Do I need full estate management?

JWcyclist

I am one of the executors and part beneficiary of my fathers Will.  I would have liked to complete the probate and administration of the estate myself but having now understood that the Property has been left as a 'trust will' with 50% to myself and 50% to his surviving wife and that this will be too legally complex I realise this is probably not possible.  In this situation is it possible to have partial  legal input just with the property and save money on the probate / estate management process?  I am in the process of arranging for some quotes.

Savvy_Sue

JWcyclist said:

I am one of the executors and part beneficiary of my fathers Will.  I would have liked to complete the probate and administration of the estate myself but having now understood that the Property has been left as a 'trust will' with 50% to myself and 50% to his surviving wife and that this will be too legally complex I realise this is probably not possible.  In this situation is it possible to have partial  legal input just with the property and save money on the probate / estate management process?  I am in the process of arranging for some quotes.

I am fairly sure you could do just this: a solicitor will act on your instructions, and even if they were doing the complete job they would expect you / your fellow executors to give time to answering questions about assets etc. 

Not quite the same situation but we took advice on just one aspect of each of my parent's wills. 

Keep_pedalling

First off the inclusion of trusts does not complicate the process of obtaining probate you should be able to deal with that no problem. What you may or may not need help with is the setting up and management of the trusts.

Could you give us the exact wording regarding the will trust (obviously not including any personal details) please? How these normally work is that the spouse get a life interest in his share of the property and you inherit when she dies or no longer needs the home, but that is not how you describe it. Normally these things only have to be registered with HMRC and there is nothing for the trustees to do and you certain should not need any professional help.

Newly_retired

I did Probate for my late husband’s estate. Very straightforward. I used a solicitor purely to deal with setting up the Trust, dealing with the Land Registry and HMRC for the Trust.

JWcyclist

Thanks both, sorry for the slow response - thanks for your question keep_peddalling.  I think you are on the right lines actually it is just how I worded it.  I am very keen now to be clear about the type of trust Will it is for the purposes of having the correct inheritance tax allowances.

The description is quite lengthy so I'm going to try to pick out the appropriate parts but it is as you describe plus it states that should she want to sell and move to another property she could use the whole of the value of the Current property to do so if she wished and I eoukd still stay 50% tennants in common - until she dies or sold the property etc

[If my wife decides to sell].... all or any part of the net proceeds of sale or share of the net proceeds of sale if jointly owned towards the purchase of another freehold or Leasehold....selected by my wife and approved by my trustees and any residence so purchased shall be assured to my trustees or to my wife and my trustees as beneficial joint tenants in common   ....

It goes on to say that any proceeds 'not applied towards the purchase of another residence as aforesaid shall be held by my Trustees upon trust to pay the income to my wife until the determining event.....

Keep_pedalling

JWcyclist said:

Thanks both, sorry for the slow response - thanks for your question keep_peddalling.  I think you are on the right lines actually it is just how I worded it.  I am very keen now to be clear about the type of trust Will it is for the purposes of having the correct inheritance tax allowances.

The description is quite lengthy so I'm going to try to pick out the appropriate parts but it is as you describe plus it states that should she want to sell and move to another property she could use the whole of the value of the Current property to do so if she wished and I eoukd still stay 50% tennants in common - until she dies or sold the property etc

[If my wife decides to sell].... all or any part of the net proceeds of sale or share of the net proceeds of sale if jointly owned towards the purchase of another freehold or Leasehold....selected by my wife and approved by my trustees and any residence so purchased shall be assured to my trustees or to my wife and my trustees as beneficial joint tenants in common   ....

It goes on to say that any proceeds 'not applied towards the purchase of another residence as aforesaid shall be held by my Trustees upon trust to pay the income to my wife until the determining event.....

Sounds like a straight forward immediate post death interest trust. Effectively the trust is the legal owner of his share of the house and his wife the beneficial owner. The will has created the trust and while she remains living there very little needs to be done by the trustees other than registering the trust with HMRC (which needs to done within 2 years of his death) and making the appropriate changes to the land registry. 

It only gets a bit complicated if she moves out to downsize or move into residential care. In those cases any equity released with the sale of the share in trust and not used to buy a new home is held in trust with the income going to her. This will require more work as the trust will then be subject to taxation.

JWcyclist

Thanks, that sounds exactly as it is described in the will (but I had found the legal jargon a bit dense) - ie it is as you described regarding after she moves and sells.

So my understanding then is that with this type of trust, that as the daughter who is the beneficiary of my fathers portion, I would be entitled to the additional £175000 for the inheritance tax threshold within the residence  nil rate band?