Will I need probate?

Elizabeth_T_2

we jointly own our house and a rental, have our own stocks& shares ISA’s and our own cash ISA’s, our own and joint bank accounts and a joint bond. We have a mirror will, everything to the one who is left…..when one of us dies will probate be required or will the death certificate and the will be sufficient , or will we need a a grant of probate, thanks in advance

p00hsticks

In my experience (from dealing with my fathers estate) it will depend how much is in the ISAs - I had to get probate because the Building Society had a probate limit of £20k and his cash ISA had more in it.

Keep_pedalling

You won’t need it for any of the joint assets but unless the ISAs are relatively small it will be needed for those.

NedS

You can check individual institutions limits for accessing accounts without probate. Most financial institutions publish these limits.

Flugelhorn

I needed probate for a 50k Nationwide ISA

SiliconChip

But it's not just ISA's, the OP says "our own and joint bank accounts", so for the own accounts again it will depend on how much is in them, it's quite likely that the limits banks will set are lower than for ISAs which could make probate more likely.

Shylock_249

I've kept a record of Probate limits for accounts I hold, I just asked Google for probate limit for "x" provider and here is the reply.

Charter	35k
Close Bros	20k
Kent	35k
Paragon	20k
Virgin	35k

Keep_pedalling

Whatever you do don’t change how you hold sole assets just to avoid probate, it really is a fairly simple process so reducing your potencial income or increasing the number of accounts just to avoid it is just not worth it.

Shylock_249

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922667#Comment_81922667

I (Shylock249 - Minister of Good Ideas) wrote to Rachel from Accounts making a suggestion that couples of a certain age, let's say 65, should be able to merge their ISAs into joint ISAs (ie, new creation) and that way avoid Probate.

I understand the rules but it seems strange to me that me and my wife could hold a joint account of a million in Paragon or Close Bros bank and a small ISA each of 20k and on death of one of us (NOT me, I'm gonna live for ever or die trying) we just need a copy of the death certificate to amend the one million joint account but when we try to access the 20k ISA both of those banks would demand Probate. Rachel has yet to reply!

p00hsticks

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81922728#Comment_81922728

Given that 'ISA' Stands for Individual Savings Account that idea would appear to be a non-starter…

Shylock_249

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81923098#Comment_81923098

Obviously, that's why I asked Rachel to consider a new creation.