Valuing Assets for Probate Retrospectively

istoria

I am trying to value assets for probate 3 years after the person who owns the assets passed away.

I have read that many people doing this over value personal items and that it is wiser to value them at the market price (the price that buyers are willing to pay). I have tried to find the 'sold' price by using ebay's 'sold listings', but it will only allow me to find the price of items sold in the last week.

I am aware of an overall nominal value for basic household items, but need to find individual prices

Does anyone know a way to find the sold price of something (not a property) without paying. Thank you

istoria

Just to reiterate, I am trying to find the sold price of something (not a property) for 2022. Thank you.

Keep_pedalling

Unless you are also having to make an IHT return there is no need to a professional valuation on the higher value items just go with what you think they are worth.

Over valuation items and especially property for estate well below IHT levels is often done to reduce the risk of having a CGT liability if sold above market value. 

You don’t actually need probate to sell any of this stuff, so you could use the actual sale price if you sold it before submitting the probate application.

Vienss

You’re right — for probate, assets should be valued at their realistic market value, not replacement or sentimental value. eBay’s “sold listings” only go back 90 days, but you can use other free options. Try WorthPoint’s limited previews, Google cached pages, or Facebook Marketplace search filters to gauge recent selling prices. Local auction house websites often list historical sale results for free. If the items are common (e.g., furniture, electronics), use broad market averages. For antiques or collectibles, a brief chat with an auctioneer can often give accurate informal estimates at no cost.

istoria

Thank you both

Vienss, those sites are useful. I wonder if you are able to clarify somethings for me.

When you make reference to 'broad market averages' , are you suggesting that the 'sold' auction price can be used to value assets for probate but that it is more sufficient to calculate an average sold price by using different auctions (assuming that the item or similar items can be identified there).

If the item (or a similar item) is found in only one auction, do you know if it would be wiser to take an average of the sold price and estimated value rather than just use the one sold price.

Also, do I need to speak to an auctioneer for collectables and antiques or can I do the same for those. I ask this because an informal discussion might not be accepted as documented evidence

Thank you for any knowledge

martindow

I think you may be overthinking this, istoria.  As has been said, unless the estate's value is approaching the level where Inheritance Tax is payable, you can just put in a fairly generous value for the items as Keep_pedalling has said.  You really don't need to worry too much about making detailed individual valuations and a lot of collectables are not really worth very much, in any case.

Very few estates are large enough to involve inheritance tax.  If the person was widowed, they are quite likely to have a higher threshold as a result and even less chance of a tax liability.  Can you give us the rough value of the house and whether they were widowed or not?  People will be able to give you more detailed advice.

istoria

The estate is well below IHT, but I think that I have read that the value of collectables needs to be identified individually. If collectable items are over-valued and the result is that the overall valuation meets £6000, isn't there something about CGT?

Spoonie_Turtle

istoria said:

The estate is well below IHT, but I think that I have read that the value of collectables needs to be identified individually. If collectable items are over-valued and the result is that the overall valuation meets £6000, isn't there something about CGT?

If it's a collection of items then yes, otherwise the £6,000 is for each item.  And  CGT only becomes relevant once it's disposed of, so based on what you actually get for it (your actual gain - for which the market value when inheriting is indeed needed). 

For collections though you'd probably be better off doing a web search for auctions, because as mentioned above eBay doesn't keep listing details beyond a certain time once sold.  Certainly not ~3years.

Edit: forgot to cite source https://www.gov.uk/capital-gains-tax-personal-possessions

istoria

Oh, Ok Spoonie_Turtle, so CGT will only apply if a collection of items, eg, tea set (tea-pot, cream jug,  cups, saucers, etc)  OR an individual item amounts to £6000? 

I had read it as,  if the overall valuation (ie, collectables and non-collectables, every household item) amounts to £6000, then CGT will apply on the sale of any one of those items because the person has inherited £6000 worth of assets. This was my logic for why it can be important not to over-valuate.

On the note of providing individual valuations, I thought that all collectables and artwork need to be identified, but now I have read it as only if they are worth £1500 each (or perhaps a collection of items). Is there anyone who can confirm this for me. Thank you for your time all.