Inheritance Tax Allowance

anxietyzombie

Hi,

We (two siblings) have recently lost both our parents and are trying to deal with their estate.

Our mum died in June 2024 and our dad died in May 2025. Due to our Dad's ill health after losing Mum, we had not dealt with Mum's estate prior to Dad's death. Neither parent had a will.

We have the following questions:

1. Do we have to deal with Mum's half of the estate first before we deal with Dad's, or does it now all get treated as one estate?

2. If we deal with the estate separately, does Mum's inheritance tax allowance transfer to Dad?

3. If we deal with the estate separately, does Mum's half of the estate go to Dad or straight to us (children)?

Thank you in advance for any help.

tetrarch

Sorry for your loss. On top of your grief there is a ton of paperwork to do which will take time and effort on your part, should you wish to do it yourself.

There is a wealth of opinion and advice on this forum and it is a major help when trying to negotiate through what is a tortuous process

To answer the above specific questions I'd start here:

https://www.gov.uk/inherits-someone-dies-without-will

Regards

Tet

lincroft1710

If mother's estate was more than £322,000 then they definitely need to be dealt with separately. E.g. if mum's half of the house plus any personal possessions or savings equalled £352,000, then £322,000 automatically goes to father, plus half of the remaining £30,000, the other half being divided between you and your sibling.

Keep_pedalling

lincroft1710 said:

If mother's estate was more than £322,000 then they definitely need to be dealt with separately. E.g. if mum's half of the house plus any personal possessions or savings equalled £352,000, then £322,000 automatically goes to father, plus half of the remaining £30,000, the other half being divided between you and your sibling.

If the house was owned as joint tenants her share would not form part of her heritable estate and would pass by survivorship rather than intestacy. 

If may be that you don’t need to apply for probate for your mother it is not required for jointly owned property, but if she had any assets that can’t be released without probate, such as large cash deposits or equities,  you will have to apply now. If probate is required for her estate you can apply for both at the same time provided you know exactly what your father inherited from your mother and how much of her estate should go to her children ( if any)