insurance for car, house and contents while going though probate

vickyholly

Hi, does anyone have an opinion or experience of using temporary insurance whilst going through probate,please? The house wont be in my name until after probate. The current insurances run out on feb 20th (after admiral extended for amonth for free, but wont insure during probate) TIA

vickyholly

Just to add, we are living in the house it is our home

Keep_pedalling

vickyholly said:

Just to add, we are living in the house it is our home

In which case insurance should be easier and cheaper. As you are planning to stay put I would have thought you might be able to obtain standard annual insurance.

if you are not planning on keeping the car then I would not bother insuring it, and sell it though Motorway or we buy any car, second hand prices are at a premium at the moment. If you are keeping it then you don’t have to wait for probate change the registered keeper, get it taxed (the RFL stops on the death of the keeper, so it can’t go on the road until that is sorted) and sort out annual insurance.

vickyholly

Keep_pedalling said:

vickyholly said:

Just to add, we are living in the house it is our home

In which case insurance should be easier and cheaper. As you are planning to stay put I would have thought you might be able to obtain standard annual insurance.

if you are not planning on keeping the car then I would not bother insuring it, and sell it though Motorway or we buy any car, second hand prices are at a premium at the moment. If you are keeping it then you don’t have to wait for probate change the registered keeper, get it taxed (the RFL stops on the death of the keeper, so it can’t go on the road until that is sorted) and sort out annual insurance.

Thanks ,The house isnt in my name yet, so admiral said i had to get special insurance whilst in probate, I will be selling the car, its sat on my parents drive at the moment, fully taxed.

BooJewels

I have an estate property that's just selling and Probate was never mentioned once with any insurer - the only party interested in the Probate process were the District Council - as you get periods free for unoccupied properties whilst waiting for Probate and for 6 months afterwards.   I did get unoccupied property insurance, because it was indeed unoccupied - which is more expensive and comes with endorsements.  But that won't be applicable to you either.  I take it this was already your home before your husband passed away (but house was in his name), as per your other thread?

With estate properties, it's usually it actually being unoccupied but maybe still with contents that causes them concern.  I'd just look at getting quotes from elsewhere for normal buildings and contents cover in your own name - I'm not sure it needs to be anything 'specialist' because of waiting for Probate and I'm not sure why the insurers are troubled by it - that's not been my own experience over 2 estates.  There is an insurance forum here, where people might have more specialist knowledge.

vickyholly

BooJewels said:

I have an estate property that's just selling and Probate was never mentioned once with any insurer - the only party interested in the Probate process were the District Council - as you get periods free for unoccupied properties whilst waiting for Probate and for 6 months afterwards.   I did get unoccupied property insurance, because it was indeed unoccupied - which is more expensive and comes with endorsements.  But that won't be applicable to you either.  I take it this was already your home before your husband passed away (but house was in his name), as per your other thread?

With estate properties, it's usually it actually being unoccupied but maybe still with contents that causes them concern.  I'd just look at getting quotes from elsewhere for normal buildings and contents cover in your own name - I'm not sure it needs to be anything 'specialist' because of waiting for Probate and I'm not sure why the insurers are troubled by it - that's not been my own experience over 2 estates.  There is an insurance forum here, where people might have more specialist knowledge.

yes , was our home before, thanks for advice , think i might ring admiral back, just incase i misunderstood.

BooJewels

It's possible that the person you spoke to at Admiral misunderstood - I think the Probate process and what it actually is, is very widely misunderstood in general. 

Probate itself is a largely clerical process where the Government court look at the will and death certificate and the details and endorse that you do indeed have the right to take particular actions in respect of the estate.  It's a certificate of proof of authority - without which some processes can't happen.  For example, the estate property I'm just selling required it so that the legal people involved could see that I did in fact have the authority and right to sell it - that single sheet 'Grant of Probate' told them as much - as it was only granted after a court examined the documents and verified the details and said as much on paper.  I don't actually own the property and it isn't in my name, it will pass straight from my parents' names to the buyers' names.

vickyholly

BooJewels said:

It's possible that the person you spoke to at Admiral misunderstood - I think the Probate process and what it actually is, is very widely misunderstood in general. 

Probate itself is a largely clerical process where the Government court look at the will and death certificate and the details and endorse that you do indeed have the right to take particular actions in respect of the estate.  It's a certificate of proof of authority - without which some processes can't happen.  For example, the estate property I'm just selling required it so that the legal people involved could see that I did in fact have the authority and right to sell it - that single sheet 'Grant of Probate' told them as much - as it was only granted after a court examined the documents and verified the details and said as much on paper.  I don't actually own the property and it isn't in my name, it will pass straight from my parents' names to the buyers' names.

Just rang Admiral, and it seems the girl did misunderstand, the guy i spoke to said i dont know why she has written some of the things. So i now have ibuilding and contents ns continuing  for the year in my husbands name,(cancelled the car ins), and when it comes to an end next jan itll be changed into my name. Thanks for your help

BooJewels

That's smashing @vickyholly - it sounded odd to me, as no insurer has ever asked me about probate and I've not seen it mentioned in policies etc.

One more you can tick off the list as sorted! 

vickyholly

BooJewels said:

That's smashing @vickyholly - it sounded odd to me, as no insurer has ever asked me about probate and I've not seen it mentioned in policies etc.

One more you can tick off the list as sorted! 

Yes, the phone calls and paper work never end, but im thankful for it to keep my brain busy, Thanks again for your advice 

Savvy_Sue

Excellent news, but just a reference for the future: any problems with insurance, go to a broker, they can often sort things really quickly and easily when mere mortals struggle to get cover! 

Re: the car, without any cover you won't (obviously) be covered if someone nicks it or sets fire to it. I believe it is possible to get cover for just those eventualities, and you may not care anyway if it's not a high value car, but do talk to a broker if you want to arrange something while you wait to sell it. You can possibly even get cover to allow test drives, I certainly wouldn't want anyone doing a test drive without any insurance in place.