To process my father's will does my mum need to post copies of all financial documents to executor?

Autumn868

Ultimately from a practical physical perspective I'm gonna try to just do 1 thing at a time.

But so the 1st step that myself (and my mum) can do is gather up all of my dad's financial statements, and add-up the total (including her making a spread-sheet)..

But so once we have all of them put into an envelope, do we just post that to the executor & then wait?
Or do we need to post other forms/documents in addition to those financial statements of his banks and shares-holdings?

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/applying-for-probate/apply-for-probate
The executor will need to have regard to the above. He will need the original will and death certificate.

He will need information about all of your father's assets, sole and joint - do you have an up to date valuation of the properties?

Do you have  a valuation of the  shares at the date of death?
You can look at forms and schedules here
  https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/inheritance-tax-forms

Once the executor has obtained probate, he will be able to open an executor's bank account.

He can request your father's bankers etc to transfer any cash held in his sole name into the exor account.

If there is not enough cash to pay the pecuniary legacies, he can arrange for the sale of  shares to realise the required amount.

He can arrange for the remainder of the shares to be transferred into your mother's name.

Your mother may wish to consult her own solicitor about making a new will. A note should be kept with her will of the fact that your father's nil rate band (but not his main residence nil rate band) has been used.

Has your mother thought about PoA?

elsien

Autumn868 said:

I personally understand and realise that this bloke who's the executor has a huge amount of admin work that he needs to do, 
as he personally has to contact all the banks & firms (40-50 different companies), create a new bank account for himself, and do whatever tasks he needs to do....
But my mum sadly just doesn't/won't understand/accept that fact | And instead thinks that WE can do 99% of those tasks ourselves, and so all he needs to do is co-sign it at the end.

If the executor was willing to work that way then that could be possible. But given that he will be liable as an individual for any mistakes, then he may prefer to do all the checking himself. If I was executor, that's how I'd wan to work it. 

Mojisola

Autumn868 said:

elsien said:

She is aware that an executor who is a family or friend can't be paid for their time in administering the estate? That would only apply if a solicitor had been named as a paid professional executor. 

The guy isn't (and never was) a solicitor/or any form of legal professional, he was a business professional (although he's probably retired now).
I don't know him personally, but my mum says he is extremely shrewd, and so he would ultimately only undertake that admin work if he was paid for his time in doing it.

Make it very clear to him that he will have to do all the work for free (apart from recouping expenses) and see if he wants to withdraw from being the executor.

Autumn868

Mojisola said:

Autumn868 said:

elsien said:

She is aware that an executor who is a family or friend can't be paid for their time in administering the estate? That would only apply if a solicitor had been named as a paid professional executor. 

The guy isn't (and never was) a solicitor/or any form of legal professional, he was a business professional (although he's probably retired now).
I don't know him personally, but my mum says he is extremely shrewd, and so he would ultimately only undertake that admin work if he was paid for his time in doing it.

Make it very clear to him that he will have to do all the work for free (apart from recouping expenses) and see if he wants to withdraw from being the executor.

I will pass that onto my mum, and try getting things moving one way or another.

Can I check in regards to the 475k IHT-free cap if properties are involved...
Will the IHT threshold for myself and my siblings be 325k or 475k?
(As my father own 2 houses | and so they are part of his estate).

xylophone

You indicated that your parents owed both properties as joint tenants.

In this situation, your father's Residence NRB is not available at this stage.

The bequest to you and your siblings is his NRB of £325,000.

Your mother becomes sole proprietor by survivorship.

See https://www.warnergoodman.co.uk/site/blog/news/could-you-be-missing-out-on-the-175000-residence-nil-rate-band

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/inheritance-tax-main-residence-nil-rate-band-and-the-existing-nil-rate-band/inheritance-tax-main-residence-nil-rate-band-and-the-existing-nil-rate-band

And with regard to the above, it would seem that your mother will end up with assets worth in excess of £2 million -  note the taper.

Thrugelmir

Mojisola said:

Autumn868 said:

elsien said:

She is aware that an executor who is a family or friend can't be paid for their time in administering the estate? That would only apply if a solicitor had been named as a paid professional executor. 

The guy isn't (and never was) a solicitor/or any form of legal professional, he was a business professional (although he's probably retired now).
I don't know him personally, but my mum says he is extremely shrewd, and so he would ultimately only undertake that admin work if he was paid for his time in doing it.

Make it very clear to him that he will have to do all the work for free (apart from recouping expenses) and see if he wants to withdraw from being the executor.

The will nominates him as executor. I'd take the view that he was named by the OP's late father as was deemed a competent and trustworthy person. Sizable estates can involve a lot of time and form filling. Prior experience is an advantage.  Never wise to burn ones bridges. 

Autumn868

Thankyou for all the advice.

It's truely disgusting how the government takes away nearly 50% of the wealth that people spend all their life work hard to build-up! *_*
Hopefully in the coming years this absurd tax will be scrapped (or atleast significantly amended) though!

#

And just to clarify, the bloke hasn't actually asked for any money as payment for being executor...

The only correspondence between him & my mum was literally 1 email, 2-3 weeks ago, when she notified him of my father's death + reminded him that he's executor.
There hasn't been any communication since that 1 email though.

So it's more like my mum is just being her normal distrusting-self, thinking that everyone in the world has hidden dark-intentions.

Keep_pedalling

Autumn868 said:

Thankyou for all the advice.

It's truely disgusting how the government takes away nearly 50% of the wealth that people spend all their life work hard to build-up! *_*
Hopefully in the coming years this absurd tax will be scrapped (or atleast significantly amended)

I hope not, I don’t see why unearned money you get from an inheritance through accident of birth should be tax free, when money earned through work is taxed. 

IHT is nowhere near 50%, and an estate’s tax bill is going to be well under 40% when you take the allowances into account. In your case you and your siblings you going to inherit £1M tax free, plus 60% of the remainder, I don’t consider that disgusting. 

Autumn868

Keep_pedalling said:

Autumn868 said:

Thankyou for all the advice.

It's truely disgusting how the government takes away nearly 50% of the wealth that people spend all their life work hard to build-up! *_*
Hopefully in the coming years this absurd tax will be scrapped (or atleast significantly amended)

I hope not, I don’t see why unearned money you get from an inheritance through accident of birth should be tax free, when money earned through work is taxed. 

IHT is nowhere near 50%, and an estate’s tax bill is going to be well under 40% when you take the allowances into account. In your case you and your siblings you going to inherit £1M tax free, plus 60% of the remainder, I don’t consider that disgusting. 

Yes... So that money, which was earned through work, has ALREADY been taxed.

If people are failures in their life by failing to ever get a decent paying job / or build a profitable business, well that's their own fault.
But the people who do make a success of their lives by building-up a solid amount of money (which is heavily taxed when they earn it), should then be free to do what they please with their hard-earned money (including using it to help give their children financial stability & security for life).

All IHT does is cause people to be heavily taxed at the point of earning when they make a success of their life ~ Then have that same money re-taxed again for a 2nd time at an extremely high level when they die.