Evaluating content for IHT

Lilio8

tls123 said:

Re your comment I asked the legal firm I’m with to no avail and your other thread have you managed to withdraw now from their services?

 

No, I've not withdrawn from their services. They allocated me to another case manager who's more responsive. But I have spotted some of their errors (my incorrect address and incorrect account number of my late dearest) .

Thank you for your replies.

GDB2222

To give you some idea, I was given the job of clearing my late MIL's bungalow. Nobody would take the furniture, even though it was all quite respectable. We offered it to various charities, who turned their noses up at it. In the end, I hired a van, and my son and I smashed the lot up, so it would take less space in the van, and took the debris to the dump. 

There was a 7 year old flat screen TV that still worked. I tried advertising that for nothing, but there were no takers. 

I imagine that HMRC would not dispute a nil value for the chattels unless there are some individual high value items. 

HHarry

I used £2500 for the entire contents of my Mum’s 4 bed house.  Second hand stuff has very little value unless it’s very specialised.  Even the antique furniture that she’d paid thousands for went for amounts like £50-100.

I also paid £120 for a valuation of her jewellery - to be told it was worth £100!

Don’t over think or worry about it.  There aren’t many estates with a hidden Picasso on the wall!

Lilio8

GDB2222 said:

To give you some idea, I was given the job of clearing my late MIL's bungalow. Nobody would take the furniture, even though it was all quite respectable. We offered it to various charities, who turned their noses up at it. In the end, I hired a van, and my son and I smashed the lot up, so it would take less space in the van, and took the debris to the dump. 

There was a 7 year old flat screen TV that still worked. I tried advertising that for nothing, but there were no takers. 

I imagine that HMRC would not dispute a nil value for the chattels unless there are some individual high value items. 

Thank you for your reply.

I'm at the point where I just want to smash up the furniture. The sofa is old but not an antique, the upholstery of the rocking chair nobody would want it since it's ripped in some spots. As for the flat screen TV, I'll try to sell it. Although, don't I need to wait till grant of probate to sell any of the chattels?

Lilio8

HHarry said:

I used £2500 for the entire contents of my Mum’s 4 bed house.  Second hand stuff has very little value unless it’s very specialised.  Even the antique furniture that she’d paid thousands for went for amounts like £50-100.

I also paid £120 for a valuation of her jewellery - to be told it was worth £100!

Don’t over think or worry about it.  There aren’t many estates with a hidden Picasso on the wall!

Thank you for your reply.

£120 for a valuation of jewellery worth £100? Oh dear!

I might over think the all thing. A company called Move With Us quoted a £300+ figure to evaluate the content (ouch!).

GDB2222

Lilio8 said:

GDB2222 said:

To give you some idea, I was given the job of clearing my late MIL's bungalow. Nobody would take the furniture, even though it was all quite respectable. We offered it to various charities, who turned their noses up at it. In the end, I hired a van, and my son and I smashed the lot up, so it would take less space in the van, and took the debris to the dump. 

There was a 7 year old flat screen TV that still worked. I tried advertising that for nothing, but there were no takers. 

I imagine that HMRC would not dispute a nil value for the chattels unless there are some individual high value items. 

Thank you for your reply.

I'm at the point where I just want to smash up the furniture. The sofa is old but not an antique, the upholstery of the rocking chair nobody would want it since it's ripped in some spots. As for the flat screen TV, I'll try to sell it. Although, don't I need to wait till grant of probate to sell any of the chattels?

In theory, you are right. In practice, relatives often dispose of chattels before probate is granted. For something like a TV it’s very unlikely that the buyer will ask to see a grant of probate. 

Mind you, I’m out of touch with the price of TVs. I’m assuming you would be selling for a fairly modest amount, not thousands!

Lilio8

GDB2222 said:

Lilio8 said:

GDB2222 said:

To give you some idea, I was given the job of clearing my late MIL's bungalow. Nobody would take the furniture, even though it was all quite respectable. We offered it to various charities, who turned their noses up at it. In the end, I hired a van, and my son and I smashed the lot up, so it would take less space in the van, and took the debris to the dump. 

There was a 7 year old flat screen TV that still worked. I tried advertising that for nothing, but there were no takers. 

I imagine that HMRC would not dispute a nil value for the chattels unless there are some individual high value items. 

Thank you for your reply.

I'm at the point where I just want to smash up the furniture. The sofa is old but not an antique, the upholstery of the rocking chair nobody would want it since it's ripped in some spots. As for the flat screen TV, I'll try to sell it. Although, don't I need to wait till grant of probate to sell any of the chattels?

In theory, you are right. In practice, relatives often dispose of chattels before probate is granted. For something like a TV it’s very unlikely that the buyer will ask to see a grant of probate. 

Mind you, I’m out of touch with the price of TVs. I’m assuming you would be selling for a fairly modest amount, not thousands!

I see. Thank you for that.

I didn't measure the LG flat screen TV. It's not a huge one, so no it won't sell for a lot. I'll be lucky to get £100 for it.

doodling

Hi,

GDB2222 said:

Lilio8 said:

GDB2222 said:

To give you some idea, I was given the job of clearing my late MIL's bungalow. Nobody would take the furniture, even though it was all quite respectable. We offered it to various charities, who turned their noses up at it. In the end, I hired a van, and my son and I smashed the lot up, so it would take less space in the van, and took the debris to the dump. 

There was a 7 year old flat screen TV that still worked. I tried advertising that for nothing, but there were no takers. 

I imagine that HMRC would not dispute a nil value for the chattels unless there are some individual high value items. 

Thank you for your reply.

I'm at the point where I just want to smash up the furniture. The sofa is old but not an antique, the upholstery of the rocking chair nobody would want it since it's ripped in some spots. As for the flat screen TV, I'll try to sell it. Although, don't I need to wait till grant of probate to sell any of the chattels?

In theory, you are right. In practice, relatives often dispose of chattels before probate is granted. For something like a TV it’s very unlikely that the buyer will ask to see a grant of probate. 

Mind you, I’m out of touch with the price of TVs. I’m assuming you would be selling for a fairly modest amount, not thousands!

The executors can do pretty much anything with the estate before probate - probate has no effect at all on the power of executors - the authority to act comes from the will.

Probate is a confirmation by a court that the will is valid and that the executors are definitely the executors.  Some entities (notably the Land Registry) require that confirmation by a court (cynically one might claim that is in order to protect against IHT evasion rather than fraud) but there is no obligation on someone to insist on probate before dealing with an executor.

Unless there is some doubt or contention in the execution of the estate or a transaction is for a significant value (in the context of the total estate value) then I would be quite happy to carry out actions as executor before probate is granted.

In this case, there is nothing to stop the executors clearing the property if they want to.

The biggest risk to executors acting before probate is granted comes when distributing the estate - at that point it gets very messy if the will is subsequenty found to be invalid and the estate has already been (incorrectly) distributed.

Lilio8

doodling said:

Hi,

GDB2222 said:

Lilio8 said:

GDB2222 said:

To give you some idea, I was given the job of clearing my late MIL's bungalow. Nobody would take the furniture, even though it was all quite respectable. We offered it to various charities, who turned their noses up at it. In the end, I hired a van, and my son and I smashed the lot up, so it would take less space in the van, and took the debris to the dump. 

There was a 7 year old flat screen TV that still worked. I tried advertising that for nothing, but there were no takers. 

I imagine that HMRC would not dispute a nil value for the chattels unless there are some individual high value items. 

Thank you for your reply.

I'm at the point where I just want to smash up the furniture. The sofa is old but not an antique, the upholstery of the rocking chair nobody would want it since it's ripped in some spots. As for the flat screen TV, I'll try to sell it. Although, don't I need to wait till grant of probate to sell any of the chattels?

In theory, you are right. In practice, relatives often dispose of chattels before probate is granted. For something like a TV it’s very unlikely that the buyer will ask to see a grant of probate. 

Mind you, I’m out of touch with the price of TVs. I’m assuming you would be selling for a fairly modest amount, not thousands!

The executors can do pretty much anything with the estate before probate - probate has no effect at all on the power of executors - the authority to act comes from the will.
....
In this case, there is nothing to stop the executors clearing the property if they want to.
...

Thank you for your reply.
Does it mean that once the evaluating firm will pop round to evaluate the content, I'll be able to remove the lot and sell some of the content (I could do with raising some cash, since various expenses for maintaining the property are building up and I'm paying out of my pocket)? 

doodling

Hi,

Lilio8 said:

doodling said:

Hi,

GDB2222 said:

Lilio8 said:

GDB2222 said:

To give you some idea, I was given the job of clearing my late MIL's bungalow. Nobody would take the furniture, even though it was all quite respectable. We offered it to various charities, who turned their noses up at it. In the end, I hired a van, and my son and I smashed the lot up, so it would take less space in the van, and took the debris to the dump. 

There was a 7 year old flat screen TV that still worked. I tried advertising that for nothing, but there were no takers. 

I imagine that HMRC would not dispute a nil value for the chattels unless there are some individual high value items. 

Thank you for your reply.

I'm at the point where I just want to smash up the furniture. The sofa is old but not an antique, the upholstery of the rocking chair nobody would want it since it's ripped in some spots. As for the flat screen TV, I'll try to sell it. Although, don't I need to wait till grant of probate to sell any of the chattels?

In theory, you are right. In practice, relatives often dispose of chattels before probate is granted. For something like a TV it’s very unlikely that the buyer will ask to see a grant of probate. 

Mind you, I’m out of touch with the price of TVs. I’m assuming you would be selling for a fairly modest amount, not thousands!

The executors can do pretty much anything with the estate before probate - probate has no effect at all on the power of executors - the authority to act comes from the will.
....
In this case, there is nothing to stop the executors clearing the property if they want to.
...

Thank you for your reply.
Does it mean that once the evaluating firm will pop round to evaluate the content, I'll be able to remove the lot and sell some of the content (I could do with raising some cash, since various expenses for maintaining the property are building up and I'm paying out of my pocket)? 

Yes you can, there is no problem at all with getting on with things.