Probate

Timber1974

My father died four years ago and my mum this year. We were still going through Probate for my dad when she died, although she naturally inherited everything. Now that she has died, I have to value and list all of their jewellery and watches etc. They had a lot, but I am not sure how much any of it is worth, I doubt there is anything outrageous in the collection. I have been told by my brother that I need to get a value of my dad's stuff at 2022 and now 2026 as well as 2026 value for all of my mum's. Is this correct? We have a spreadsheet of every tiny thing they ever had with a value, be that a hearing aid or a coffee cup. It seems excessive. I'm now thinking I am going to have to pay through the teeth to get the values of everything in their jewellery collection, especially historical valuations too. I am looking for any advice!!! Major thanks in advance x

Flugelhorn

basically if your mum inherited everything in 2022 then you don 't need to worry about the values then and TBH you only need to worry about anything really fancy . My father died 1998 and my mother 20 years later - I put don't £500 for household contents and it cost me a few hundred to clear the place

Keep_pedalling

Unless you have some seriously valuable pieces then it its quite normal and acceptable to put a single nominal value on your mothers chattels. Is her estate anywhere near £1M.

It has been a long time since your father dies what assets are still waiting on you obtaining probate? It certainly won’t be needed for the family home.

gwynlas

Insurance companies expect you to replace any stolen jewellery items with the lowest priced nearest equivalent eg using argos catalogues. Alternatively jewellers will only pay scrap value by weight often disregarding stones.

Unless your mother had heirloom quality pieces such as a family tiara or similar brooches etc then you need not worryy about valuing individual items.

Similarly antique furniture is of very low value at the moment, you can check auction prices, so household icontents are unlikely to attract great value.

Savvy_Sue

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6675524/probate

Sounds like your brother is wrong on more than one count, so I'd suggest that if they wish to value every last item, they can go ahead.

One question would be, what's happening to all this 'stuff'? We did use an auction house for mum's eclectic 'collections', in case anything was valuable. I'm sure we made a loss, but we saw a certain amount of 'stuff' going to places it would be appreciated.

Then we paid for house clearance, which was worth every single one of the considerable number of pennies paid by the estate.

Every now and again my co-executor would wonder aloud if we couldn't finish the clearance ourselves, using the local tip (Household Recycling Centre). I reminded him of the single day we'd spent initially, with assistance from several fit teenage lads, disposing of fridges, freezers, TVs etc, using our own cars, and said I wasn't doing any more that way ... and if he thought he could do more, he was welcome to try.