Probate and selling house

V3cash

So the government website says you can’t put a house up for sale during probate but what if you had put it up for sale before the person died?
we had to put our relatives house up for sale to pay for care fees but unfortunately she passed away before we could sell it. So do we have to take it off market until probate is complete, there is a will held at a solicitors so hopefully probate would be fairly straightforward 

Keep_pedalling

You can certainly market a house before probate is obtained, you just can’t expense contracts. If you had a buyer before the death then that puts the sale on hold until you have probate.

Newly_retired

We put my mother's house up for sale to pay for her care costs, but she died just before contracts were due to be exchanged. Our buyer was happy to wait for Probate.

Olinda99

You can put a house up for sale anytime you like including while you are waiting for probate

The only advice I would give you is to tell the estate agent the position because any buyer will need to know there was a possibility of a delay whilst probate is obtained

p00hsticks

V3cash said:

So the government website says you can’t put a house up for sale during probate but what if you had put it up for sale before the person died?
we had to put our relatives house up for sale to pay for care fees but unfortunately she passed away before we could sell it. So do we have to take it off market until probate is complete, there is a will held at a solicitors so hopefully probate would be fairly straightforward 

Presumably either your relative had capacity to authorise the sale or you had PoA for them. Now they have died both are no longer possible, so whoever is executor of the will is the person who will now sign the contracts for exchange, but they'll need probate to give them the authority to do so. 

Flugelhorn

you can put it up for sale but need to be honest with any potential buyers that you don't yet have probate and hence there may be a delay - some may be happy to wait 

pants04

Quick question - if IHT all paid and grant of probate sorted, can/would funds be distributed prior to property sale. So effectively there maybe 2 distributions. One of cash and then money from property sale? Some beneficiaries are benefiting from cash assets and some from property assets?

RAS

The usual process is to wait until the final accounts are completed before distributing money. If a solicitor is involved they may well insist on 6 months' delay to allow for debts and Inheritance Act claims.

It is possible for there to be a preliminary distribution but I believe all the beneficiaries have to agree, the "preliminary" money has to be divided in line and it obviously costs a lot more because accounts and bank fees double. And the executors have to hold back enough to cover any debts, which can take time if they may be dealing with DWP overpayments.

But there is no right to a preliminary distribution and if anyone is doing probate DIY I'd expect them to refuse the extra work.

Savvy_Sue

pants04 said:

Quick question - if IHT all paid and grant of probate sorted, can/would funds be distributed prior to property sale. So effectively there maybe 2 distributions. One of cash and then money from property sale? Some beneficiaries are benefiting from cash assets and some from property assets?

RAS said:

The usual process is to wait until the final accounts are completed before distributing money. If a solicitor is involved they may well insist on 6 months' delay to allow for debts and Inheritance Act claims.

It is possible for there to be a preliminary distribution but I believe all the beneficiaries have to agree, the "preliminary" money has to be divided in line and it obviously costs a lot more because accounts and bank fees double. And the executors have to hold back enough to cover any debts, which can take time if they may be dealing with DWP overpayments.

But there is no right to a preliminary distribution and if anyone is doing probate DIY I'd expect them to refuse the extra work.

I agree with RAS that a preliminary distribution in this case might prove problematic - I was happy to do interim payments when I was executing an estate, but in that situation all beneficiaries were inheriting equally, and we did keep back enough to cover any costs from sale of property. 

In our case bank fees were no more for multiple distributions: we were able to do initial transfers by BACS, and the beneficiaries chose to receive final distribution by cheque rather than paying for CHAPS. 

V3cash

is it better to get a solicitor?
the inheritance in our case is fairly simple, if there is such a thing 🧐
with the will held at a solicitor.

RAS

So you haven't even got hold of the will yet? Is the donor still alive? Who are the executors?