Probate Services

JBeaC

thegreenone said:

I did Option 1.  Things probably could've been faster if I'd done it all myself (Covid and WFH solicitors didn't help) but also I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to official forms particularly with HMRC/where it's legal and could come back to bite you on the rear end.  Gathering all the info and closing banks accounts was easy so there's no reason to pay for that (as you've done).  I sent everything to the solicitors end January and Probate was granted on 29 April.  Flat on the market today.

Ghats really helpful thanks! 

JBeaC

JBeaC said:

thegreenone said:

I did Option 1.  Things probably could've been faster if I'd done it all myself (Covid and WFH solicitors didn't help) but also I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to official forms particularly with HMRC/where it's legal and could come back to bite you on the rear end.  Gathering all the info and closing banks accounts was easy so there's no reason to pay for that (as you've done).  I sent everything to the solicitors end January and Probate was granted on 29 April.  Flat on the market today.

Ghats really helpful thanks! 

Where did you get all of the official paperwork/ forms to fill in and send off? 

JBeaC

thegreenone said:

I did Option 1.  Things probably could've been faster if I'd done it all myself (Covid and WFH solicitors didn't help) but also I'm a scaredy cat when it comes to official forms particularly with HMRC/where it's legal and could come back to bite you on the rear end.  Gathering all the info and closing banks accounts was easy so there's no reason to pay for that (as you've done).  I sent everything to the solicitors end January and Probate was granted on 29 April.  Flat on the market today.

Thanks that’s really useful. Where did you find the forms and paperwork for dealing with it all and reporting to HMRC? 

thegreenone

Mum's solicitor sent me their in-house questionnaire to complete and we added all the paperwork (bank statements and our ID etc, etc) and they compiled everything based on that info.  Fortunately Mum kept a very good filing system.  I had already closed all but one Shares account (requires Grant of Probate) and made a very rudimentary spreadsheet of incoming from closed accounts and outgoings (bills which needed to be paid).

naedanger

JBeaC said:

naedanger said:

JBeaC said:

naedanger said:

If the estate is easy - no complicated assets, no fights between beneficiaries then the steps are easy.

Since you have already gathered in the information, I suggest you now look at the probate forms to see what you need to complete next. You may realise they are not difficult and a solicitor is not needed.

If you want a view on the solicitor's charges you could quote them here. 

Also is there any property in the estate? 
Is the estate likely to be below the threshold for inheritance tax?

Approx £1000.00 for the basic service. Between £3500-4500 for the full service. It seems a big difference and a lot to pay for the other business which we seem to have started ourselves already? 

I paid £750 plus VAT for a solicitor to apply for Confirmation - equivalent to probate. (I think the Scottish system is harder for a layman but probably for a solicitor involves a similar amount of work to applying for probate.)

So I think £1,000 with or without VAT is probably OK - not cheap, not dear. My guess is the solicitor has probably estimated 2 - 4 hours work, mostly in to-ing and fro-ing and including client contact, billing etc.

Administering the full estate is time consuming, which is why the solicitor has to charge a lot, but not difficult. (Assuming the estate is fairly typical for one not liable to IHT.) I found the process quite time consuming, but looking back on it now it seems hard to see what the time was spent on.

Thanks. I’m trying to work out what the time is spent on and whether we have that time! We have all the details of bank accounts, savings, pensions, assets, property valuation already. Am I being naive in thinking I can do this? I’m not an accountant or anything lol 

From memory gathering the asset data and doing the tax return (the full forms even although there was no IHT due) were the most time consuming tasks. Other tasks were, I suppose, dealing with utility companies, council tax, home insurance etc. You also need to prepare accounts but there is no prescribed format so you can prepare something very simple.

Once you have probate you then need to collect the money, but I think that was easier than getting the date of death information because you have already supplied proof of your id, etc.  It is time consuming which is why a solicitor charges a lot, but it is not difficult for anyone used to a bit of paperwork. 

JGB1955

JBeaC said:

Thanks that’s really useful. Where did you find the forms and paperwork for dealing with it all and reporting to HMRC? 

All the info on 'how to do it' can be found at Applying for probate: Apply for probate - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Frogletina

I did everything myself for two estates, one occuring 3 months after the first. I found applying for one grant of probate and one letters of administration simple to do. The gathering of information can be tricky but that's what you have to do anyway for the solicitors. I also had two houses to sell. Insuring the properties and clearing them was the most difficult, as was dealing with the estate agents who used Covid as a cover for being totally incompetent. But the paperwork was fine and so was the writing up of the estate accounts at the end. The beneficiaries were happy with the way it was all handled by me too, after initial doubts. 

JBeaC

Frogletina said:

I did everything myself for two estates, one occuring 3 months after the first. I found applying for one grant of probate and one letters of administration simple to do. The gathering of information can be tricky but that's what you have to do anyway for the solicitors. I also had two houses to sell. Insuring the properties and clearing them was the most difficult, as was dealing with the estate agents who used Covid as a cover for being totally incompetent. But the paperwork was fine and so was the writing up of the estate accounts at the end. The beneficiaries were happy with the way it was all handled by me too, after initial doubts. 

Great that’s super helpful. I gather now that there’s little point in paying £3,000 for what we’ve already done and it’ll probably be quicker!