Dad recently died and need to deal with his estate/selling the house

jem16

Along with my brother I’m executor of my Dad’s will. I dealt with my Mum’s will back in March so know what needs to be done except that this time there is the house to be sold. Still waiting to register the death though so don’t yet have the death certificate. 

Can anyone give me a rough idea of what I need to do with respect to the house and household bills etc? 

tls123

Firstly check the house is insured if no one is living in it you might need to change the policy to advise the insurance company, if you inform the utility providers (bereavement teams) of your fathers death they may be able to move the bills into you/ your brothers name. Take things at your own pace, tell us once service will cover the council tax. 

jem16

tls123 said:

Firstly check the house is insured if no one is living in it you might need to change the policy to advise the insurance company, if you inform the utility providers (bereavement teams) of your fathers death they may be able to move the bills into you/ your brothers name. Take things at your own pace, tell us once service will cover the council tax. 

My brother is staying there this week so currently occupied. We’re kind of stuck in limbo till we can get a death certificate as most seem to want that first. 

Keep_pedalling

jem16 said:

tls123 said:

Firstly check the house is insured if no one is living in it you might need to change the policy to advise the insurance company, if you inform the utility providers (bereavement teams) of your fathers death they may be able to move the bills into you/ your brothers name. Take things at your own pace, tell us once service will cover the council tax. 

My brother is staying there this week so currently occupied. We’re kind of stuck in limbo till we can get a death certificate as most seem to want that first. 

If this is just a short temporary measure then this does not affect the CT exemption. 

tls123

Your brother can gather any paperwork in readiness for when the death certificate comes through if there is any in the house, he can make a list of who to contact. My comment regarding taking your time is because you dealing with both estates in a relatively short period. Condolences on your loss. Banks will freeze monies on registering the death but they can release monies for funeral expenses prior to probate/ confirmation in Scotland. Probate will take time If you are selling the property. These are general comments because I understand people grieve and deal with things differently. 

jem16

Keep_pedalling said:

jem16 said:

tls123 said:

Firstly check the house is insured if no one is living in it you might need to change the policy to advise the insurance company, if you inform the utility providers (bereavement teams) of your fathers death they may be able to move the bills into you/ your brothers name. Take things at your own pace, tell us once service will cover the council tax. 

My brother is staying there this week so currently occupied. We’re kind of stuck in limbo till we can get a death certificate as most seem to want that first. 

If this is just a short temporary measure then this does not affect the CT exemption. 

Yes it’s only for this week and then probably when he’s back for the funeral. 

RAS

Use the Tell us Once service.

Is there going to be an IHT bill?

Contact the insurers and ask if they will continue to insure the property and on what conditions? Think folk have found Adrian Flux useful if existing insurer's are difficult.

Try to check the value of bank accounts and research the maximum they pay out without probate. You may only need probate for the house and National Savings?

Do you need an executor's account (not easy) or a joint account with bro? Read some of the threads here as people sometime have to set up a second account where they are known, then change it to "Executors of Mr Jem" and add the other executor. If your brother is present and has ID that might be something to sort this week?

Then transfer money from one account into the "executors' " account , so you can pay insurance. Read utilities and speak to their bereavement teams, they'll probably be prepared to wait until probate.

jem16

RAS said:

Use the Tell us Once service.

Is there going to be an IHT bill?

Contact the insurers and ask if they will continue to insure the property and on what conditions? Think folk have found Adrian Flux useful if existing insurer's are difficult.

Try to check the value of bank accounts and research the maximum they pay out without probate. You may only need probate for the house and National Savings?

Do you need an executor's account (not easy) or a joint account with bro? Read some of the threads here as people sometime have to set up a second account where they are known, then change it to "Executors of Mr Jem" and add the other executor. If your brother is present and has ID that might be something to sort this week?

Then transfer money from one account into the "executors' " account , so you can pay insurance. Read utilities and speak to their bereavement teams, they'll probably be prepared to wait until probate.

Thanks for that.

Yes I’ll use Tell us Once once I can hopefully register the death on Friday - first appointment available. That will deal with his pensions and other stuff like Council Tax, Blue Badge and HMRC. 

Shouldn’t be an IHT bill.

First port of call will be Direct Line who currently insure the property. I’ve seen Home Protect for Insurance if Direct Line won’t do it. 

RBS is below the probate (confirmation here) amount so I may deal with that one directly and let the lawyer deal with NS&I, shares and the house. 

I’m not sure an executor’s account will be needed. As my brother lives 300 miles away it will probably be me who deals with most of it anyway.

Will the energy supplier allow us just to keep the account going as needed to heat the house etc till it can be sold? 

p00hsticks

I'm sorry for your loss. 

I note that your userid shows a Scottish flag - are we talking about Scotland or England/Wales here , as I know there are some fairly major differences in the two juristictions (e.g. Grant Of Confirmation compared with probate ?)

jem16

p00hsticks said:

I'm sorry for your loss. 

I note that your userid shows a Scottish flag - are we talking about Scotland or England/Wales here , as I know there are some fairly major differences in the two juristictions (e.g. Grant Of Confirmation compared with probate ?)

It’s Scotland. We will be applying for Confirmation. 

RAS

Thanks might be useful to have advice from @buddy9 ?