DIY probate... is it straightforward?

crazyoldmaurice

My father died 4 weeks ago in England with no will. He and my mother divorced in the 80's and he never remarried or had a partner when he died, he lived alone. I am his only child and I estimate his property to be worth between 100-120k with no mortgage and he had 36k left from inheritance he received 2 years ago, he also gave me 50k from his inheritance a few years ago.

One of my uncles told me I might be able to apply for probate myself and avoid solicitors fees as its a straight forward estate. My other uncle says probate is really complicated.

I applied for probate online in about 10 mins and sent the copy of the death certificate in the post. From this point on how much is there likely to be for me to do for probate? I can't seem to find out online how much paper work is involved after applying or the rest of the process.

crazyoldmaurice

I meant to say I've applied for the letters of administration 

msb1234

You’ve done all you need to do. Now just sit and wait for the letters of administration to arrive. Give it a few weeks.

crazyoldmaurice

What happens after the letters come though? I'm just wondering what I've let myself in for and how long the process is when relatively straight forward

Flugelhorn

crazyoldmaurice said:

What happens after the letters come though? I'm just wondering what I've let myself in for and how long the process is when relatively straight forward

basically at this stage you will have applied for the letters of administration which is actually quite a big hurdle - the rest gets easier . The LOA will allow you to access bank accounts etc (if you haven;t already been able to do so and will also allow you  to sell the house etc 

crazyoldmaurice

Thank you. Applying for the letters was very simple and straightforward in itself. I've got the money from his bank account transferred into mime and closed the account down already as there was less than 50k in there. I've applied for his private pension funds already too as that is entirely separately.

All that is left to do is sort his house out really which is the thing I really don't want to do as its going to be a huge job and is very final. Turns out after my gran died my dad took all of his parents possessions his brothers didn't want (which was an awful lot) and has most of it all stashed at his house. I think the death of his mum triggered some kind of mental episode as my dad had turned into a hoarder and has been hoarding utter rubbish everywhere (thousands of empty beer bottles, wine boxes and left over packets of a certain food).

Flugelhorn

the house sounds like the difficult bit  - what is probably worth doing is taking anything or significant value  or anything you want to keep yourself as a memento and then get a house clearance company - it is mentally draining and incredibly hard work clearing the whole lots yourself. It is not cheap but well worth spending some of the inheritance this way - they will just get on with it, when it is cleared you can either clean it yourself or get a cleaning company to do a once over. 

p00hsticks

crazyoldmaurice said:

I applied for probate online in about 10 mins and sent the copy of the death certificate in the post. From this point on how much is there likely to be for me to do for probate? I can't seem to find out online how much paper work is involved after applying or the rest of the process.

I'm sorry for your loss.

In terms of probate, it sounds like you've done the most difficult bit, which is gathering together all the info for the application.

Even if you'd got a solicitor in to handle it, they'd still have expected you to provide all of that, so you were right not to get one in.  

Clearing the house sounds as if it's going to be a nightmare, but again that would always have been something that a solicitor would delegate to the family rather than deal with themselves.

Assuming that you've had an initial hunt through and are confident you have any paper work (savings books, etc) that you need and that there is nothing of real financial (jewellery, antique paintings etc) or sentimental (photos, medals etc) value in the property then as I see it you have a few options you could try (or perhaps a combination of them all ?).

1. Clear the house yourself - as Flugelhorn says, this is extremely time consuming and exhausting work, especially if you don't live locally, drive and/or have a full time job.

2.  If there is a local auction house or charity shop, invite them round to see if there is anything they would be prepared to take away and sell (some charity shops or local 'furniture mines' will come to the house and collect stuff).

3. If your father had many relatives or friends living locally, set up a day where they can all come round and help - say that they can take away anything they want to keep as momoentoes, on condition that they take at least x carloads of bottles away to the local recycling centre.

4. Get a house clearance company - they'll get rid if absolutely everything not tied down, although it will cost you....

Savvy_Sue

There is a 5th option if you have the time and the energy, especially if you feel you need or want to go through things in fine detail - either because you suspect there are stashes of cash or more bank accounts. That's working with a professional declutterer. https://www.apdo.co.uk/

Like house clearance, it won't be cheap, but we found it worth every penny.

Keep_pedalling

Had your father died last year it would have been more complex as you would have had to fill in IHT forms for HMRC as well. The most difficult task for you now is clearing the house, and as others have suggested I would pay someone to clear it.