Help with Probate For Insurance Please

SIRENS

Hi All
looking for some help please, my husband had life insurance to pay the mortgage off, the mortgage is in joint names, the insurance company say they need probate to process the claim.
My husband had about 35k in saving which the bank don't need probate for, so this is just for the mortgage I think? I believe I need to do some sort of return of estate first, do I need to include his savings together with half of the property valuation, or do I not need to include the savings if I wait until the bank pay the money to me (I'm going to need to cover the mortgage payments until the insurance company pay out) and can I just go with an estimated value based on sales in my area? 

Sorry I'm so confused, bad enough dealing with the funeral and helping my kids cope, now worried about all this and paying all the bills.
thanks 

RAS

In whose name(s) are the house and savings currently held?

Brie

Sorry for your loss - I've helped sort out things for my MiL when FiL died and that was bad enough.

A quick google shows me this....which is why it's important to know how the property was owned.  I assume you mean that the house was owned as joint tenants which means (I believe) you don't need to include it in probate.

Probate is usually not required to deal with property owned jointly as joint tenants, whereas it may be required to deal with property owned as tenants in common.

If a property is held as joint tenants, this means that both owners own the property as a whole, with neither owning an identifiable share. If one of the owners dies, the property will belong automatically to the surviving owner through the laws of survivorship. Joint tenants cannot pass on ownership of their property in their Will – this will always be superseded by the laws of survivorship.

SIRENS

Thank you, the house is owned, with mortgage, in joint names of my husband and myself, the savings were solely in his name, I have an appointment at the bank tomorrow to sort out the accounts, they do not need probate for the accounts as it's under their limit of 50k so all I'll have then is the house until it's transferred into my sole name and then our endowment policy which is linked to the mortgage and this other policy which was to cover the shortfall in the endowment. I have not heard from the endowment company still, but I believe the insurance company say as there was no trustee on the insurance (not sure why this wasn't done when I set it up through the bank) they need probate 

Keep_pedalling

If any institution requires probate then unfortunately you are going to have to apply for it. In this case it is going to be very straight forward. 

SIRENS

Thank you, am I best sorting out the bank stuff first and then applying for probate as the actual money is not enough to require probable it’s just the insurance? 

poppystar

SIRENS said:

Thank you, am I best sorting out the bank stuff first and then applying for probate as the actual money is not enough to require probable it’s just the insurance? 

You will need to include everything that was in your husbands name either solely or jointly on the forms for probate and IHT - at the date of death not now. It’s like a snapshot of what was what on that day.

Keep_pedalling

Don’t worry too much about nailing down the amounts to the nearest pound this is an exempt estate with no IHT to pay so some estimated figures are not going to matter too much. I would start filling in IHT 250 and PA1 ASAP.

SIRENS

Thank you, I’m just worried as I know it will take awhile to sort out and I need the money in his savings to pay the mortgage as without his salary I’m not sure I can manage all the bills just on my wage, but thank you x

RAS

Siren, did your husband write a will? If so, is anyone else a beneficiary?  And who are the executors?

BooJewels

I'm sorry for your loss - I understand, I too lost my husband very recently and am thankful that at least my son is grown up.

Have you applied for the Government Bereavement Support Payment - as my husband was of working age and had paid NI all of his life, I got it within three weeks of posting the application - the form is very easy, you just need a death certificate and your marriage certificate - if you don't want to send originals, you can get them copied and certified in a job centre.  You may get more than I did, if you are in receipt of Child Benefit.

If the bank aren't asking for Probate for his savings, once you've filled in the forms and sent them the documents they ask for (many banks and pension companies have upload facilities on their web sites), the funds are usually transferred to your allocated account very quickly.

Did he have a workplace pension - you may be able to cash that in as well? My husband had 2 and had allocated me as his beneficiary and I got the payments as tax free lump sums. 

Edited to add:  if you are making a claim on a life insurance policy that covers your mortgage, but need to make monthly repayments whilst it is processed (and Probate may take several weeks) - they will probably pay back any repayments you do make, backdated to either his passing or the date you started the claim.  We made a critical illness claim about 3 years ago and did get a refund back to the date of the claim - as it took a while for the consultant to complete the forms and we'd made several payments whilst waiting.