IHT to pay or not ?

nellykim

Hi all.

My husband recently died, and I am the sole beneficiary and the sole executor, in his Will.

As the Will is straightforward I shall be sorting the probate, but I haven't yet applied.

Do I need to know the total value of the estate before I apply?

Do I need to include the valuation of our jointly owned home in a list of assets?

Also does his car need to be included in assets?

I may have other questions, but if someone could clarify these it would be very helpful .

Thank you.

RAS

Sorry for your loss. Did you own the house as tenants in common or joint tenants.

Brie

Can't help much with your questions but just wanted to say sorry for your loss.  There'll be lots for you to sort out so please don't forget to take a bit of time our and breathe.

Keep_pedalling

Definitely no IHT as his entire estate is covered by spousal exemption (unless gave away more than £325k to other people in the last 7 years) 

As you were joint owners of your home you do not need probate for that and depending on what sole assets he held you may not need probate at all.

nellykim

RAS said:

Sorry for your loss. Did you own the house as tenants in common or joint tenants.

Thank you RAS.   We started the Will as joint tenants but then changed to tenants in common for some reason, in 2007 ( not sure what the reason was ?)

nellykim

Keep_pedalling said:

Definitely no IHT as his entire estate is covered by spousal exemption (unless gave away more than £325k to other people in the last 7 years) 

As you were joint owners of your home you do not need probate for that and depending on what sole assets he held you may not need probate at all.

Thank you.. But surely I still have to ask for probate, even though there may be no IHT ?

nellykim

Brie said:

Can't help much with your questions but just wanted to say sorry for your loss.  There'll be lots for you to sort out so please don't forget to take a bit of time our and breathe.

Thanks Brie, Will do. Its a nightmare..

Keep_pedalling

nellykim said:

Keep_pedalling said:

Definitely no IHT as his entire estate is covered by spousal exemption (unless gave away more than £325k to other people in the last 7 years) 

As you were joint owners of your home you do not need probate for that and depending on what sole assets he held you may not need probate at all.

Thank you.. But surely I still have to ask for probate, even though there may be no IHT ?

Probate is often not required when the first spouse dies. Even though you held the house as TiC you still do not need probate for that or any other jointly assets.

With solely owned assets it will depend on the institution they are held with and the amount. If he only had cash savings then banks have quite high amounts that they will pay out without probate. Barclays for instance will pay out up to £50k without probate. If he held equities then unless they were of very small value you will probably need it.