Which IHT forms/is probate needed?

MisterFussy

I'm doing probate/IHT myself for deceased parents-in-law. The wills and estate seem simple enough, but I'd like to be sure I'm doing things correctly - happy to receive any comments if I'm doing this wrong...

I live in the same house as mother-in-law & father-in-law as tenants-in-common (Form A restriction) where there are 3 owners: -

- mother-in-law = 1/3

- father-in-law = 1/3

- myself & spouse (daughter of deceased) = 1/3.

Mother-in-law died and her will leaves everything to father-in-law. Executors = myself & spouse.

They both had a joint bank account and joint shareholdings. Mother-in-law also had a sole bank account and premium bonds. Father-in-law also owned premium bonds.

Bank/share funds and premium bonds are all below probate thresholds for those institutions, and so they have already been dealt with and transferred to father-in-law's name only.

Land Registry DJP also successfully processed to remove mother-in-law from property title.

We have valued all assets and accounted for gifts over the last 7yrs, and the total value of mother-in-law's estate is approx. 360k so above the NRB.

I've read lots of helpful posts by solicitors, tax advisors, this forum, and have read HMRC notes, but still not 100% certain of the correct forms I need to fill in...

Question 1: Is it necessary to fill in any IHT forms at all (I'd read that might not even be necessary due to spouse exemptions)? And if so, I had assumed IHT205, but when going through HMRC online application questions it said that service is for use when applying for probate, so then...

Question 2: Probate wasn't necessary for bank, shares, or NS&I, but is probate for mother-in-law's estate necessary when we come to sell the property?

PART 2:

Father-in-law died 6wks after mother-in-law. His will leaves everything to their 3 children, and we again are executors.

Estate value approx. 850k.

Question 3: I think I need to fill in IHT400 because we'll need to claim mother-in-law's NRB and RNRB on supplementary forms, but might IHT205 be sufficient?

Question 4: We will be selling the house to distribute to the 3 children. As we are tenants-in-common and own 1/3 of the house already, does that have any bearing on whether I need to apply for probate for father-in-law's estate? I'd be surprised if I didn't need probate, but I had read in a couple of places that might not even be needed (I know we need to get the Form A restriction removed at the point of sale, and the conveyancing solicitor can deal with the details of that). Perhaps probate is needed to be able to sell the shares though?

Thanks for any comments & help!

Keep_pedalling

You will definitely need probate for FIL I am not too sure about MIL. Does the value of FILs estate include the inheritance from MIL?

Mojisola

If there is more than £5000 in PBs, you will have to get probate.

MisterFussy

FILs estate value includes all MILs inheritance, yes.
PBs less than 5k, yes.

Gers

Mojisola said:

If there is more than £5000 in PBs, you will have to get probate.

This seems to be what NS&I say on their website, however I have just been granted my late mother's funds (£24,600) from PBS without the need for probate - confirmation in this case though the letter from them uses the term 'probate'

It may well be because I held POA and had lodged this and used it with NS&I. 

MisterFussy

Keep_pedalling said:

You will definitely need probate for FIL I am not too sure about MIL. Does the value of FILs estate include the inheritance from MIL?

I think I'll go with applying for probate for MIL just in case, so that there's no potential delays later when selling the house. It might be a waste of the £215, but we can live with that.

Keep_pedalling

MisterFussy said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You will definitely need probate for FIL I am not too sure about MIL. Does the value of FILs estate include the inheritance from MIL?

I think I'll go with applying for probate for MIL just in case, so that there's no potential delays later when selling the house. It might be a waste of the £215, but we can live with that.

I think it will also make doing FILs probate somewhat easier as well.