Irish Probate and selling of house

daniellejwilson

Hi Guys

Just wondered if anyone could offer up any advice. My mother in law died in Sep 2018 in Ireland (where she lived – we live in England), probate was granted last June (2020) and we have just had the list of the ‘distribution of account’. It lists: 1) monies received on account, 2) less expenses paid and fee’s due and 3) balance estate monies due.

The expenses include the solicitors fee’s in a lump sum – which I am going to ask to be broken down.

Is there anything else you would expect to see included?

We are going to be selling her house in Ireland. I have spoken to various estate agents and the majority have said that it is often quicker and easier to stay with the same solicitors for conveyancing (as there could be issues getting various documents). I have big reservations, due to time it has taken for a relatively easy estate to be processed. Does anyone have any experience of this?

I am also going over next week so am planning to go into the solicitors in person so please let me know if there’s anything I could collect from them if we do decide to take on board another solicitor.

Thanks very much in advance.

Clueless56

I can't help much but would suggest you check what your tax liability will be.  I can't remember specifics now but the amount that can be inherited before tax in Ireland is quite low and all the beneficiaries under the Will from which I received a legacy had to complete a tax form listing any previous legacies they had received right back to the 1990s.  Those that exceeded the threshold through accumulation were taxed at 33%  Also, the inheritance laws had been changed in recent years and made retrospective, I believe.  I'm afraid the time it took to complete the probate and distribute the funds in our case was excruciating - over 5 years - and we got no clear explanation about why that was the case - I assumed that the solicitor was incompetent but perhaps that's unfair.  Frankly, we'd given up all hope when the money arrived.  It may be that it's a long drawn out process in Ireland, possibly due to having to send information to the tax authorities as well.  Hopefully, someone with better knowledge will appear soon and be able to advise you re whether to use the same solicitor for the conveyancing.