completing Probate using IHT checker

Beano456

Sorry if this is a basic question but my mum recently passed away and I find myself having to deal with all the formalities and probate. Dads still alive and both had mirror wills leaving everything to the surviving spouse.  I need to apply for probate and it seems fairly straightforward to do online myself (named executor in her will) but just want to make sure I’m doing it right and have a couple of questions. I’m the one who sorted out all her savings & investments so know which banks and how much is in the accounts.

The house is in joint tenants (not common) with a property value around £170,000.  When using the online Inheritance Tax checker, the first question asks “What was the total value in pounds of all property owned in the UK?” Do I put the full value 170k or use 50% £85k.

Later on there’s another question: “What was the value in pounds of any assets left to a surviving husband, wife or civil partner?” As the property reverts to my dad do I enter the same figure that I enter for the first question?

Thanks

shiraz99

There's no IHT on jointly owned property left to a surviving spouse. Just put zero for this and go to the cash assets.

Do you definitely require probate? Most banks/building societies have quite large thresholds before they require probate to transfer funds.

Keep_pedalling

You would put 50% of the house valuation in the checker but as the entire estate has spousal exemption then you don’t even need to run it.

Beano456

shiraz99 said:

There's no IHT on jointly owned property left to a surviving spouse. Just put zero for this and go to the cash assets.

Do you definitely require probate? Most banks/building societies have quite large thresholds before they require probate to transfer funds.

There's 28k in PBs in my mum's name and I believe it's required on anything over 5k. She banks with co-op who is 50k limit before needing probate and her cash assets in her sole account is higher.

Beano456

Keep_pedalling said:

You would put 50% of the house valuation in the checker but as the entire estate has spousal exemption then you don’t even need to run it.

Completing the online form it's asking for the gross & net figures and to get them use the checker.

shiraz99

Beano456 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You would put 50% of the house valuation in the checker but as the entire estate has spousal exemption then you don’t even need to run it.

Completing the online form it's asking for the gross & net figures and to get them use the checker.

Like I said, it's probably better to put zero for the property so that the probate application just deals with your Mum's own personal assets.

shiraz99

Beano456 said:

shiraz99 said:

There's no IHT on jointly owned property left to a surviving spouse. Just put zero for this and go to the cash assets.

Do you definitely require probate? Most banks/building societies have quite large thresholds before they require probate to transfer funds.

There's 28k in PBs in my mum's name and I believe it's required on anything over 5k. She banks with co-op who is 50k limit before needing probate and her cash assets in her sole account is higher.

Yeah, in that case NS&I will require probate, although when I did my Dad's earlier this year they were OK with his premium bonds being over the £5K limit but it wasn't as much as your mum's. The bank will also require the grant of probate in that case.

Beano456

She had a couple of 1 year fixed term savings accounts with other financial institutes that are just coming up to maturity (without reinvestment on maturity the funds go back to her nominated co-op bank.  At the moment I haven't contacted the banks to notify death and freeze the accounts. Obviously the accounts can't be touched now but I was wondering if it's ok to let the matured funds go back to her co-op bank before freezing the account - for the less mither of only having to deal with the one bank.

Beano456

shiraz99 said:

Beano456 said:

Keep_pedalling said:

You would put 50% of the house valuation in the checker but as the entire estate has spousal exemption then you don’t even need to run it.

Completing the online form it's asking for the gross & net figures and to get them use the checker.

Like I said, it's probably better to put zero for the property so that the probate application just deals with your Mum's own personal assets.

Yes that makes sense. It's a bit confussing as reading the the guide on the gov site says:

Joint tenants

Joint tenants automatically pass on any assets, such as land or property, to the other owners if one of them dies.

If the asset, such as land or property, was owned as a joint tenant with the person’s spouse or civil partner, divide the value of the asset by 2.