What if??

sgx2000

OK...
I am the sole executor of a will.
I am the grandsons father.....

The grand parents divorced 10 years ago but both still lived in the property ( tenants in common I assume) until the death at christmas of the grandfather..

I now have the death certs and am about to pick the will up....

A couple of questions

1.  In the event my son (17)  inherits 1/2 of the house.... What happens... (we obviously would not wish for the grandmother to have to move)

2.  I assume I would be better having the probate done by a solicitor (going to ask for fixed cost)   .. Am I right?

3.  I the event the 50% portion property is left to several family members, what would then happen???

Keep_pedalling

I would wait until you see the will rather than speculating. As they were still living together then I would hope his will actually protects her through a life interest in his share.

Unless the estate is complex there should be no need use a solicitor.

In the mean time check the land registry to see what is says about ownership.

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

MEM62

sgx2000 said:

1.  In the event my son (17)  inherits 1/2 of the house.... What happens... (we obviously would not wish for the grandmother to have to move)

Why are you speculating.  See the will first.

sgx2000 said:

2.  I assume I would be better having the probate done by a solicitor (going to ask for fixed cost)   .. Am I right?

No,  you assume wrong.  

sgx2000 said:

3.  I the event the 50% portion property is left to several family members, what would then happen???

Then each would have an interest in the property.  But again, you are speculating.  Go read the will.   

Flugelhorn

I agree with the others - get the will!  hopefully all will become clear

sgx2000

Thanks for the replies...

I will undoubtedly have further questions tomorrow....

Having just read the probate form on the .gov site  I am tempted to do it myself...

But given the answers..... I probably should read the will first... lol

Flugelhorn

I agree with doing the probate yourself - you can always start and see where you get to

getmore4less

Keep_pedalling said:

I would wait until you see the will rather than speculating. As they were still living together then I would hope his will actually protects her through a life interest in his share.

Unless the estate is complex there should be no need use a solicitor.

In the mean time check the land registry to see what is says about ownership.

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

That can have issues if the property values is significant as there will be no transferable nil rate bands available and no spouse exemption.

sgx2000

I would estimate the house to be £200k....

So his half of the property obviously £100k
Probably £70 in other assets

So nowhere near inheritance tax threshold ....

Yes, I know,    I'm probably looking at it too simply...But...

Early days

Robert_McGeddon

Flugelhorn said:

I agree with doing the probate yourself - you can always start and see where you get to

Sensible input.

You can always employ a solicitor later if need be.  As well as avoiding extra costs DIY-ing it speeds things up. Also, a solicitor would likely ask you to do a lot of the legwork so yuou'd not be saving much of your own time either.  Unless there's a technical matter or something contentious using a solicitor is usually not necessary.

BooJewels

Maybe I'm missing something - but it's very possible that you don't even need Probate.   I also suspect most people misunderstand what Probate actually is and that it's not even needed for many estates.  

You only need it if there is sufficient funds with a bank to be higher than their threshold to release said funds (70 quid won't trouble them, unless you meant £70k?) or if you need to sell a property.

Even if you do need Probate, I certainly recommend against engaging a solicitor for doing it, you have to provide them with all the information anyway, so they become very expensive form filling clerks.  If the estate is financially complicated, an accountant would be more useful.

Savvy_Sue

Excellent advice so far. Just to add that you can always get advice on a specific question rather than having a solicitor do probate for you.

One thing to be aware of is that you can normally do a Deed of Variation within 2 years of the death, effectively changing the terms of the will. BUT because your son is only 17, he can't be disadvantaged by any such deed.

Come back when you know what the will says. And how soon is your son 18?