Beneficiary Advice when a parent dies without a Will

theoretica

Do you think he is the type to stall because he wants to do it, but has found it unexpectedly difficult?  Depending on how the house was owned in 2005 and if the estate was properly sorted as intestate or the spouse just took over there may be complications there to untangle and paperwork needed that may not exist.

Residuary beneficiaries do have the right to see (not approve) the accounts at the end - but that isn't much help to get things moving now.

charliechaplin1901

Possibly there could be an issue that has prolonged it but he’s not mentioned that. 

Which why I wanted to know my rights before I start really questioning and pushing things forward for everyone’s sake. 

I doubt there is any issue regarding the house sale! 

All I’ve got is verbal communication regarding everything and that’s not much. 

He definitely enjoys holding the cards so to speak because after it’s over he has absolutely no hold over anyone.

Marcon

Keep_pedalling said:

Picking up on your tax question, there is a massive issue here. As the second death occurred well before the introduction of the NRB then it is likely that IHT was due on the estate and that should have been paid within 6 months of the death, if so there will be significant interest and penalties to pay.

When the house is eventually sold there will also be a capital gains tax issue to resolve.

No iHT due if everything went to the spouse - and OP says that it did.

Keep_pedalling

Savvy_Sue said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Picking up on your tax question, there is a massive issue here. As the second death occurred well before the introduction of the NRB then it is likely that IHT was due on the estate and that should have been paid within 6 months of the death, if so there will be significant interest and penalties to pay.

When the house is eventually sold there will also be a capital gains tax issue to resolve.

March 2020 for 2nd death? IHT unlikely?

Whoop! Totally misread those dates.

sheramber

If dad died intestate then depending on whether the property /savings were in joint  names, the estate may not have all passed to mum.

If that estate was not properly dealt with and everything updated,  that might be causing delays now. 

Did dad leave a will?

Who dealt with his estate?

charliechaplin1901

No, Dad didn’t have a will, joint saving accounts were changed into Mums name and everything went to Mum. 

Other sibling dealt with all that. 

RAS

charliechaplin1901 said:

elder brother applied for probate February this year without consulting myself or other siblings, told us afterwards. 

My elder brother loves the control so we have let him go ahead as we had no option, probate granted. 

The solicitor acting for him hasn’t written any sort of introduction letter. We don’t know who it is. 

Elder brother calls once every three months but no real information given, just the he’s dealing with it. Nothings moved forward according to him. 

1. Has probate actually been granted? Check here Search probate records for documents and wills (England and Wales) - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

2. If so, I'm amazed that your brother hasn't yet put the property on sale. Or does it still need clearing ? In which case an offer from the other beneficiaries to help out might be welcome, or at least harder to decline.

3. If you read this forum, you'll discover quite a lot of threads where solicitors have been incredibly slow distributing estates, so it may be they are an issue?

4 Whilst there appears to be no IHT issue with mum's estate, the following are potential issues.

If any of the siblings already has an estate nearing the IHT limit, they may want to do a little tax planning themselves, including passing some of their children to avoid future IHT bill. Deeds of variation must be done within two years of the date of death of the original donor.

Capital Gains Tax is payable on the difference between the sale price and the value at death.In the current market, that's increasingly likely that CGT is payable the longer the delay in selling the house. It can be mitigated by using all the beneficiaries CGT allowance, but that requires planning now. Otherwise any gain over £12K could be liable for CGT.

The fact that your sibling has hired a solicitor to administer a simple estate when any of you could have done it for expenses only has already cost you money unnecessarily.

So the rest of you need to make sure your further needs are met.

charliechaplin1901

1. Has probate actually been granted? 

yes its been granted.

2. If so, I'm amazed that your brother hasn't yet put the property on sale. Or does it still need clearing ? In which case an offer from the other beneficiaries to help out might be welcome, or at least harder to decline.

we all have offered but he says he will make arrangements soon ish (is not nice for any of us but needs doing)


3. If you read this forum, you'll discover quite a lot of threads where solicitors have been incredibly slow distributing estates, so it may be they are an issue?

It cant be that just yet as the family home hasn't been put on the market, he says banks have not released savings as yet. How long does that usually take? 

4 Whilst there appears to be no IHT issue with mum's estate, the following are potential issues.

If any of the siblings already has an estate nearing the IHT limit, they may want to do a little tax planning themselves, including passing some of their children to avoid future IHT bill. Deeds of variation must be done within two years of the date of death of the original donor.
Thank you for that, I intend to source a solicitor regarding my will and how best to leave it to our children. 

Capital Gains Tax is payable on the difference between the sale price and the value at death.In the current market, that's increasingly likely that CGT is payable the longer the delay in selling the house. It can be mitigated by using all the beneficiaries CGT allowance, but that requires planning now. Otherwise any gain over £12K could be liable for CGT.

would the house have to be put in all siblings names for that?

The fact that your sibling has hired a solicitor to administer a simple estate when any of you could have done it for expenses only has already cost you money unnecessarily.

My thoughts exactly, but I am in no way an expert on these matters.

So the rest of you need to make sure your further needs are met.

Thank you for your detailed response, its appreciated.

I need to find out who the Solicitor is and either write or call asking why they haven't even written to introduce themselves, if the Solicitors state they were told not to ill take it from there.
They may not have written because there isn't much to say but it would've been polite in my eyes
its all very frustrating now

Newly_retired

I am not sure why you think the solicitor should write to you, to introduce him/ herself? He will deal with the executor , not the beneficiaries , until s/he needs your details to pay you your inheritance,

sheramber

The only thing you will get from the solicitor is a copy of the accounts when everything is settled and notification of how much you get as a beneficiary.