How to act on a will
Heather2012
Forumite 34 Posts
Hi,
I'm hoping this will be a simple question but we've not done this before so need some advice please. I will use the format others have used in the forum to describe our situation by referring to people as A and B.
Person A and Person B are married. Person A has created a will stating that on his death he leaves everything to his wife, Person B. The house in which they live has no mortgage and is solely owned by person A.
Person A has now passed away. We have the will. What do we need to do to ensure everything is transferred over to Person B? Including the house and the money in the sole bank accounts?
The will is a DIY will. It has 2 witness signatures but has not gone through any solicitors.
Thanks in advance for your help.
I'm hoping this will be a simple question but we've not done this before so need some advice please. I will use the format others have used in the forum to describe our situation by referring to people as A and B.
Person A and Person B are married. Person A has created a will stating that on his death he leaves everything to his wife, Person B. The house in which they live has no mortgage and is solely owned by person A.
Person A has now passed away. We have the will. What do we need to do to ensure everything is transferred over to Person B? Including the house and the money in the sole bank accounts?
The will is a DIY will. It has 2 witness signatures but has not gone through any solicitors.
Thanks in advance for your help.
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The amount of time this takes after submission seems to vary from 8 weeks to nearly a year. There may be queries about a DIY will.
Depending on how much is in the sole bank accounts and which banks you may or may not need to apply for probate to release that money to the beneficiary. If the amounts are under the bank’s limits the bank will release the money to the executor(s) on production of the death certificate, will and proof of ID.
OP, for bank accounts, banks will usually allow access to bank account up to a certain limit without requiring probate - the executor will be required to sign an indemnity (basically saying if they were lying about being entitled to money they agree to reimburse the bank for any claims made by the actual beneficiries!) the amounts will vary by bank but can be quite high (e.g. £10,000) Short term, banks will also genrerally release money to pay a funeral director directly for the funeral although you would need to check with the bank what they need and in particuar whether they have any requirements about how the invoice is made out.
The excutors will need to apply for probate - this can be done online - timings vary depending on how complicated things are. In the mean time, the executor whould make sure that there is appropriate buildings and contensts insurence in place nd the surviving sppouse should be able to get bills transferred to their name .
transferring the property will require an assent (form AS1) - see https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/whole-of-registered-title-assent-as1/guidance-how-to-complete-form-as1 (Assuming that the property was registered)
That said, there is no great rush to get the house transferred and it is not uncommon to find, when the second spouse dies, that it hasn't been done and needs to be sorted as part ofthe administration of their estate, so while it is sensible for you / your friend to sort things out now, there isn't any huge rush, unless B wants to move. (If they do, then it may be quicker and easier for the executors to sell the proeprty, rather than transferring it to B first.
How do we check if the house was owned as joint tenants please?
Thanks TBagpuss. That's really helpful
Search for land and property information - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
If the property has been in the family for a long time (40+ years) then it might not be listed - in which case you'll need to track down the deeds of the property and evidence of the oroginal purchase to see who bought it.