15months to debt free - I hope

ladyholly

I think the average time for sorting out an estate where IHT is involved is about a year. The main delays are HMRC and the probate office. Of course the sale of the house is separate to that although the sale process can run alongside the probate application. For simpler estates it is quicker. I think my mothers was about 6months but there werent the IHT complications not to mention the separate land sale which is all part of the estate. I have learnned a lot since April.

ladyholly

Evening all

I have a ridiculous sense of acheivement this evening despite not having done much. I think it comes from making a couple of essential phone calls to do with bils house. ( I hate phoning people) The water account is now closed and I am due a rebate of just over £4.00. I am trying not to get too excited. The other call was to deal with the house insurance. The existing company will only insure it until the anniversary of bils death next April. I am hoping things may be sorted by them but if not I will have to find another company that will insure empty properties.

7 parcels posted at the alternative post office. I didnt want to risk a problem at my usual one with their mobile connection as a couple of the parcel had to go today. The bus going was very late but I got there eventually and then coming back it was the same driver who was driving at a stupid speed bearing in mind the roads on this estate are quite bendy and if he had met anything on the bend I dont think he could have avouded it. I was quite relieved to get off and as I did aother passenger was telling him he was going too fast.

I have received the payment for the item I sent to auction which has been transferred to savings.

Weekly shop done although I couldnt get everyhing as Tesco are still moving stuff around. There were toilet rolls in 3 different places and I never did find dog food altthough I could find small animal stuff. There were other things I couldnt find so a trip to Sainsbury is on the cards for tomorrow as some of them are urgent. Hopefully they will finish moving stuff around by next week but at least there are now trolley parks.

Nothing else done today so have a good evenin and I am off to read my book.

badmemory

My experience from 2015 was so different it seems like another country.  We had already sold my mothers house, but it needed referring to HMRC re IHT but was not large enough.  The whole thing was completed in less than 3 months.  The very final thing being a cheque from HMRC that they had sent a month before she died to her care home.  We didn't fiind out about it until some weeks after she died.  They would not reissue the cheque until 50 days after its return.  Without that it would have been a couple of days over 2 months.  It seems unbelievable when you read what people are going through now.

ladyholly

According to my solicitor probate alone is taking about 4months! I do wonder what they are doing. My dgd has recntly bought a house. They saw the house in January and finally got the keys in late June. They are first time buyers so no sale involved. The excuse given by the solicitor was they were buying in a different country. The different country is Wales and they were living in England. Anything to do with government departments seem to take a very long time these days. I dont know why. The only reason I can think of is a backlog from covid.

badmemory

When I bought this house just over 30 years ago I put an offer in & owned it in less than a month.  I am sure it is all these checks to make sure we aren't fraudulent but the people who are committing fraud never get caught because everyone is too busy checking up on those of us that aren't.  The real fraudsters get away with it most of the time.  Did you read about the ones that got away with fraud against the DWP.  It wasn't ordinary people, it was run like a business & they were caught by the police not DWP.  Over £50million.  Despite their so called checks DWP didn't notice the same addresses & phone numbers being used.  I think a lot of it is caused by using seriously out of date technology plus their left hand doesn't seem to know what their right hand is doing.

Years ago there was someone who posted on here who worked for HMRC.  They were setting up a new system & he said (I don't know how true it was) that the system was designed to the specs of someone senior who had never actually worked on the old system & had no idea what was required & was refusing to allow any input.  That was why so much still needed to be sorted manually.

ladyholly

 badmemory  Unfortunately I can believe that. To be fair part of the delay to dgds purchase was to do with money laundering regs. She was left a good amount of money by her great grandfather and had to get the solicitor who administered the trust and the trustees to confirm where the money had come from and one of the trustees had died and his heir was quite slow in filling in the paperwork. My other dgd is trying to get her money out of the trust and that seems to be causing trouble as well.

As you say the powers that be are so busy trying to catch people who are very small fry they dont have to time or resources to go after the big guys. They can also afford better accountants and solicitors.

Sunshine_girl2

Can you not do collect from home via Royal Mail for all your parcels ? I guess you have to print your own labels for this service . 

beanielou

Yes. Great idea from @Sunshine_girl2. You could get the parcels picked up. You don’t need a printer. The postie comes and picks them up & puts on the label. 

ladyholly

I would love to have the postie collect parcels. Unfortunately they are usually around at the time we take Bear out but their timing isnt reliable so its not practical. It is also something I can do that helps to give me some exercise and gets me out of the house.  If I use the scooter I usually leave it at Sainsbury and walk to the PO. It isnt far but is better than nothing. If I use the bus I have to walk further. IIt is unusual for me to have so many parcels when 3 of them were the bigger size I use. I can only get one of them in the carier bags I use plus 2 smaller boxes. The reason I had so many was I didnt go out on Monday when the rain was torrential and I had a couple of sales on Tuesday to add to the ones that should have gone Monday.

ladyholly

Evening all

Success today my usual Po was open and 2 parcels posted. The shopping done that I couldnt get yesterday and took the risk and used the scooter. Hooray it didnt rain although did start while we were out with Bear. A bit more listing done - what am I going to do when I get to the end of it?  I am sure I will find something to fill my time.

I have carried on with tidying the drawers in the bedroom but havent got to the wardrobe yet which will be a biggish job. I know there is some stuff I can try and sell and some to go to the charity shop and some that is only fit for duster or the bin. Its just a matter of deciding which is which and photographing the saleable stuff. I have sorted a couple of blankets that can go to the dog rescue when I am heading that way and have nothing else to carry. The other job I need to get a handle on is sorting the packing materials to see what if anything I need. All I need now is the energy.

No sales today and no shopping to be done tomorrow so I can get on with things. Our friend that pops in for coffee most weeks has been away but I think she is back this weekend so hoping for a catch up soon. I miss her when she isnt around.

Well another exciting day at ladyholly towers so hope you have a peaceful evening and I will try to get on with my book after I have caughtup on other diaries.