Probate minefield help!

mrskml

Hi, I'm hoping that someone can give us some advice...

My Grandfather passed away least week, roughly 6.5 years after my Grandmother.  They had already made a will and when my Grandma passed the whole of her estate was left to my Grandad - with the exception of her 50% of their property.  This was split 4 ways with 12.5% each going to my 2 uncles and my mum and the final 12.5% to my Grandad (making his share of the property 62.5%).  When my Grandma passed we never changed the land registry info and the house is still in both names.  Now that he's passed - the whole of the property is inherited by my Mum and her two brothers (not sure how relevant this info is but want to make sure I'm giving a clear picture).  

My Grandad has roughly £285k in savings across 3 or 4 bank accounts and then the property which is roughly worth £150k. This is the whole of the estate and the will states that this is to be split 3 ways between my Mum and her two brothers.

The solicitors that created their will - Co-Op I believe - have offered to carry out the probate and we have a meeting with them via Zoom tomorrow to discuss this.  Looking at their website they appear to charge roughly 2.5 to 5% to carry out this service which seems quite a lot!  Neither my Mum or my Uncle's want to sort the probate side of things themselves but don't want to pay unneccesarily either.  I've looked online and can see other companies offering the same service for between £500 and £1500.

My main questions are:

Are we best paying the solicitor who sorted the will to carry out probate?  What is the benefit of this? 
Will the fact that we never changed the title deeds into my Grandads name following my Grandma's death cause any problem?
Co-Ops website states that probate takes between 9 months and 12 months to sort, whereas other companies state that it can be done in as little as 30 days - why such a massive difference in timescales?

Any advice much appreciated!  I hope I've given enough info?

Many thanks

Kerry

poppystar

It might be useful to know who the executors are that are named in the Will. It will ultimately be their decision on how they progress this. If it’s your mother and uncles then it won’t affect your question but if it is just one of them it might. Even more so if it is the solicitor rather than a family member.

mrskml

Thanks for your response.  The executors of the will are my Mum and her 2 brothers

getmore4less

Did grandma will give live interest to grandfather?

mrskml

getmore4less said:

Did grandma will give live interest to grandfather?

@getmore4less, not 100% sure what you mean - but in the will it states that everything my grandma had was to be left to my Grandad when she died - with the exception of the house. My Mum and Uncles we're given 12.5% of the house each

getmore4less

mrskml said:

getmore4less said:

Did grandma will give live interest to grandfather?

@getmore4less, not 100% sure what you mean - but in the will it states that everything my grandma had was to be left to my Grandad when she died - with the exception of the house. My Mum and Uncles we're given 12.5% of the house each

That unusual as it creates tax problems.

More common to give the spouse a right to live in the property.

mrskml

I can't see any mention of 'live interest' in the will at all

getmore4less

mrskml said:

I can't see any mention of 'live interest' in the will at all

It might not be worded like that.

mrskml

getmore4less said:

mrskml said:

I can't see any mention of 'live interest' in the will at all

It might not be worded like that.

Ok, I have no idea whether or not my Grandma gave 'live interest' to Grandad in that case.  What would be the implications either way?

thegreenone

Life interest?  The right for your grandad to remain in the house until death.

mrskml

I'm pretty sure this will be covered somewhere, although for the majority of the time since my Grandma passed he has been living in a care home