why is probate needed at all??

Brie

moving on from a very recent post by another person.....why is probate needed at all?  

When my FiL died nothing was done about probate.  There were no debts, MiL inherited everything as described in their mirror wills.

I sorted out the names on various accounts on MiL's behalf, got the death certificates etc. 

I get that if the will is complicated or the heirs are bickering then someone may need to step in and sort things out.  But is that down to probate?  And who is actually making the decisions??

Sorry if these seem like daft questions.     

Stubod

When probate is not needed

You may not need probate if the person who died:

• had jointly owned land, property, shares or money - these will automatically pass to the surviving owners
• only had savings or premium bonds

Contact each asset holder (for example a bank or mortgage company) to find out if you’ll need probate to get access to their assets. Every organisation has its own rules.

Keep_pedalling

With exempted estates, such as one with everything passing to a spouse, probate is often not required. If you FIL had his savings in stocks and share, or large cash holdings with a bank, then you would have required it to release those assets.

when you MIL dies you will need it to allow you to transfer or sell her home.

BooJewels

Probate probably wouldn't be required in the circumstances you describe - my father didn't obtain it when my mother passed and I won't be getting as my husband has passed - as it just isn't required. 

But when my father passed too, my sister and I have needed it, as Probate is your permission to do certain acts - like selling a house (why we need it), releasing funds above a certain level, getting at funds that are slightly further locked away, like ISAs, Premium Bonds, Shares etc.  It's not just about how complicated the will is, but the value of the assets you need to release, sell etc. and whether those fund-holders require it.

Probate is the process by which a court determines that you are indeed authorised to undertake such acts - they examine the Will and the information supplied and your proof that you're an executor etc. and the Grant of Probate is the accepted document that proves your position.

JJ_Egan

It can save complications , my neighbours house is four years plus arguing over assets .

Plus as said banks and many others will not do anything until its granted .

Brie

Keep_pedalling said:

when you MIL dies you will need it to allow you to transfer or sell her home.

There's no house to sell, she already sold it.  There is a moderate amount of cash in a joint account which may well have evaporated by the time of her death due to care requirements.  She did give us money towards buying a house in which she also lives.  But it wasn't a huge amount, well under inheritence tax levels and would all go to my other half as the only child.  I think the only complication would be if she outlasts my spouse, I'm not sure where that would leave me.  (must get it sorted at some point....)

Keep_pedalling

Brie said:

Keep_pedalling said:

when you MIL dies you will need it to allow you to transfer or sell her home.

There's no house to sell, she already sold it.  There is a moderate amount of cash in a joint account which may well have evaporated by the time of her death due to care requirements.  She did give us money towards buying a house in which she also lives.  But it wasn't a huge amount, well under inheritence tax levels and would all go to my other half as the only child.  I think the only complication would be if she outlasts my spouse, I'm not sure where that would leave me.  (must get it sorted at some point....)

Sounds like it would not be needed in her case as well. She should make a will to cover the possibility she outlives her son. 

TheInheritanceProblemSolver

Brie, you actually raise an interesting question.

Probate is necessary because it is the process by which an executor or admin obtained the authority that they need to deal with the estate of a deceased person. There may be obligations to pay inheritance tax from the estate, and it is usually necessary to discharge liabilities and gathering all of the assets before distributing to the beneficiaries. From a completely cynical point of view, it is necessary so that the government can make sure the correct amount of tax is paid.

However, there are circumstances – particularly with married couples – where it is not necessary to rely upon the will to transfer the estate. If all of the assets are jointly owned, then they passed from one to the other by right of survivorship after the first person dies. Probate is not needed for that.

Likewise, when the estate is worth a negligible sun, say less than £10,000 for instance, probate is generally not required to administer the estate.