Estate planning - confused about what I am entitled to

tonycable

Thank you all for the replies - I'll sort out a copy of the will tonight when I am at home.
What I do know is that they were both written at the same time, with the same solicitor and are both identical in context to take into account whoever passed first.  They were written professionally with this situation in mind.
I absolutely do not think that everything passes to me - that's the whole point of this thread is to make sure whatever is passed to me is correct and legal because I absolutely do not want to transfer too much which goes against the will, nor do I want to leave my mum in a situation where she is not financially stable.
The whole mention of IHT is only in the context that I transfer too much to my name that I am not legally entitled to, which hits me with an unexpected (and avoidable) bill.
We are trying to do it 100% right and fair, and I am trying to check what that actually is so we can distribute the estate fairly and legally.

bunnygo

I'm sorry for your loss.

to answer the 'nuts and bolts' one about savings accounts etc; you notify all the financial institutions concerned of the death, they will then freeze the accounts. To make this a little easier, contact the bereavement teams directly; google will lead you to a phone number or website, you can do a lot of these notifications online now. They will want a scan of the death certificate and probably of the will.

if the amounts concerned are under the probate limit for the instiution concerned, the money will be released without waiting for probate. This figure is often £50k except for National Savings.

for the ISA - this can be passed to the surviving spouse within the ISA shelter, ask the institution concerned for the process.

Keep_pedalling

Does the will also give your mother the right to remain living there? If that is the case a trust has been created. If not you (assuming you are the executor)  are going to have do an IHT return because to avoid an IHT liability you will need to claim the residential NRB. Alternatively it might be a better idea to make a deed of variation to avoid a CGT liability down the line if you no longer live there or avoid you loosing your first time buyers status if you don’t already own your own home. 

Can you give us the full wording of the clause that relates to the house (redacting any personal details of cause) 

tonycable

I've got the will, and retracted out the personal information - is it ok to private message this to some of you, as I don't feel comfortable putting it into public viewing, even though it is a public document and the personal information is retracted.

Keep_pedalling

You can PM me with it if you wish.

Newly_retired

That’s a shame, as we all learn from this board.

Newly_retired

Sorry, Keep_pedalling, I did not mean to denigrate your kind offer of help to the OP.

tonycable

I will update the forum with the outcomes and relevant information, as I would like other people in a similar boat to me to see this discussion and take away information from it - I hate it when i see a discussion that is relevant but with no conclusion or helpful information, but hope you understand that i don't want the will in a public location for anyone to see.

sheslookinhot

Is it not the case that IHT is sorted out (calculated) on the value of the fathers estate, before any consideration is given to beneficiaries. 

SiliconChip

tonycable said:

I will update the forum with the outcomes and relevant information, as I would like other people in a similar boat to me to see this discussion and take away information from it - I hate it when i see a discussion that is relevant but with no conclusion or helpful information, but hope you understand that i don't want the will in a public location for anyone to see.

I can understand your reluctance, but once probate is obtained the Will becomes publicly available anyway, so not showing it now only delays the inevitable. A properly redacted version could be anybody's Will, and allows correct responses to be made.