Do I need letters of administration?

Toebeanbandit99

Hi all, my mother passed away a couple of weeks ago, and she left no will. She was not married and I am one of 2 children who can now administer the estate. I am trying to work out if I need to apply for a grant of administration, and would appreciate some advice.

My mothers estate consists of £12,200. This is roughly £5800 from her bank accounts, £6000 from a life insurance policy, £160 in cash she had and £155 we have generated from selling some of her furniture. She had no property or car and no other assets (e.g. jewellery) of value at the time of her death.

The life insurance policy has already been paid out to myself. We were not named beneficiaries of this, so my understanding is this now falls into the estate even though it has been paid out to me. Her bank is going to pay me the amount in her accounts directly as it falls under their threshold for needing letters of administration. So in the next couple of weeks her whole estate will be in my bank account.

The issue I'm having is mum was not a particularly organised person, her letters are all very old and not in any order, but amongst them I have found letters for debts, some for council tax, some for credit accounts (banks and companies). Before she died she said she had paid all but one of these off, but she was very private and so I have no idea about any of these debts. Ive called the companies of the old letters we have and they say the accounts have been closed, but who knows if they have been sold to collection agencies?

To get access to her credit file I need letters of administration, but I am also aware that I can place a notice into the Gazette and local paper and then after 2 months and 1 day can distribute the estate without being liable. So do I really need to apply for letters of administration? And if I do, can I apply for this myself without a solicitor, as the fees ive been quoted for this are more than what's leftover in the estate (estimated to be around £2.5-£3.5k). Any advice?

Brie

I can't answer your question but wanted to offer my condolences.

RAS

Do check with Council Tax, not least as you may be able claim some relief whilst the estate is still liable for the housing cost.

Keep_pedalling

You don’t need to obtain LOA, you should contact the LA and utility companies to inform them of the death and to get a final account. As for any other creditors if any crawl out of the woodwork at a later date I would simply write back and inform them that the estate is insolvent.

Toebeanbandit99

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991671#Comment_81991671

But the estate won't be insolvent though? So would doing that make me liable?

Me and my siblings are estimated to get about £1.5-2k each from the estate when all bills are paid.

Toebeanbandit99

My mum was exempt fully from council tax thankfully so I suspect this will still be the case. The tenancy is only running for a further 1 month after she passed away as per the notice period.

Toebeanbandit99

Thank you for being so kind

RAS

Sorry you are in this situation. A few practical points, given the rental ends soon.

Read all the meters, check if there was a deposit and it was properly protected. See if you can find any sort of incoming inventory for the rental among the paperwork. Could ensure the LL has to repay some of the deposit.

Sort out family papers/mementoes and see if a charity shop will take the rest of the stuff. If not, consider paying for a clearance company and cleaners. It might reduce your inheritance a bit, balanced by a returned deposit but may prevent the LL pursuing costs. More an aggravation than anything but you don't need it.

Keep_pedalling

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81991893#Comment_81991893

Technically yes, but with no probate required there is no public record of the net value of the estate so no one is going to pursue you for trivial amounts