Help with Inherited Investments please

IanManc

justme8786 said:

Section62 said:

justme8786 said:

LHW99 said:

So sorry you are having to cope with this.

My understanding is that ISA's have to be closed unless passed to a spouse. That is likely to mean that the ISA platform would sell the investments, and pay the amounts to the estate.

Are you executor for your mum, or is that someone else?

Either way, it may be best to put the funds, when the estate is settles, into a suitable savings account for the time being until you have been able to get things going along more stably. The FSCS "£85,000" limit for compensation does not count for temporary balances (I believe up to £1m) due to specific life events if this is relevant.

Give yourself time to work out what for and when you need access to the money, and if it is a significant sum, getting some independent financial advice ould be worth considering in due course.

Thank you.

Understood, the second ISA is mine already so only the first would close. 

Yes I am the sole executor.

I don't want to rush but at the same time don't have much time and would rather put it straight from investments to investments if poss.

I looked into IFAs but it would be £500 for a 'planning' session and then much more I am guessing for actually choosing funds, and I think I am already happy with the knowledge I have. Or at least happy enough to save over £1k.

Thank you for the FSCS info, I will look into that.

I think you should look on paying some money for advice from an IFA as part of the 'investment'.  I'm not in a wildly different position to you with an inheritance and thought I had a reasonable grasp on what to do, but speaking to an IFA has uncovered some details I hadn't thought about.

With the SIPP, check what the provider does when notified of the death.  For example, abrdn automatically sold everything in a SIPP to cash on notification of death. So you won't necessarily be able to leave it as it is, depending on the provider's procedures.  I would have preferred to keep this money invested, and this was one of the details the IFA helped me get my head around (it made sense in the end!)

The SIPP may be the thing you need to make some decisions about first.  What you can do with the other assets is probably limited until probate, but depending on the circumstances, the SIPP is likely to be transferred to you much quicker, and you'll need to consider the different options you may have.  In my situation the bereavement team at abrdn were good, but being able to tell them I'd spoken to an IFA before making a decision helped move things along smoothly.  Again, the details will depend on your mum's SIPP provider and circumstances though.

I feel for you as dealing with this stuff isn't good whilst coming to terms with loss.  The folk on this forum are great, but there are limitations on what advice you can get, and without us knowing stuff that you shouldn't share on a forum like this then what we can say is limited.  This is why investing in some help from an IFA or other suitable professional is likely to be a good investment.

The other thing, and sorry to bring it up, but one of the key things the IFA impressed on me was the importance of having an (updated) Will myself, which takes into account the change of circumstances with the inheritance.  If you don't have one, or what you have doesn't reflect your circumstances now, then now would be a sensible time to think about what you would want.

One thing I probably should have done is hired a Probate solicitor. I wasn't aware that I'd be needing to fill out the big forms even though there is no IHT to be paid, and those are overwhelming me a bit haha. The IHT400, IHT421 etc.

The forms are designed to cover every possible scenario. Once you get into completing them you'll find that most sections won't apply and won't need to be filled in. In the end the forms aren't nearly as awful as they look.

justme8786

IanManc said:

justme8786 said:

Section62 said:

justme8786 said:

LHW99 said:

So sorry you are having to cope with this.

My understanding is that ISA's have to be closed unless passed to a spouse. That is likely to mean that the ISA platform would sell the investments, and pay the amounts to the estate.

Are you executor for your mum, or is that someone else?

Either way, it may be best to put the funds, when the estate is settles, into a suitable savings account for the time being until you have been able to get things going along more stably. The FSCS "£85,000" limit for compensation does not count for temporary balances (I believe up to £1m) due to specific life events if this is relevant.

Give yourself time to work out what for and when you need access to the money, and if it is a significant sum, getting some independent financial advice ould be worth considering in due course.

Thank you.

Understood, the second ISA is mine already so only the first would close. 

Yes I am the sole executor.

I don't want to rush but at the same time don't have much time and would rather put it straight from investments to investments if poss.

I looked into IFAs but it would be £500 for a 'planning' session and then much more I am guessing for actually choosing funds, and I think I am already happy with the knowledge I have. Or at least happy enough to save over £1k.

Thank you for the FSCS info, I will look into that.

I think you should look on paying some money for advice from an IFA as part of the 'investment'.  I'm not in a wildly different position to you with an inheritance and thought I had a reasonable grasp on what to do, but speaking to an IFA has uncovered some details I hadn't thought about.

With the SIPP, check what the provider does when notified of the death.  For example, abrdn automatically sold everything in a SIPP to cash on notification of death. So you won't necessarily be able to leave it as it is, depending on the provider's procedures.  I would have preferred to keep this money invested, and this was one of the details the IFA helped me get my head around (it made sense in the end!)

The SIPP may be the thing you need to make some decisions about first.  What you can do with the other assets is probably limited until probate, but depending on the circumstances, the SIPP is likely to be transferred to you much quicker, and you'll need to consider the different options you may have.  In my situation the bereavement team at abrdn were good, but being able to tell them I'd spoken to an IFA before making a decision helped move things along smoothly.  Again, the details will depend on your mum's SIPP provider and circumstances though.

I feel for you as dealing with this stuff isn't good whilst coming to terms with loss.  The folk on this forum are great, but there are limitations on what advice you can get, and without us knowing stuff that you shouldn't share on a forum like this then what we can say is limited.  This is why investing in some help from an IFA or other suitable professional is likely to be a good investment.

The other thing, and sorry to bring it up, but one of the key things the IFA impressed on me was the importance of having an (updated) Will myself, which takes into account the change of circumstances with the inheritance.  If you don't have one, or what you have doesn't reflect your circumstances now, then now would be a sensible time to think about what you would want.

One thing I probably should have done is hired a Probate solicitor. I wasn't aware that I'd be needing to fill out the big forms even though there is no IHT to be paid, and those are overwhelming me a bit haha. The IHT400, IHT421 etc.

The forms are designed to cover every possible scenario. Once you get into completing them you'll find that most sections won't apply and won't need to be filled in. In the end the forms aren't nearly as awful as they look.

Haha thank you very much, starting it now.

DiamondLil

@justme8786

It's just a paper trail; I printed off two copies of the forms, and completed one copy in pencil, and re-read it until I was happy that I'd filled in everything correctly. Then completed the forms in ink and posted off. 

And I found the help line incredibly helpful with any queries I had.

Sovereign_Hunter_999

What did you end up doing?