House evaluation for Probate

rancid-a

Thank you @Keep_pedalling. It's too late, think I'm stuck with the estate agent now. 

Flugelhorn

rancid-a said:

Thank you @Keep_pedalling. It's too late, think I'm stuck with the estate agent now. 

crumbs I hope they didn't charge you much  they haven't done anything 

poppystar

rancid-a said:

Thank you @Keep_pedalling. It's too late, think I'm stuck with the estate agent now. 

Why do you think you’re stuck with the estate agent? Have you signed a contract? And for them to do what? If they did not introduce the buyer and clearly they haven’t then I’m not sure you should be tied in to anything. I’m also not sure why any reasonable estate agent would have taken this on if you told them you had a buyer. If you’ve signed a contract read the details, if not turn away now. 

rancid-a

It's fine. The nephew hasn't confirmed he can get a mortgage yet. If he doesn't, the agent will come in handy. They recommended the auction route.

I'm still trying to get my head around online probate and have just started looking through mums bank statements for the last seven years looking for gifts. I wish they had arranged these in order.

Keep_pedalling

rancid-a said:

It's fine. The nephew hasn't confirmed he can get a mortgage yet. If he doesn't, the agent will come in handy. They recommended the auction route.

I'm still trying to get my head around online probate and have just started looking through mums bank statements for the last seven years looking for gifts. I wish they had arranged these in order.

Auctions are usually only used for unmortgagable properties if that is the case here then your nephew won’t be able to get one. 

If by auction they mean the modern auction method then you should not touch them with a barge pole because it lumbers buyers with high charges and puts them off.

As for the gifts, unless she was in the habit of given large sums away I would not worry about looking at that too closely as the estate is well under the NRB and no one is going to be double checking it. 

badmemory

Auction! Really!  I suspect they or someone associated with them will be buying.  Please don't touch these people with a bargepole even if disinfected.  One of my neighbours died & the equity release company sold at auction for £120k when the value was actually £150k even with work needed.  The equity release company covered their money, the auctioneers covered theirs, the family inheriting got zilch.  Tell them you have decided to live in it after all & dump them.

doodling

Hi,

One point to note is that when you come to start filling in probate forms, providing the total value of the estate doesn't come close to the IHT nill rate band, then it is better to put too high a value rather than too low a value for the house.

If you do end up selling on the open market, if you put too low a value down and it sells for more then the estate might end up paying capital gains tax (because it was worth X at death and it is now worth a much bigger Y).

rancid-a

Hello everyone

@Keep_pedalling. Yes it was Modern auction version.. Okay skip the auction, I wasn't keen on this anyway for some reason.

Regarding Mums bank statements, I only know about one gift, but it's a big one. In Aug 2018 she gave me £10000 which I used to pay off one of my debts. I've now managed to sort the statements out into months for the years 2017, 2018 & 2019 and found no other gifts, not even small ones to go over her £3000 yearly allowance.

I think I am correct in saying I myself will owe HMRC tax on £7000, (possibly £4000? as there were no other gifts in the previous year - I've read this somewhere, I can't find where) I've found a form called IHT403. I think this is something I need to look at and fill in.

@doodling, thank you. I will remember going over a little if the house ends up on the open market to avoid capital gains tax.

@badmemory. skipping it, thank you for the warning.

poppystar

IHT is done on the estate if it is due, you don’t need to pay any tax personally.

From what you have indicated so far I’m not sure that the estate is anywhere near the IHT allowance of your mother so gifts will have no effect if added back in to the estate for calculation purposes. 

As far as forms are concerned I think it is possible this is an excepted estate so only probate not IHT form completion would be required:

If the person died on or after 1 January 2022

An estate is usually an excepted estate if any of the following apply:

• its value is below the current Inheritance Tax threshold
• the estate is worth £650,000 or less and any unused threshold is being transferred from a spouse or civil partner who died first
• the deceased left everything to a spouse or civil partner living in the UK or to a qualifying charity and the estate is worth less than £3 million (search the charity register for registered UK charities)
• the deceased was living permanently outside the UK (a ‘foreign domiciliary’) when they died and the value of their UK assets is under £150,000

rancid-a

@poppystar. Thank you for the info. Yes, Mum's house, estate rather is worth around £157k.

So because Mums estate is under this IHT threshold, I don't have to pay that tax on the 10K that mum gave me back in 2018. This would be a relief, one I could use right now.

I've now been through all Mums bank statements again and can find no other gifts to anyone.

Thank you everyone