IHT Probate and excepted estates

otb666

I am hoping you can advise 
Mother passed away 2023 will left all to her husband.
300k house jointly owned and father also has 110k in normal bank account and 12k in shares.
Gifts may be below allowances. We will have to go through 7 years statements and bank stubs to check. We had to use our Amazon for all needs and goods and he transferred money to me. We can list his purchases if required from the amazon account. (he never liked using his cards online) 
Is this an excepted estate? and what IHT forms need to completing if it is. 
What forms need completing if not.
I have read the gov website but am easily confused.
Do we apply for mothers unused tax allowance as we did not need probate on first death. Land Registry still has both names on it.
Also when do we notify Attendance allowance as been 2 weeks in fully funded respite care
Nurses say he is very close to death.We have no POA and we are being advised he is near to passing away but what keeps me up at night is us trying to do it all. If I have some pointers it would help me stop worrying not being cold but just stressing about wrong things does not help I know you are all very helpful and non judgmental
I am executor of will together with only sibling we are both the only beneficiaries.

Thank you

Jowwie

I don't think you have anything to worry about concerning any of the above, but I will let the experts advise in more detail. Make the most of what time you have left with your father. Sad times. Many of us have been in this situation so can walk you through probate steps as and when needed. 

Keep_pedalling

Assuming that he did not make any large non exempt gifts in the last 7 years then this is going to be an exempt estate and you will not need to do an IHT return. You will need to apply for probate and you can claim your mother’s transferable NRB taking his exemptions up to £650k. 

You don’t need to document the transactions you made for him, and you don’t really need to trawl through 7 years of bank statements for every small gift he made.

McClane54

As above have said. don't need to detail all gifts. I think it's only gifts over 10k 

be with your dad, worry later. 

Keep_pedalling

McClane54 said:

As above have said. don't need to detail all gifts. I think it's only gifts over 10k 

be with your dad, worry later. 

No it is all non exempt gifts, so all gifts not covered by the annual £3000 exemption, from excess income or gifts in contemplation of marriage (£5000 for a parent) 

otb666

Thank you for replies its been very stressful and I do tend to concentrate on the details when I am stressed.
Its been a lot of work up til now however father seems to be as articulate as always and maybe the nurses are wrong as he does not appear to be end of life sometimes and very up OR sometimes very down.
I will continue to return to thread with more questions no doubt going forward.
The Attendance Allowance people need to be updated shortly (I know its a benefit question but would prefer all in one place) Will they pause this as he is currently fully funded for next 3 months only then Local authority will assess again.
If self funded ,after 3 months, would this mean a whole new AA application? We dont have POA and dont think we can get this now as has confused days.
Will we be allowed (as next of Kin)to ring them, 08007310122 ,to advise been fully funded in respite care after 28 days.? Would they pause this benefit ? Or would it be a whole new application after fully funded care?
Thanks

bobster2

otb666 said:

Thank you for replies its been very stressful and I do tend to concentrate on the details when I am stressed.
Its been a lot of work up til now however father seems to be as articulate as always and maybe the nurses are wrong as he does not appear to be end of life sometimes and very up OR sometimes very down.
I will continue to return to thread with more questions no doubt going forward.
The Attendance Allowance people need to be updated shortly (I know its a benefit question but would prefer all in one place) Will they pause this as he is currently fully funded for next 3 months only then Local authority will assess again.
If self funded ,after 3 months, would this mean a whole new AA application? We dont have POA and dont think we can get this now as has confused days.
Will we be allowed (as next of Kin)to ring them, 08007310122 ,to advise been fully funded in respite care after 28 days.? Would they pause this benefit ? Or would it be a whole new application after fully funded care?
Thanks

After 28 days just call the AA helpline and let them know. Yes AA will stop. Yes - you should be able to ring them if you're not the recipient and don't have formal POA - certain benefits teams are very used to dealing with situations like this where a family member is acting on behalf of someone but doesn't have formal POA.

If he comes home - you may be able to get AA back more quickly - there a special rules for getting AA quickly when someone is near the end of life.

https://www.gov.uk/attendance-allowance/claiming-end-of-life

otb666

So we have registered death and sorted out funeral arrangements. 
This week we are ringing all ultilities  sky tv licence boiler service and going to bank to set up account.
As other extor lives miles away will he have to come as well He already has another account at that bank. The other extor wants a joint bank account as is proper.
With Ultilities ( gas elect water) I have taken readings and gonna get them to bill to those reading and change account name only to extors and on demand and postal bills.Then call them every month with same reads on empty property.
Assuming tell us once scheme will deal with council tax and goverment work pension. Once bank account set up will do funeral plans. House insurance with Saga and again will change to extors as paid up til xmas. Then get estate agents around.  Have I missed anything? Really thankful for your support here as its a stressful time.

jem16

otb666 said:

So we have registered death and sorted out funeral arrangements. 
This week we are ringing all ultilities  sky tv licence boiler service and going to bank to set up account.
As other extor lives miles away will he have to come as well He already has another account at that bank. The other extor wants a joint bank account as is proper.
With Ultilities ( gas elect water) I have taken readings and gonna get them to bill to those reading and change account name only to extors and on demand and postal bills.Then call them every month with same reads on empty property.
Assuming tell us once scheme will deal with council tax and goverment work pension. Once bank account set up will do funeral plans. House insurance with Saga and again will change to extors as paid up til xmas. Then get estate agents around.  Have I missed anything? Really thankful for your support here as it’s a stressful time.

My condolences for your loss. 

With the energy supplier I only had to inform them of the death. They cancelled the Direct Debit and marked the account as deceased. All I have to do is take the final meter readings once the house is sold and a final bill will be issued then. Meanwhile I’ve put in monthly readings - that’s been since January. 

Homecare boiler cover I’ve retained as it’s the one thing you have to ensure is in working order when selling. 

Tell it Once will deal with Council Tax and Government work pension. You should be able to apply for Council Tax exemption whilst applying for probate and then for 6 months thereafter to allow time for house sale. 

House Insurance may not allow you to continue with them as it’s an unoccupied property. Most have a limit of 60 days or less. Ours did allow it as was just less than 60 days till renewal but would not renew. We’re now using HomeProtect. 

otb666

Thank you so with the boiler service and house insurance and wake costs (not funeral) you paid for them and then will recoup after probate as I believe the extor account will not allow money out until probate granted. The other extor has no money so as our budget is quite tight will need to know what we have to pay for upfront and quote on homeprotect was 27pm also guessing there will be one week AA money to pay back as well as state and works one week pensions to pay back Will they wait for Probate to be granted as guessing once bank account frozen will not be able to claim back there.

RAS

@otb666

You may need to minimise the expenditure before probate. Utilities should take a reading and suspend the accounts. CT you apply for exemption.

Are any of the deceased's bank or savings accounts worth less than £50k? If so, ring the provider and check their release limit, anywhere from £5-50k with probate. Check what evidence they require to release the money

That means you provide ID, death certificate and the will, as required, and move that money to the "executor" account immediately.

Then you use that for things like insurance, keeping the garden sorted, maintenance like gutter clearance, buying timers and setting up fake at home lighting, skips or house clearance if required. 

Since you and sibling are the only executors and beneficiaries, you might want to check if siblings wants any of the parents' household goods? No harm in them taking what they want now, if you are happy with that. Less to get rid of later.

Also, no harm them spending the odd overnight there whilst you both sort through stuff and work out what to keep, and what to donate. Check out the local charities and reuse organisations for stuff neither of you want.