £30k in one of the accounts which is above that bank's threshold) and the forms seem quite confusing. But I don't want to pay a solicitor hundreds of pounds to plug some numbers into a form after I have done all the running.

Keep_pedalling

Blossom656 said:

Thanks for your comments. His estate will be less than £250,000. I have managed to get contact details for the brokerage account and will ring them later once the US wakes up.

The bit that concerns me is that I believe I will have to apply for letters of administration in order to access some of his money (he had around £30k in one of the accounts which is above that bank's threshold) and the forms seem quite confusing. But I don't want to pay a solicitor hundreds of pounds to plug some numbers into a form after I have done all the running.

I am sure if you take your time and work through IHT205 it will be a lot easier than you think, and there are plenty of people on here who can help with any questions you may have.

Probably the most difficult thing is going to be the paperwork involved with disposing of those US shares.

JJ_Egan

Agree take your time plenty of advice on the web and here .

Bank may be able to sell the shares .

Silvertabby

Hugs to you all.

As you will be under State pension age, you may be eligible to claim DWP bereavement benefits.  There is a 3 month time limit on this (not sure if it will be extended under the the current cirumstances) so don't leave it too long. 

Blossom656

Thanks Silvertabby - I have the form for Bereavement Benefits printed out and ready to go - just waiting for Death Certificate to come through.

Blossom656

So, for form IHT205, do I need to get my house and my husband's other posessions valued? 

xylophone

You know the value of your husband's sole  accounts and share account - he also owned half of any joint assets including the house and this is what you will need when filling in Form 205.

Do you have a fair idea of the value of the property - recent  sales of similar properties could give a pretty good indication?

As to his personal property, are you able to estimate or did he own items which you know are likely to be of high value?