Simple Will. What to expect

buyhighselllow

Following my fathers recent passing my sister and I are left as joint beneficiaries and executers on an estate with a modest house and a few grand in the bank. We will not be liable for inheritance tax.

I am aware you can do probate ourselves but we are time poor and keen to move on with life after his long illness. 

We have agreed to use the solicitors who did my parents will. However I am aware of people doing things themselves. What should I expect from a professional and their fees to give me..can I expect this to be a rapid process to release funds and allow the sale of the house. We expect it would sell quickly once on the market. 

poppystar

Using a solicitor will likely add to the length of time rather than reduce it. As professionals they will want to do things thoroughly and wait before any estate is distributed to ensure there are no debts etc. Be aware also that they will ask you for the information to go on the forms so the amount of work you will be doing will be much the same. I think this is the main reason many of us do the process ourselves. 

I appreciate you need to move on and are probably quite exhausted by now but the only thing you will save will be the filling in of the form. For a simple estate this is quite quick once you have collected all the paperwork together. You will need to decide how much you want the solicitor to do as well eg. Are they just to fill in the form or do you want them to collect all the money in and distribute it at the end? 

Using a solicitor for the conveyancing of the house would be usual and sensible. 

RAS

If you use a solicitor, they'll expect you to provide most of the supporting paperwork, and then spend a lot of legal time chasing minor things you might not be bothered with, like a £20 underpayment on a pension that cost £200 per time period in fees.

They will also take a lot longer to finalise and distribute the estate. Once probate is sorted, expect another 6 months whilst they wait for any Inheritance Act claims and creditors to pop up.

You might be happy to do a partial distribution of 90% of the value whilst waiting for the DWP to confirm no repayments are required. The solicitor only wants to do one set of estate accounts and one distribution. And doubling that activity costs a lot of money.

badmemory

You will spend longer sending info to the solicitor than you would doing it yourselves.  Then have to wait whilst he goes through the motions, like an ad in the london gazette searching for debtors, that is six months.  Basically buying a dog & barking yourselves.  If it is just beneficiaries = executors with no complications it seems a lot lesss frustrating to do it yourself.

poppystar

Just to add… have a look at the Probate form online and get a sense of what is required. If you don’t have to do a full IHT return then you need little more than the total value of the estate and some personal details to complete the Probate application. 

When you say you are not liable for IHT is it that the total estate is below £325k or £650k if your mother left everything to your father when she passed (and they were married)? You will still be ok if it exceeds this but if you need to claim residential NRB in addition then it will trigger the need for a full IHT return. 

It really sounds as if this is quite a straightforward estate and if you get on well with your sister as coexecutor and cobeneficiary then do think about doing it yourselves just to speed the process up and get closure on what sounds to have been a stressful time. 

Keep_pedalling

To administer a simple estate does not involve huge amounts of time, especially if you don’t need to claim the residential NRB, as all you really need to do is value the estate and submit a probate application. You will still have to do a load of the legwork if you use a solicitor and it is going to take far longer.

Savvy_Sue

I agree with all the above, and one of the things you wouldn't normally get the solicitor to do is clear the house and liaise with the estate agent over viewings etc. I'd say that's what takes the time, more than gathering information and filling in the forms for probate. I was chatting to my solicitor when he was doing the conveyancing for my late mother's house: he said he'd only once known the house clearance to be dealt with by the legal firm, and costs were eye-watering. 

You say you are time poor: once you and your sister have done a trawl for papers, sentimental items etc I would strongly recommend getting a professional house clearance service in. Ours was not cheap, but they did a partial clearance and left the house 'staged': you would not have recognised it from the estate agents' subsequent photos! We pretty much left them to it, but the alternative would be to work with a de-clutterer if you're struggling to work out what to keep and what to let go, or if you're not sure where important papers might be hiding. 

The other thing is that there's no deadline for applying for probate - yes, any IHT has to be paid within 6 months of the death, but you're not anticipating needing to pay any. You can't sell the house before you have probate, but depending on how much is in the various bank accounts you may find that the contents of those can be paid to you without probate. And you can settle the funeral director's bill direct from Dad's accounts. Of course if either of you are in need of your inheritance in order to take a next step in life, there can be a time pressure, but you can just take it steadily rather than rushing to get it done next week - and a solicitor definitely won't be rushed! 

Username03725

Savvy_Sue said:

You can't sell the house before you have probate

Good points but re this bit, the house can be marketed as 'subject to probate' or whatever words fit, which means that it can appear in the estate agents' window and on all the usual online places but completion can't occur until grant of probate. Given that a house sale can typically take longer than a simple probate application that's a course worth considering. If you do have to delay the final element of the house sale, you won't be the first and certainly not the last.

Flugelhorn

badmemory said:

You will spend longer sending info to the solicitor than you would doing it yourselves.  Then have to wait whilst he goes through the motions, like an ad in the london gazette searching for debtors, that is six months.  Basically buying a dog & barking yourselves.  If it is just beneficiaries = executors with no complications it seems a lot lesss frustrating to do it yourself.

I would totally agree - it is not difficult to do and there is plenty of help out there. Solicitors may make the process look complex and have you running around to find things but they have to earn the money somehow. very different for a complex estate etc agree with others on here DIY

buyhighselllow

poppystar said:

Just to add… have a look at the Probate form online and get a sense of what is required. If you don’t have to do a full IHT return then you need little more than the total value of the estate and some personal details to complete the Probate application. 

When you say you are not liable for IHT is it that the total estate is below £325k or £650k if your mother left everything to your father when she passed (and they were married)? You will still be ok if it exceeds this but if you need to claim residential NRB in addition then it will trigger the need for a full IHT return. 

It really sounds as if this is quite a straightforward estate and if you get on well with your sister as coexecutor and cobeneficiary then do think about doing it yourselves just to speed the process up and get closure on what sounds to have been a stressful time. 

 Thank you al for the replies so far, I am leaning towards having a go myself.
Just to help

Mum died 2 years ago ,they were joint tenants
dad gifted us £5K each shortly after mum died
Dads house worth c£270 K and cash of £110 K, no other assets except from a "fire sale" of contents probably £2 K
Sister and I are sole  beneficiaries and executers

with a straight split of assets with my sibling there is no issue with IHT ?

but depending on how much is in the various bank accounts you may find that the contents of those can be paid to you without probate. And you can settle the funeral director's bill direct from Dad's accounts.

So we can access some or all of his bank account / ISAs ( which is all he held ) before probate, I was not aware of that ??

poppystar

but depending on how much is in the various bank accounts you may find that the contents of those can be paid to you without probate. And you can settle the funeral director's bill direct from Dad's accounts.

So we can access some or all of his bank account / ISAs ( which is all he held ) before probate, I was not aware of that ??

Yes, it may be possible depending on the amounts and the bank’s set limits which will vary depending on who the money is with. If all the £110k is in one place then it isn’t likely. Approach each one and ask as the limits vary greatly. Always speak to the bereavement department not anyone behind a counter or on a normal telephone desk. If you look at the websites you will find the dedicated numbers for this. 

Take it all slowly and make notes as you go along as it’s often a time when you can struggle to remember what you’ve done and especially as there are two of you. There is help here as you go through it.