Solicitor costs

relaxtwotribes

You could invest about £10 buying A Straightforward Guide to Probate and the Law (revised 2022) by Julie Peters from Amazon.  Reading that will help you to decide if you have the skills and patience either to do the job yourself, or to give it to a solicitor.

macman

I don't quite understand why the OP has not yet got probate, if required, for the first parent, if they died at the start of 2022?

Marcon

macman said:

I don't quite understand why the OP has not yet got probate, if required, for the first parent, if they died at the start of 2022?

Probably the same reasons so many people haven't 'yet' got probate - not sure where to start, can't quite face the task, trying to get the paperwork together, other issues taking priority etc. OP doesn't have to explain themself to anyone here, although if the answer's relevant in terms of helping people to answer the original question, I'm sure they will do so.

Keep_pedalling

I missed the bit in the opening post about parents home bring in a discretionary trust which greatly complicates things and could have significant tax implications. The OP should not attempt to wind up the trust without professional help from a STEP qualified solicitor. The costs could be significant but with an estate this size and complexity it can’t be done on the cheap.

getmore4less

macman said:

I don't quite understand why the OP has not yet got probate, if required, for the first parent, if they died at the start of 2022?

Often the common reason is there is no rush and the spouse is the executor of first death, making it nothing to do with the OP at the time.

Now the spouse has died that changes the urgency and status of those involved.

timg147

With the first death I got to a stage where I had got most of the figures together, after some chasing of well known High Street names and was just waiting for house valuations. It was all work in progress. 
I'm out of the house for 12hrs a day during the week, most of the banks etc are closed after 6pm. So most things have had to be done by post, waiting for replies (we will respond within 10 working days) etc, then sending the death cert off to the next place. There are quite a few accounts for both parents (20 to 30 each) so quite time consuming. 
I live 30 miles away from my parents house (45 mins each way) and had to visit the surviving parent at the weekend along with lifes other commitments so time is limited. As commented above, everything passed to the surviving spouse initially so whilst important there wasn't the urgency. 
Obviously now the remaining parent has passed it changes things slightly. 
Having read the will it seems quite straightforward. Everything passing to the remaining spouse. Then to me and my bother. The only fly in the ointment is the house being in a discretionary trust, but whether that applies to the first death, both or what I don't know. 
I have had a guide price from the solicitors but its quite a big variation depending on the work involved - the higher figure being almost double. I just didn't want to be paying over the odds.
I can handle the account closure etc after grant of probate. 

Keep_pedalling

timg147 said:

With the first death I got to a stage where I had got most of the figures together, after some chasing of well known High Street names and was just waiting for house valuations. It was all work in progress. 
I'm out of the house for 12hrs a day during the week, most of the banks etc are closed after 6pm. So most things have had to be done by post, waiting for replies (we will respond within 10 working days) etc, then sending the death cert off to the next place. There are quite a few accounts for both parents (20 to 30 each) so quite time consuming. 

Than number of accounts is a nightmare, and the reason we have done our best to simplify our affairs ( just 3 bank accounts between us, emergency funds held in PBs and all our investments sitting on one platform) 

I live 30 miles away from my parents house (45 mins each way) and had to visit the surviving parent at the weekend along with lifes other commitments so time is limited. As commented above, everything passed to the surviving spouse initially so whilst important there wasn't the urgency. 
Obviously now the remaining parent has passed it changes things slightly. 
Having read the will it seems quite straightforward. Everything passing to the remaining spouse. Then to me and my bother. The only fly in the ointment is the house being in a discretionary trust, but whether that applies to the first death, both or what I don't know. 

I have had a guide price from the solicitors but its quite a big variation depending on the work involved - the higher figure being almost double. I just didn't want to be paying over the odds.
I can handle the account closure etc after grant of probate. 

You should be able to handle most of the work yourself, but the trust needs the input from a professional who specialises in trusts. The fact both parents were beneficiaries of a discretionary trust probably means an IHT return will be required for both parents.

Was the trust set up by themselves? If it was who advised them to do so? If they put their own house in trust before 6th April 2017 neither estate would be entitled to claim the residence NRB which will add £140k to the IHT bill. There may also be CGT issues as well.

timg147

The trust was set up by their own solicitor who also drew up the will. I'm fairly sure it was before 2017. I have read something along those lines that you can't claim an additional allowance for IHT. I think the taxman is going to be loving us.
Not sure which way to go. I obviously need the right advice etc on the trust. I'm fairly sure I could do the probate bit but given the amount of accounts and value of the estate am I best to get a solicitor to do it and then just handle account close myself 

Keep_pedalling

timg147 said:

The trust was set up by their own solicitor who also drew up the will. I'm fairly sure it was before 2017. I have read something along those lines that you can't claim an additional allowance for IHT. I think the taxman is going to be loving us.
Not sure which way to go. I obviously need the right advice etc on the trust. I'm fairly sure I could do the probate bit but given the amount of accounts and value of the estate am I best to get a solicitor to do it and then just handle account close myself 

Whatever you do don’t use the solicitors who set up the trust, use a separate STEP qualified solicitor.

If, as looks to be the case, the trust is going to lead to massive tax penalty you may have a claim against those solicitors for setting up an unsuitable trust. No one prior to the announcement that the RNRB was going to be introduced could have foreseen it happening but it is hard to see what possible benefit the trust gave them prior to the rules change, it certainly is not much use for IHT planning unless they were also paying the trust full market rent as the 7 year rule should not apply while they remained living in the house. Who are the trustees? 

Use an appropriately qualified solicitor and do as much of the leg work as you can to keep the costs down.

timg147

I'm not sure about the trustees but the trust was set up, as I think is fairly common, to prevent the house having to be sold if either of them had to go into a home. Clearly the wrong move i hindsight given the savings and investments involved and the impact on IHT.