Wife passed away - what to do about probate?

johnstev

I've now been granted executor dative thanks to your help. It was simply a matter of attending the local court civil office with two copies of the petition you so kindly drafted, plus marriage and death certificate.

I can now apply for confirmation and I understand this is filling in form c1 to basically list my late wife's assets which will basically amount to the following.

Half share in our property worth approximately £350k, £90k left on mortgage

Half share of all the stuff in the house, worth maybe £20k

The only liquid assets she had was what was in her bank and savings account, roughly £6k

She didn't leave anything substantial like a car or expensive jewellery.

There's some cc debt in her name of roughly £5k

For the c1 form and shared assets am I right in saying i should I list only her half ?

For the house evaluation, would an estate agent valuation suffice? 

Many thanks 

buddy9

For the shared assets (and shared debt) only list her half. I think there are inventory examples of shared assets in the Grant of Confirmation thread.

I think that an estate agent valuation would suffice.

Your declaration in para 2 of page 2 is important. You should use the exact words used in the decree. You also need to include the situation that prior rights entitlement exhausts the estate (which on the information you have given is the case), otherwise the court will look for a ‘bond of caution’. Here is a para 2 example which references prior rights:

That I am 

The executor dative qua husband of the said deceased conform to decree granted by the sheriff of [insert sheriffdom] at [insert place] on [insert date] and have right by virtue of section 8 and 9(2) of the Succession (Scotland) Act 1964, to the whole estate of the said deceased.

johnstev

Hi Buddy, in regards to the outstanding mortgage, i see the guidance notes for inventory say i should list any secured debt / creditor etc secured against the property

Should I make mention of my late wifes share of that debt in the inventory and deduct it from "total heritable estate in Scotland" figure?

Here is what i have so far

buddy9

Suggestions on your inventory:

Omit the content of lines 11 and 12 and replace with.

     Value of [insert address] £350,000

     Deceased’s one half pro indiviso share £175,000

Also, insert £175,000 into the 4th column.

Omit the mortgage entry in lines 14 to 16.

Omit the entry in line 18

In line 30 change ‘deceased’ to read ‘deceased’s’

In the summary, move the entry for ‘total estate elsewhere’ so that it comes after the ‘Total for Confirmation’

Revise the confirmation’ totals in the 2nd column to reflect the new values

Against the summary entries, leave column 4 blank

Also - 

enter the mortgage debt share into box 13.

johnstev

OK i have made those amendments thank you.

Here is my completed form. 

buddy9

three changes.

box 22 tick no.
box 23 enter same value as box 11
box 25 enter zero

johnstev

Thanks once again. On the nil rate band, is this more applicable to my kids then when they come round to the grim task of sorting out my own confirmation?

buddy9

johnstev said:

Thanks once again. On the nil rate band, is this more applicable to my kids then when they come round to the grim task of sorting out my own confirmation?

thats correct

johnstev

I would just like to conclude this thread and thank you sincerely for your help buddy9 in completing these complicated legal documents. I've had the confirmation concluded now. In an absolutely !!!!!! period of my life you've helped me enormously. I can't thank you enough. All the best.