Have already filled in IHT forms for HMRC. Solicitor wants £3000 to check I've done it right?

RedMonty

I'm the executor for a relative.  The estate is relatively simple, there's a small property (To be sold. Owned outright by the deceased, no mortgage) and some cash, £400k all together. Because it's going to his kids, it qualifies for the £500k IHT nil-rate.  So I've done all the IHT400 forms & schedules myself and am just about to send it off to HMRC to confirm there's no inheritance tax to pay. 

I'm reasonably sure I've done it all properly (I'm no stranger to finance and Excel) but I'd like an expert to check I've done it right. I contacted the solicitor who holds the relative's will, and they said they would charge the same fee as doing it all from scratch, and would charge me £3,000+ to look at the IHT400 form.  

To be honest, I found the solicitor patronising, boring, and pushy. I'm disabled and I felt he thought I wasn't capable of doing anything because I'm disabled.

Sample dialogue: 

REDMONTY: OK, I've valued the estate and done A, B, C and D and completed the IHT400 form & associated schedules, and I would like ask you to check the IHT400 form please to reassure me that it has been done properly. 

SOLICITOR: [10 minutes of boring windbaggery explaining basic concepts] Right, as a first step, you need to do A and B. 

REDMONTY: I've just told you that I've already done A, B, and also the followup steps C and D. It's all neatly packaged up with all required documents and I've created an Excel spreadsheet laying out the finances. It should be quite easy for you to look over it. 

SOLICITOR: [REPEATS himself more SLOWLY explaining basic concepts all over again.] And the charge will be £2,500 plus VAT as we usually do A and B ourselves. 

Can anyone suggest what would be a reasonable charge to check a nil-rate INT400 form?  Any suggestions as to finding a better probate accountant or solicitor? 

Thanks!

UPDATE:
Just now, I received an email from him telling me I need to value the estate at time of death...  I told him 3 times that I've already done this plus other steps. It's like he didn't take in a word I said. I don't need to put up with this. I'm not willing to pay £3k just to be insulted like this. 

getmore4less

The issue for the solicitors is they could just look over the forms but they need to do the job properly as that will probably be a requirement of their indemnity insurances.

IF you are so sure of yourself get someone to go through the forms and look for obvious errors in the drafting, to do the job properly needs going through the inventory and checking all the valuations.

Keep_pedalling

As the estate is well below IHT territory, and you you sound a perfectly competent person I would not bother with getting the solicitor to double check it.  

naedanger

RedMonty said:

I'm the executor for a relative.  The estate is relatively simple, there's a small property (To be sold. Owned outright by the deceased, no mortgage) and some cash, £400k all together. Because it's going to his kids, it qualifies for the £500k IHT nil-rate.  So I've done all the IHT400 forms & schedules myself and am just about to send it off to HMRC to confirm there's no inheritance tax to pay. 

I'm reasonably sure I've done it all properly (I'm no stranger to finance and Excel) but I'd like an expert to check I've done it right. I contacted the solicitor who holds the relative's will, and they said they would charge the same fee as doing it all from scratch, and would charge me £3,000+ to look at the IHT400 form.  

To be honest, I found the solicitor patronising, boring, and pushy. I'm disabled and I felt he thought I wasn't capable of doing anything because I'm disabled.

Sample dialogue: 

REDMONTY: OK, I've valued the estate and done A, B, C and D and completed the IHT400 form & associated schedules, and I would like ask you to check the IHT400 form please to reassure me that it has been done properly. 

SOLICITOR: [10 minutes of boring windbaggery explaining basic concepts] Right, as a first step, you need to do A and B. 

REDMONTY: I've just told you that I've already done A, B, and also the followup steps C and D. It's all neatly packaged up with all required documents and I've created an Excel spreadsheet laying out the finances. It should be quite easy for you to look over it. 

SOLICITOR: [REPEATS himself more SLOWLY explaining basic concepts all over again.] And the charge will be £2,500 plus VAT as we usually do A and B ourselves. 

Can anyone suggest what would be a reasonable charge to check a nil-rate INT400 form?  Any suggestions as to finding a better probate accountant or solicitor? 

Thanks!

UPDATE:
Just now, I received an email from him telling me I need to value the estate at time of death...  I told him 3 times that I've already done this plus other steps. It's like he didn't take in a word I said. I don't need to put up with this. I'm not willing to pay £3k just to be insulted like this. 

You should copy it and then send it to HMRC. HMRC will be very easy to deal with given your description of the estate.

HMRC are also unlikely to query anything unless it is likely to affect the tax position. So unless you make a significant mistake then you probably won't get any queries from them. Just a form back confirming no tax is due.
 
Be aware that HMRC can take around a month to scan cases onto their system. So don't expect any quick acknowledgement, but phone for an update in a month's time.



 

relaxtwotribes

I did exactly what you have done as executor for my mother's will (IHT payable) and had a reply from a solicitor that they would not 'check' the documents and they thought no other solicitor would either.  So, I trusted myself, spent another hour going over what I had already done, took a deep breath and sent it all off.  Result - no problems whatsoever plus a good sense of satisfaction when all done and dusted plus a saving of ca£10k.

ameliarate

My brother and I did the IHT forms for my dads estate. Didn’t find it too difficult but did leave it for a couple of days and then rechecked and found a couple of minor errors.  DO copy the forms as they are notorious for losing things! 

Mickey666

Keep_pedalling said:

As the estate is well below IHT territory, and you you sound a perfectly competent person I would not bother with getting the solicitor to double check it.  

Agreed.  What value will the solicitor add?  So what if you've made a few mistakes, if you're nowhere near IHT territory who will actually care?  The only people to satisfy are HMRC (for IHT) and the beneficiaries (for correct distribution) and from what has been described it sounds like a straightforward will and that the OP is on top of things.  Let HMRC check and verify things for free!

wizzywilc

I asked a solicitor to do this, specifying that I did not require them to look at the base information, just check the forms. She did just that, plus a Deed of Variation, for a fee of £685.  I think it helped that she was doing other work for us at the same time, and that I sent a very clear written instruction about what I wanted. It was a much larger and more complicated estate than the one you are dealing with.
I agree with naedanger, but you could perhaps also ask a trusted friend, or maybe one of the beneficiaries to check  your figures. It's easy (for some of us at least!) to make a mistake in transposing figures between boxes.

RedMonty

Thank you to everyone who replied. You've given me a lot of reassurance that I'm on the right track & that I can just double-check and send it in.  I can't quote everyone here, but I've clicked the 'Thanks' button for everyone. 

Thanks!