Do I need probate/letters of administrauon for a small estate?

brumbill

I’m guessing as well that it’s prudent to set up a separate account to transfer money to and make payments?

Newly_retired

Not if you are walking away from handling the financial aspects of the estate.

Savvy_Sue

You said:

without wanting to be crude, can the cost of any legal advice or support be taken from the estate? I feel rather forced into taking this on as the care home and social worker essentially insisted but I don’t have any money myself to pay for any legal support with it

They can insist all you like, you still don't have to do it.

You might need to adopt a cracked record response. "I was estranged from my father, and I am not obliged to deal with his affairs after death."

Out of interest, what happened about his funeral?

Keep_pedalling

So it looks like what is owed is his weekly contribution to the LA which built up because no one was managing his finances while he was in care and that prior to this he had little or no savings which would make his estate insolvent.

The normal advice in this situation would be to not administer the estate. Have you actually got his bank to release the money to you yet?

brumbill

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81979786#Comment_81979786

yes, one of the banks have released the funds and I’m waiting on another

Is the only way to see if the estate is insolvent to basically gain access to everything and total up what’s in the estate vs what’s oweing?

my other issue is that I don’t have the money to hand to be able to pay for anything to then be able to claim anything back (i need to post an information advert in the gazette etc, but that costs hundreds alone), and I’m not sure what order debts need to be paid.

am I permitted to spend/claim back money from the estate in order to complete the administration of it (such as the advertising etc), even if it will eventually be insolvent?

RAS

Yoh don't need probate but you must not intermeddle unless you want to deal with the estate.

Nothing to stop you finding out how much money there is. But do not transfer it into estate accounts until you know the whole picture, as that is intermeddling and commits you to completing the process.

Keep_pedalling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81980152#Comment_81980152

I think it is too late for that the OP has already intermeddled by having the money transferred from the bank to them.

RAS

That's my concern. Just hoping the whole thing is solvent. But the OP needs to stop for a while until they understand tyethe legalities rather than being pushed blind into the mess by Social Services and the care home.

It might be useful to know who authorised the storage situation?

Keep_pedalling

You don’t need to place an advert in the gazette.

As it is now too late to pull out of administering the estate in your shoes I would do the following.

Write to the LA (assuming it is them who are chasing the debt) requesting a final statement of accounts. Once you have this and have all his assets together you can then deal with his creditor. If no other creditors comes out of the woodwork then settle the LA account. If after funeral costs (these take priority over unsecured creditors) their is not enough to meet it in full you write to them explaining that after funeral costs the estate is insolvent and the bill can only be settled in part. I would include a brief set off estate accounts with this.

If at some point in the future another creditor crawls out of the woodwork I would just write bake to them informing them that the estate was insolvent and that no one is administrating it.

Yea I know that last would be telling them a fib, but because probate is not required there is no public record of the estate so they have no way of proving otherwise.

brumbill

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81980178#Comment_81980178

this is very useful, thank you

I’ll just keep ploughing on with it - I find it amazing that he’d been in care for two years and rather than find a way to access his income to pay his contributions to care, it was just left to clear up later. By all accounts he suddenly got very ill, he could have continued as he was for some time and just increased his debt. It’s all very avoidable (and I appreciate some would point the finger at me for that, but families become estranged all the time and I can’t believe local authorities do not try to get someone to advocate to keep in top of bills and costs)