Probate Liabilities

wyattjnr

We are now at the stage following my mothers death on providing a list of liabilities for my mothers estate to the solicitors.  I wanted some clarification on what exactly can be claimed.

Am I right in thinking that these are expenses that have not yet been settled?  For example my mother was in a care home at date of death and there are payments to be made to them.
Costs associated with moving her into the home and storage etc that have been settled are not able to be claimed I am thinking.
She also had legal fees associated with a deputyship that never actually completed but I believe these fees have been paid.

In all honesty I just want to make sure we claim for everything we are allowed to claim to bring down the IHT payment.

Marcon

wyattjnr said:

We are now at the stage following my mothers death on providing a list of liabilities for my mothers estate to the solicitors.  I wanted some clarification on what exactly can be claimed.

Am I right in thinking that these are expenses that have not yet been settled?  For example my mother was in a care home at date of death and there are payments to be made to them.
Costs associated with moving her into the home and storage etc that have been settled are not able to be claimed I am thinking.
She also had legal fees associated with a deputyship that never actually completed but I believe these fees have been paid.

In all honesty I just want to make sure we claim for everything we are allowed to claim to bring down the IHT payment.

The solicitors should be able to give you a suitable checklist. Failing that, send them a list of absolutely everything you think might be a possible claim and let them confirm to you what can and can't be paid out of the estate. It shouldn't take them long to sort into yes/no items, so shouldn't generate that much of a bill.

Linton

Wont the costs of moving mother into a care home etc have been paid by her had she been able to do so and so could reasonably be regarded as debts owed to yourself?

wyattjnr

Linton said:

Wont the costs of moving mother into a care home etc have been paid by her had she been able to do so and so could reasonably be regarded as debts owed to yourself?

The fees have already been paid by my mother rather than me, but wondered if that could be included in the liabilities.  My thought is no.

Linton

wyattjnr said:

Linton said:

Wont the costs of moving mother into a care home etc have been paid by her had she been able to do so and so could reasonably be regarded as debts owed to yourself?

The fees have already been paid by my mother rather than me, but wondered if that could be included in the liabilities.  My thought is no.

If the costs have already been paid, presumably prior to her death then they are not liabilities.  Liabilities are debts she incurred prior to her death  that have not been paid plus the costs of her funeral and managing the estate etc.

wyattjnr

What about money owed to beneficiaries?  I paid for my mums storage fees as her account was frozen due to there being no POA in place and her not being of fit mind.  Can I claim those back?

Keep_pedalling

wyattjnr said:

What about money owed to beneficiaries?  I paid for my mums storage fees as her account was frozen due to there being no POA in place and her not being of fit mind.  Can I claim those back?

Yes you can. Are you the executor?

wyattjnr

Keep_pedalling said:

wyattjnr said:

What about money owed to beneficiaries?  I paid for my mums storage fees as her account was frozen due to there being no POA in place and her not being of fit mind.  Can I claim those back?

Yes you can. Are you the executor?

Yes, my sister and I are executors and beneficiaries. 

wyattjnr

Am I right in thinking the cost of obtaining a Grant of Probate through solicitors can be taken as a liability?

Keep_pedalling

wyattjnr said:

Am I right in thinking the cost of obtaining a Grant of Probate through solicitors can be taken as a liability?

It’s certainly an executor expense. 

poseidon1

wyattjnr said:

Am I right in thinking the cost of obtaining a Grant of Probate through solicitors can be taken as a liability?

No, it's a post death executors expense ( as are the solicitors fees), not a pre death liablity capable of deduction for IHT purposes.

Since you are enlisting the help of a solicitor to obtain the grant of probate, they can confirm the array of predeath liabilities that are permissible for IHT purposes. Indeed they should have supplied you with a probate checklist, was one not supplied?