Inheritance tax. How much?

NannaH

https://www.gov.uk/when-someone-dies

Flugelhorn

Agree re not needing to do anything else at the moment - speak to the bank next week and see what they say. I found that the bereavement teams were made up of the best of the employees of the organisations and were very helpful and good at problem solving 

msb1234

So sorry about your loss, it’s all so raw I guess.
Firstly, who is the executor of your Mum’s will? 
Regarding the will, get some photocopies made - but DON”T remove any staples or fixings to do this! You can then get the copies certified - I got a friend of mine who’s a teacher to do it. The original will has to be sent off for probate and you don’t get it back. 

Kitchen_Gardener

Me and my sister are executors 

Savvy_Sue

Flugelhorn said:

I got the same company to continue cover - as no-one was living in the house they required that it was checked weekly (neighbour did this for us) - not such a problem if the place is occupied, just explain the circumstances, they may change the name on the policy to your sister if she is living there 

Again, we were able to do this, but it is a few years ago and I can't remember which company it was. 

For the OP, do try to speak to their bereavement dept on Monday, and hopefully it can be sorted fairly easily. If your sister is living there, conditions will be less onerous, BUT she may need to speak to her own insurers if her usual address is now unoccupied. 

Note that on one occasion, the boys and I were splitting our weeks between two addresses (our own and a friend's) so that neither was unoccupied. 

Newly_retired

When you go to register the death and get the death certificate(s), they will tell you about Tell Us Once, which saves you a lot of work as they inform DWP, DVLA, local authority which sorts all sorts of things. Bereavement teams of banks and other entities are mostly very kind and helpful.

NannaH

When we had to insure my FiL’s empty house, it was during Covid lockdown in 2020,
 whether that affected the insurance, god only knows 🙄  No mainstream insurer would do it. 

We went through a specialist broker with a firm I’d never heard of.  From memory it was insured for 9 months until it sold, we got no refund on the yearly premium. 

Hopefully the Council will give OP a six month break in Council tax.  

Valuing the Estate is the most pressing matter, along with informing the insurance,  there might be a delay in getting a death certificate with it being a BH weekend.  

Kitchen_Gardener

When I tell the bank my mum has died what  happens to her utility direct debits. We still need water and electricity until things are sorted.

NannaH

Her account will be frozen and they should hopefully send you the funds without probate,  they will need a death certificate / scan of the will and your ID from memory.  You can usually do it all online through a bank’s bereavement portal. 
You will have to contact utility companies and they will create an account for you to take over the bills, some are more helpful than others.  

Flugelhorn

Kitchen_Gardener said:

When I tell the bank my mum has died what  happens to her utility direct debits. We still need water and electricity until things are sorted.

If the house is empty then the utility company will wait until probate is through to get their money, it may be some time but they are used to doing this. 

If there is someone living there then the company will want to change the name on the account to whoever is living there