The Probate Journey Begins

DancingBadger

This situation is completely new to me and I have many questions, which I'd like to ask in small tranches in an effort to avoid confusion. 
My older sister died earlier this year and Probate will need to be obtained to administer her estate, of which I'm one of the executors.  Briefly, she had about £55k in various accounts and owned a house with her husband as tenants in common.  I've not yet seen a copy of her Will, but understand she has left a percentage of the house to me, held in trust for her husband until he passes.  To obtain Probate, the firm which drew up their Wills is quoting 1% of the gross value of the estate plus VAT and disbursements, and a further £350 to appoint a "conveyancer/solicitor" to undertake the transfer of the property at the Land Registry. 

Two questions:

1. The house is probably worth £500k.  Could someone please confirm my understanding the fees for this work would be in the region of £5550 plus VAT and disbursements, with an additional £350 for the Land Registry work?
2. Is an application for Probate and dealing with the Land Registry something I could do myself?

The reason I'm nervous about this company is they offer a "one-stop shop" for most aspects of legal work, yet don't appear to be solicitors.  They're not registered with the SRA.

Pennylane

Yes you can do Probate yourself.

DancingBadger

Thank you.  Are there any pitfalls I need to look out for, do you know?

Alter_ego

So long as you read the probate forms carefully and answer accurately it is fairly simple to obtain probate

RAS

Who are the other executors?

naedanger

DancingBadger said:

Thank you.  Are there any pitfalls I need to look out for, do you know?

I think where significant problems can arise is if there are significant disputes between the executors on how the estate should be administered, and to a lesser extent if there are disagreements with others e.g. beneficiaries occupying the property etc. And if this is the case I would want to employee an experienced solicitor rather than a will writing firm.

You can of course still employee a solicitor for some parts of the process e.g. you could still employ a solicitor to deal with the transfer of the house.

DancingBadger

RAS said:

Who are the other executors?

My brother-in-law, who is 85 and not in the best of health, unfortunately.

His sister was also an executor, but she died in 2018; her family had mislaid her death certificate, which is why I've not yet seen my sister's Will.  Fortunately, they've recently found it and I'm hoping to receive a copy of the Will in the next couple of days.

RAS

If any other certificates are missing, look here for English ones.

Order a copy of a birth, death or marriage certificate - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

At £11 it may be worth speeding things up. 

If BIL is already unwell, he could renounce or reserve powers. 

Do you have a will? as if anything happens to you, it would be the responsibility of your executor to sort both sets of probate out.

74jax

I have recently done my mams probate, and previously my dad's.

The online forms take you through it step by step.

Firstly, get the Will. If possible check with the solicitors who drew it up that's it is the most recent Will - you don't want to be working off the wrong one. 

Keep_pedalling

DancingBadger said:

This situation is completely new to me and I have many questions, which I'd like to ask in small tranches in an effort to avoid confusion. 
My older sister died earlier this year and Probate will need to be obtained to administer her estate, of which I'm one of the executors.  Briefly, she had about £55k in various accounts and owned a house with her husband as tenants in common.  I've not yet seen a copy of her Will, but understand she has left a percentage of the house to me, held in trust for her husband until he passes.  To obtain Probate, the firm which drew up their Wills is quoting 1% of the gross value of the estate plus VAT and disbursements, and a further £350 to appoint a "conveyancer/solicitor" to undertake the transfer of the property at the Land Registry. 

Two questions:

1. The house is probably worth £500k.  Could someone please confirm my understanding the fees for this work would be in the region of £5550 plus VAT and disbursements, with an additional £350 for the Land Registry work?
2. Is an application for Probate and dealing with the Land Registry something I could do myself?

The reason I'm nervous about this company is they offer a "one-stop shop" for most aspects of legal work, yet don't appear to be solicitors.  They're not registered with the SRA.

If the house is worth £500k the fee would not apply to the whole value just your sister’s share of it. Having said that I would still go down the DIY route.

Treetops66

I started off thinking I could do all the forms myself but did employ a tax accountant to work out the situation with regards to trusts and for general advice. So you could consider this? My advice would be start looking at the forms. IHT 400 will lead you to all the suplemental forms. She charged £115 per hour and has probably done 5 hours of work. Far cheaper than a solicitor and she answered my many questions the same day. I was worried that a solicitor would have a pile of files sitting on their desk and the process would take far longer.