Quick question about when estate administration ends

morgmonster

I have had some great advice here so thought I'd ask a hopefully quick question. My dad died in Oct 2025, we are now at the closing parts of sorting everything out, we have 4 Grants and I send 3 out at a time to various providers, and then as they come back in I send them out again to others. So some providers have actioned things, some have not.

This week all his Hargreaves Lansdown ISAs and non-ISAs were transferred into my mum's HL account, so we can see everything there. She needs some cash in late August for some large purchases and as well as removing the cash balance from the non-ISA fund and share account, one option is to sell some of the shares. I know that the CGT base price resets for Mum to the price at dad's death. Mum already does a tax return but what I am trying to avoid is complicating the tax position for Dad's estate for the period between his death and when the administration period is over. Thanks to advice on here we have avoided actively doing anything that would generate tax due of over £10k (I think is the level) to keep it at the Simple estate level.

Can we sell these shares as they are fully in her name now, although there are still other assets which have not been transferred from Dad to her yet? Or do we have to wait until EVERYTHING is settled to avoid it becoming part of the Estate's taxes rather than her own personal tax that goes on her self assessment? We will probably choose some shares anyway that have gone down slightly since Dad's death rather than have to deal with a gain, but I would prefer to avoid doing it at all if it falls in the Estate's taxes.

(obligatory footnote - we are engaging an IFA and have spoken to one twice, but we need this cash a bit sooner than he will be arranging things for us, plus he is not a tax accountant!)

Thanks!!

poseidon1

We did have a discussion about the optimum way to avoid complex estate tax reporting by transferring estate stocks and shares to your mother prior to sale in the thread below -

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6658283/where-when-do-we-report-income-from-estate-between-death-and-distribution

The HL account stocks and shares now in her name can certainly be sold without this being a tax compliance issue for the ongoing estate. Any profit/loss from the HL GIA sales accrues direct to your mother for her personal tax reporting purposes. However any HL dividends/ interest received prior to the transfer remains taxable direct on the estate.

Has any progress been made on the transfer of the very large French shareholding to your mother? I recall there was a substantial post estate gain on those shares which by itself could breach the £10k simple estate reporting threshold if sold at estate level. If already transferred to your mother, then any sale of this holding also accrues direct to her personal tax reporting rather than the estate.

What is the nature of the remaining assets not yet transferred to your mother's ownership?

morgmonster

Thank you - I thought it was presumptive to tag you but I hoped you would see my message! Thank you for the answer about the HL shares and Mum will be pleased she does not need to finance her new car. Also we did find Dad's will in the end at another solicitors in the same town! So were able to apply for probate the normal way. As for the SIPP, HL approved the change of beneficiaries so that more of it goes to myself and my brother (slight delay on that as brother is currently a tax resident in a country which will tax him 45% on the cash lump sum he will be required to take as a non UK resident, but from Jan he will be somewhere with more relaxed rules.)

Most of the French shares gain was before his death, so shouldn't impact the Estate tax (I think!). They have been bottom of the pile to sort out but I made sure to get a Grant of probate for foreign use and Mum's IFA has suggested a firm to sort this out for us (and probably to do the Estate tax return for us, as you suggested I think). I have a large pile of paperwork relating to this shareholding as it was all accumulated as an employee benefit (another reason I was reluctant to try and sort it myself) so hopefully everything needed is in there.

The other assets we are still waiting to hear from are S&S ISA with interactive investor (hoping to be similarly straightforward to HL!), two holdings of VCT investments, one has transferred and sent new certificates in Mum's name already, the other I cannot find the original certificates so I will go down the lost certificates route. There is a small life insurance payout, and then removing Dad's names from the deeds of the house, but that is in hand.

It is somewhat overwhelming but glad it is almost finished. Mum can enjoy spending and sharing her money and the IFA will take a bit of the pressure off me!

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82091742#Comment_82091742

Seems you have covered all bases on an estate that did have a degree of complexity.

Although you are clearly doing a good job on general estate administration matters, probably a good idea to get a professional involved on the estate tax compliance to relieve you of that burden.