Simple Probate - how long to wait?

ChrisJHill

Hi, I am doing a DIY Probate for a very simple situation. My mother died leaving everything 50/50 to my brother and me (no other siblings). She was divorced and her ex-husband died a long time ago. She lived simply and only really has her long leasehold property of significance in the estate. I am pretty certain that there are no debts outstanding and that there is no competing Will that we don't know about! My brother and I are joint executors in the Will and have no dispute about anything. We are in the process of applying for Probate. Once granted, how long is reasonable to wait before moving forward on selling the property and distributing the estate. I understand that there are potential liabilities with the HMRC and/or the DWP so we'll definitely wait for these.... Also, putting something in the Gazette or local papers would be totally OTT right? - she lived very simply and we had oversight of her finances for the last few years. Thanks very much for any advice. 

poppystar

I would consider marketing the property now but making estate agents aware of the fact you are currently awaiting probate, unless you are in no hurry to sell. 

Gazette etc is probably OTT. I certainly haven’t done that where as you say there was close oversight of the finances. 

jsatellite

Actually you can market the property before probate - in fact you can do everything except complete.

I think placing deceased estates notices in the Gazette etc only protects executors, not beneficiaries, so because they are one and the same in your case there would probably be no point.

Keep_pedalling

You should already be aware liabilities with HMRC based on the estate values you submitted. 

p00hsticks

jsatellite said:

Actually you can market the property before probate - in fact you can do everything except complete.

My understanding is that an executor doesn't have the authority to exchange contracts until they have probate.

There's nothing to stop you marketing the property beforehand, although it can lead to some anxious moments for your buyers - there's been someone (Cookie?) posting on here recently who has offered on a property still going through probate and is now getting to the point where their mortgage offer will shortly expire....  

ChrisJHill

Keep_pedalling said:

You should already be aware liabilities with HMRC based on the estate values you submitted. 

Yes agreed for IHT. However I received an income tax related letter saying they'd let me know if anything was owing/owed. Not expecting anything significant in any case. Thanks.

thegreenone

After reading some horror stories on here, I waited until Probate was granted (much quicker than I thought) and put the property on the market the next day.

Cookie211

p00hsticks said:

jsatellite said:

Actually you can market the property before probate - in fact you can do everything except complete.

My understanding is that an executor doesn't have the authority to exchange contracts until they have probate.

There's nothing to stop you marketing the property beforehand, although it can lead to some anxious moments for your buyers - there's been someone (Cookie?) posting on here recently who has offered on a property still going through probate and is now getting to the point where their mortgage offer will shortly expire....  

hi, I have checked the probate page on gov and the lady’s name is now on there so I’m hoping probate has now been granted 🤞🤞 will find out tomorrow when I ring EA and solicitor, fingers crossed we can complete in time 🤞🤞🤞