Help I don't know where to start with probate over 18 month after my Dad passed away.

Cooboo

Help I don't know where to start with probate over 18 month after my Dad passed away. I am the executor of the will. My mother lives in their property which is fully owned but they did take out equity of it in recent years. I can't establish if the property was shared ownership or tenants in common as I cannotfind the deeds. The will is very old 1980 states property to go to my mother then after her to myself and my brother. I have been burying my head in the sand about it all not sure where to start. Any advise would be much appreciated 🙏 

Marcon

Cooboo said:

Help I don't know where to start with probate over 18 month after my Dad passed away. I am the executor of the will. My mother lives in their property which is fully owned but they did take out equity of it in recent years. I can't establish if the property was shared ownership or tenants in common as I cannotfind the deeds. The will is very old 1980 states property to go to my mother then after her to myself and my brother. I have been burying my head in the sand about it all not sure where to start. Any advise would be much appreciated 🙏 

You aren't alone in head burying, and nothing dreadful will happen as a result - it just hangs over you until you can face dealing with it, and the longer you leave it, the longer you spend worrying.

Check to see if the property is registered at the Land Registry: https://www.gov.uk/get-information-about-property-and-land/copies-of-deeds

It's quite possible that your father is registered as the sole owner (not uncommon over 40 years ago), particularly as he is trying to dictate what happens to the property once your mother dies. Does the will actually leave the property to her, or give her a life interest - if he's saying it should then go to you and your brother, it's likely to be the latter.

If this was a DIY will (and even if it wasn't), getting some legal advice at an early stage would be no bad idea. 

msb1234

I’d concur. Apply to the land registry - it costs £3 to do it and the deeds will show if there’s a charge against the estate. I’m assuming that the will actually says the property goes to your mother but in the event of her death it passes to you and your brother. That would be the usual wording. 

You don’t need to do anything apart from checking if they did have a lifetime mortgage (which is what equity release is). However, your mum should have received an annual statement rather like a mortgage statement since your dad died. It will state how much is outstanding - if anything. It’s important to find this out, as if your mum needs to go into care at a later date, the amount outstanding can’t be used to calculate her contribution to care costs, also generally the mortgage will state the house to be sod should the remaining owner die or go into long term care. 

Flugelhorn

definitely check the land registry and ask more questions if you don't understand what it all means - honestly most of us have never done this before and haven't got a clue - also sometimes one person can be more head in the sand than others, my mother couldn't face doing anything and felt i was being disrespectful taking father's name off things and then later claimed not to know what was in her will 

Eek_Bears

If the house is owned as joint tenants you may not need probate to deal with that. Do you have other institutions to deal with that want probate?

Land_Registry

If it is in joint names then probate isn’t required to deal with the property. If it is in Dad’s sole name still then probate will be needed at some stage. 

The time lag to date has little impact as it’s only when you need to deal with the property in some way that things need to happen.
Check the register and hopefully there is one. If there isn’t and you can’t find the deeds that’s an additional thing to focus on and resolve 

Flugelhorn

@Land_Registry - just thinking, if a property had an equity loan taken out in recent years (as this one did) - would it have been registered at that point? or would they have continue with the paper deeds?

Land_Registry

Flugelhorn said:

@Land_Registry - just thinking, if a property had an equity loan taken out in recent years (as this one did) - would it have been registered at that point? or would they have continue with the paper deeds?

If they took out a secured loan (mortgage) then that should trigger first registration, yes 

pearl123

It took me nearly six years until I did probate for my Dad. Grief delayed me getting it done. It was a small estate, which made it less urgent. 

Cooboo

Thank you so much everyone . I really do appreciate your response. I am going to start with going to land registry to get the deeds. I am feeling much better to have your guidance! I felt so ashamed that I had not done anything until now. Thank you. 

Cooboo

Land_Registry said:

If it is in joint names then probate isn’t required to deal with the property. If it is in Dad’s sole name still then probate will be needed at some stage. 

The time lag to date has little impact as it’s only when you need to deal with the property in some way that things need to happen.
Check the register and hopefully there is one. If there isn’t and you can’t find the deeds that’s an additional thing to focus on and resolve 

Hi there. I have checked the deeds on land registry and it has both my mother and father's names as the 'registered owners' on it so I take it this means I do not need to do a probate? Do I just do nothing now? Should I get my father's names off the land registry?

I take it that my mother can now go ahead and make a new will so that its up to date and that's it? Thank you in advance.